What happens to my swim speed in open water
For most triathletes the majority of their swim training is done in a swimming pool. While this allows for the athlete to spend time on drills, technique and speed work, most triathlons involve a swim in open water. In this article Coach Denise looks at what impacts your speed when moving from the pool into open water.
Of the three disciplines in triathlon, swimming is considered by many to be the most technical. Most triathletes will come to triathlon from one of the individual sports, swimming, cycling, or running. They then need to develop skills in the other disciplines. Learning to swim well as an adult takes time, patience and a lot of work. Even if the original sport was swimming, reducing the time spent swim training to allow for time to run and cycle can impact on the top swim speed, and endurance of the triathlete.
However, with focus and effort it is possible to become a more than competent swimmer, with some real endurance and pace, even from a starting point as a beginner. Working on technique and speed is generally done within a swimming pool environment, for several reasons. It is often too cold to spend time working on drills in the open water, it can be hard to be coached from the side of a lake or the beach and the weather can adversely impact on the regularity of sessions. So, practicing and improving within a pool environment makes a lot of sense.
Most races, though not all, involve swimming outside, in a lake, river or the sea. This brings in its own challenges, one of which is how to maintain swim speed when in this different environment. Many swimmers find that they lose speed when they transition to swimming outside and there are a number of reasons why that might happen. These can be grouped into 4 different aspects:
What is different about being in open water?
When swimming in a pool the swimmer will be turning every 20, 25 or 50m. Although the turn itself can have the effect of reducing speed, the push from the wall adds in fresh acceleration, overall increasing the speed. Plus, the act of turning does give the swimmer a micro break from swimming and over a long distance these micro breaks add up. In open water there is no need to turn from a wall, and this can lead to more fatigue than experienced over the same distance in a pool.
Different bodies of water have differing degrees of impact on the swimmer. Sea water has greater buoyancy than fresh, helping the swimmer to have a higher body position and so swim more effectively. Freshwater is generally the same level of buoyancy as a swimming pool, but it can have water flows and currents, especially in rivers, which can help or hinder the swimmer. Of course, the sea also has tides which need to be considered both for safety and for the impact on swim speed.
How does the weather have an impact?
Along with water flow, wind can also help or hinder the swimmer. A tailwind can help to push the swimmer along, a head wind can impede swimming. In addition, winds can stir up the water and create choppy conditions making it tricky to swim. If wind and water flow are in different directions then the choppiness is likely to be worse, so looking at tide / water flow and weather conditions before getting into the water is important.
What are the physical impacts of being in open water?
With choppiness comes the additional complication of seeing where you are going. In a swimming pool there will be a line on the pool bottom or at least a tile line or lane ropes to keep you swimming straight. Without necessarily thinking about it, the line keeps the swimmer straight. Outside, there is no line to follow, and sighting is important to keep on the right track. In smooth water the sighting glance can be shallow and fast, but in choppier conditions it may require more of a deliberate look. The higher the head lifts to sight, the lower the hips sink and the more that swim speed is reduced.
Even with perfect water conditions it can be hard to maintain the swim cadence from the pool to outside. Swimming with no break, being in relaxing surroundings or just thinking about other aspects than arm turnover speed can lead to a reduction in cadence and so a reduction in swim speed. Overall, reductions in form can creep into the stroke, less rotation, lower elbows, less efficient catch and pull can all start to accumulate and lead to reduced swim speed.
Many swimmers work hard in the pool to develop the ‘perfect’ stroke which can then be upset by variations in wind, water flow and choppiness. Developing a feel for the water and a steady rhythm and flow for the stroke will really help to maintain a strong stroke when in a variety of swimming conditions.
One other impact of choppy water can be on the breathing pattern. Breathing bilaterally will help to maintain a more balanced stroke and help to swim in a straighter line, but if the water is choppy and coming from one direction then it might be easier to only breathe to one side, away from the wind. While this helps with breathing it may be a different pattern to that which is normal, and so reduce efficiency and speed.
One other consideration is the use of a wetsuit. Many races require or at least allow the use of a wetsuit. The neoprene does help to provide additional buoyancy, creating a better body position in the water. It is important that the wetsuit both fits properly and is put on correctly. Ensuring there is a lot of freedom of movement around the shoulders will help to reduce the feeling of fighting the neoprene, and make swimming in the suit very much easier.
On the positive side, with other swimmers in the water, it is possible, and perfectly acceptable, to draft off of them, and so reduce the effort level required for a certain
swim speed. Practicing in a pool environment with other swimmers can really help with confidence in doing this effectively.
What are the psychological impacts of swimming in open water?
Swimming in a pool has a very immediate frame of reference – the swimmer can count lengths and know how far they have swum. Outside, it can be very hard to keep track or progress, as time and distance can become uncertain. This can lead to setting off too fast and the fading quickly.
Uncertainty or even fear of just what is in the water can increase the stress on the swimmer. In particular, if the water is dark with poor visibility the swimmer can become worried and stressed about the environment. This eases with practice, but it can cause the stroke to become less effective, in turn adding to the stress. Experience within a range of bodies of water can help to reduce this stress.
All of the above information shows there are a lot of aspects which can impact on swim speed in open water vs pool swimming. While some of these are helpful, many
of them can reduce speed when swimming outside. Mitigation of some of these effects can be done by getting into open water as often as possible to get used to
how it feels and work building endurance as well as efficiency.
Using a tempo trainer in the open water, set to the usual pool tempo can work to prevent the cadence dropping, as well as keep the focus on keeping going.
Practicing sighting and different breathing patterns can reduce the adverse impact of these. In choppy water, or sea with a swell, practicing taking the sighting at the top of the wave will help with visibility with a smaller head lift.
Thinking about flow and rhythm when swimming in a pool, with the focus on how the water and stroke feel and then taking that approach into the open water can really help to enable the swimmer to adjust to whatever conditions there are on the day.
While open water swimming can sometimes feel like a totally different sport to pool swimming, with some persistence and practice, it is possible to leverage the pool work into the open water effectively. Open water swimming has the advantage of some beautiful locations, which can make training a joy as well as effort.
Denise has been coaching triathletes since 2019 as a coach at her local triathlon club in West Lothian. Between 2019 and 2022, Denise was the Head coach in the club, working with a team of coaches to support and develop triathletes with a wide range of capabilities, completing her BTF Triathlon Level 2 coaching qualification in 2021.
Denise joined Tri Training Harder as a coach in 2021, building on the qualifications through the experience and knowledge passed on by the coaching team.
In 2019 Denise set up and continues to run her own Jog Scotland running group, a mixed ability group of runners who meet weekly. This delivers on her passion for helping people to do much more than they think they can.
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