Posts tagged Open Water
Getting into cold water – acclimatising and having fun

At the start of race season, as thoughts turn to open water swims, one of the key considerations is, just how do you swim comfortably in cold water. In this article Coach Denise uses her extensive experience of swimming in Scotland to look at how best to make the transition from the pool to outside, helping you to have the best swim leg you can.

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Why should you clean your wetsuit after every open water swim?

In most triathlons, the swim takes place outside, either in a lake, river or the sea. Training in a similar environment makes sure you are fully ready to take on the first leg of the race and gives you a chance to test out all of the race kit, especially your wetsuit. Your wetsuit is likely to be the most expensive item of equipment you have for swimming, and looking after it is crucial. In this article, Coach Denise looks at why it should be cleaned and how to do it.

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How to make the most of open water swim sessions.

Often triathletes reach for the open water early season to get ready for their first race. Initially, this dive in may be more about braving the cold than anything that can resemble a decent training session. For time-starved athletes, there may be a questionable benefit of a short swim with travel and preparation/changing time) included. Read on to find out how to make the most of the open water swim sessions.

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Is straight arm swimming better than high elbow?

In this article Coach Alan writes about how the recovery part of your swim stroke can play a significant role in your performance. Swimming is renowned in age group triathlon for often being the difficult ‘one’, the one in which no matter how hard you try it doesn’t seem to get any better. Often this is put down to a lack of ‘correct’ technique, but was it correct technique? In this instance which is correct: a straight arm recovery or a high elbow recovery?

‘It depends’ is often the coach’s default answer but in this article, Coach Alan will try and explain ‘how’ it depends.

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