EVENT OWNER CHARITY PARTNERS EVENT PARTNER FUNDRAISING PLATFORM PARTNER

The Swimathon Foundation Charity reg no. 1123870 | Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666) and the Isle of Man (1103) �

Marie Curie - Registered in England and Wales with Charity reg no. 207994 and in Scotland with Charity reg no. SC038731

5KM OPEN WATER

TRAINING PLANENTER AT OPENWATERSWIMATHON.ORG

EVENT OWNER CHARITY PARTNERS EVENT PARTNER FUNDRAISING PLATFORM PARTNER

The Swimathon Foundation Charity reg no. 1123870 | Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666) and the Isle of Man (1103) �

Marie Curie - Registered in England and Wales with Charity reg no. 207994 and in Scotland with Charity reg no. SC038731

For many people the move from the pool to the open water can be slightly daunting. For first-timers, and sometimes even more experienced open water swimmers, the cold water, reduced visibility and tight wetsuits can all pose a challenge.

This training plan has been designed to equip you with the skills, confidence and adequate fitness levels to tackle your open water swim. If you follow this plan, which features training in both pool and open water environments, then you’ll be more than ready for your swim and most importantly you’ll have an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

This plan is split into 3 different sections. Firstly we introduce you to the key open water skills which you should aim to master before your swim - these skills will allow you to adapt your swimming technique for the open water environment. Next we’ll cover common errors which are best avoided. And lastly we’ve laid out a training plan for you which features both pool and open water training and which will give you the very best preparation for your swim.

Tom Bromly is the Co-founder of Swim Open - a company that specialises in teaching open water and triathlon swimming. Launched in 2016 they’ve already helped hundreds of swimmers to make that leap from the pool to the open water. They run group courses and offer 1-2-1 coaching which focusses on practicing the fundamental skills necessary to become an effective open water swimmer. They coach everyone from the absolute first-timer wanting to conquer their open water anxieties all the way up to the Ironman triathlete looking to perfect their open water technique. It’s time to escape the city and conquer the open water!

www.swim-open.com

Swim Open

Moving from the pool to the Open Water

Part 1: Key Open Water Skills to master!Acclimatisation and managing anxiety

Swimming Straight

Sighting

Every time you swim in an open water environment you should a follow an acclimatisation ritual which will allow your body and even your mind to adjust to the open water and the effects of the colder water. Start by splashing your hands and face with the water, then ease yourself into the water gently (ideally by walking down a ramp or a shallow gradient). Once in the water, pull the front of your wetsuit forward to allow the water to enter and so to allow your body to cool down and to adjust to this new environment.

Being able to swim in a straight line is essential in open water. With the absence of lane ropes and black lines to guide you, coupled with reduced visibility and variable weather conditions, this can be harder than it sounds! Above all, it’s important to swim in a straight line to avoid swimming further than the marked course distance. Did you know that in open water races, most swimmers tend to swim 30% further than the course distance itself?

Sighting is the term used to refer to the process of looking where you’re going in open water and maintaining the straight line swimming trajectory that we talked about above. The absence of lane ropes, black lines and the inability to see the bottom in an open water environment makes navigation and swimming in a straight line somewhat challenging.

Next, it’s time to put your face in the water: this may be for only a few seconds at first but try to do this a few times and extend the duration each time. Add in some breathing and while your face is looking downwards start breathing out calmly and effectively. Before you set off on your swim, try some floating. Float on your back and then on your front with your arms and legs apart in a star-shape. This will again help your body, your muscles, your lungs and your mind to relax before you set off on your swim. Take note of how much your wetsuit has increased your buoyancy!

Above all, to swim in a straight line you should aim for symmetry in your stroke and as such avoid situations whereby one arm is crossing over the centreline of the body. Good body position and alignment should keep you swimming in a straight line. Follow our “swimming straighter” tips and drills below and then you’ll be able to swim the right distance and save energy!

In order to sight, you should lift your head to the front. A good sighting technique involves just lifting your eyes out of the water and then rolling your head to the side to breath. This should all take place in one smooth and fluid motion. It takes practice to integrate good sighting technique into your front crawl stoke without interrupting your rhythm and momentum. Definitely avoid keeping your head elevated for several strokes at a time as this can be extremely fatiguing.

Part 2: Common mistakes to avoid

Swimming with your head too high

Shallow arm recovery

Kicking too much

Swimming with your head too high will cause your hips and legs to drop therefore making it impossible to achieve that all important streamlined body position. Worse still, a high head position is often accompanied by a need to kick too aggressively in order to try and regain that optimal body position.

Save energy and avoid excess fatigue by maintaining a streamlined body position with a good head position. Your head will be in the perfect position if the water line is just above the top of your goggles and you’re looking forwards and downwards through the water at an angle of around 45 degrees.

A shallow arm recovery is often a result of poor mobility and reduced flexibility in the shoulder, but it can also be caused by a bad quality or ill-fitting, tight wetsuit.

To avoid this common error make sure you practice high-elbow drills in the pool and make a conscious effort to focus on high elbow recovery while you’re swimming in open water environments.

Swimmers who are panicked or nervous often tend to kick much more than they need to. They might feel that they need to kick hard to stay afloat or to swim faster - this is not the case.

Remember that most of your forward propulsion will come from your arms and not your legs and most importantly your wetsuit will give you much more buoyancy in the water. As a result you don’t need to kick as much as you might ordinarily do in the pool.

To really understand just how much extra buoyancy is afforded by wearing a wetsuit, try floating on your back with your arms and legs apart in a star shape. You’ll be shocked by how effortlessly you can float this way. Kick less and save energy for your arm pulls!

Part 3: Your Training Plan This training plan is split into two parts. The first 3 weeks take place in the pool where you will work on specific pool-based drills to prepare you for the open water whilst also building up your fitness and endurance. For the last 3 weeks it’s time to head down to the open water, practice your open water skills and push your fitness and endurance levels even further.

A quick note about drills and skills: when it comes to practicing drills it’s best to remember that quality is better than quantity. Practising drills and skills while you’re overly fatigued won’t add any benefit to your training sessions. Drills in this plan are placed near the beginning of your session so that you have the energy to focus on the more technical elements and so you can try and apply the drill in question to the remainder of your session.

Week 1 (at the pool)

Warm Up: 4 x 150m alternate between backstroke/front crawl

Breathing drills:

1) Breathing 5, 10, 15, 20

At the shallow end of the pool, face towards the wall and hold the side with both hands - place your face in the water and try this breathing technique.

Breathe out for 5 seconds (5 times in a row), then 10 seconds (5 times in a row), then 15 seconds (5 times in row) and then 20 seconds (5 times in row). In between each exhalation, lift your face and take one calm inhalation.

Experiment with breathing fast and explosively and then slower and more calmly, allowing the air to trickle out of your mouth.

2) Breathing patterns 3, 5, 7, 9

4 x 100m (alternating the breathing pattern on each)

In this drill, experiment with breathing patterns so that you can learn how to control your breathing while swimming and allow your body to acclimatise itself to more challenging breathing patterns.

For each 50m, change the breathing pattern. Firstly breathe every 3 strokes, and then every 5 strokes, and then every 7 strokes and finally every 9 strokes.

Main set:

10 x 200m (threshold pace – swim at a pace as fast as possible whilst maintaining good technique)

Cool down:

2 x 50m moderate front crawl

Distance to swim: 3000m

Skill to master: breathing

Repeat this session: 2 x per week

Effective breathing is the key to good swimming and also helps to mitigate panic and anxiety. Practice these drills so that you can master your breathing when it comes to swimming in the open water.

Week 3 (at the pool)

Week 2 (at the pool)

Warm Up: 4 x 150m alternate between front-crawl/backstroke or breaststroke

Swimming Straight Drills:

1) Black Line Drill (4 x 100m)

If you can manage to get a lane to yourself, practice swimming directly down the middle of the lane following the black line (or other markers) on the bottom of the pool. Keep the black line running through the centreline of your body with your arms to either side.

Doing this drill will give you a greater self-awareness of your own technique and whether you tend to drift to one side or another.

2) Kicking with good body alignment (4 x 50m)

Kick using a front crawl leg kick with your arms directly out in front of your shoulders. Breathe by lifting your head to the front when needed.

This drill will help to promote good body alignment, preventing cross-over, and ensure that you’re swimming straighter through the water and not ‘snaking’ from side to side.

Main Set:

6 x 400m swim (threshold pace - swim at a pace as fast as possible whilst maintaining good technique)

Cool Down:

4 x 100m moderate front crawl (remain conscious of swimming straight)

Warm Up: 4 x 150m alternate between front crawl/backstroke or breaststroke

Sighting Drills:

1) Look for the clock (4 x 100m)

Swim for 10 strokes with a powerful front crawl and then lift the head to ‘sight’ at an immovable object at the end of the lane, perhaps a clock or the lifeguard chair.

Remember to just lift your eyes above the surface of the water and not your whole head/face - this will waste too much energy. Try to coordinate sighting forward followed by a breath immediately afterwards to the side.

2) Google empty and relax (4 x 50m)(1200)

Swim two lengths and as you go incorporate at least one roll onto your back - take this opportunity to float, and relax with your head up to the ceiling and your arms and legs apart. This is a good skill to develop before you make it to the open water. While you’re on your back you can practice emptying and adjusting your goggles if need be too.

Main Set:

6 x 400m no rest front crawl

During the main set try not to touch the walls at each end. Instead, when you’re about to reach the wall, change direction by swimming in a loop rather than pushing off from the wall. This will replicate the feeling of your open water swim.

10 x 100m front-crawl (threshold pace - swim at a pace as fast as possible whilst maintaining good technique)

Cool Down:

3 x 50m moderate front crawl

Distance to swim: 4000m

Skill to master: swimming straight

Repeat this session: 3 x per week

Distance to swim: 4750m

Skill to master: sighting

Repeat this session: 3 x per week

Warm Up: do a quick on-land warm up before your swim and remember to acclimatise on entering the water

Open Water Skill practice: sighting test

50m between two buoys

This sighting test involves swimming between two buoys - the challenge being to swim as straight as possible by sighting effectively. If you don’t sight often enough then you may find yourself veering off course but on the other hand if you sight too often then you’ll be majorly interrupting the rhythm of your stroke, causing you to slow down and become fatigued.

Top tips:

• Rather than sighting towards the buoy itself, pick a large immovable landmark directly behind the buoy that you’re sighting towards.

• Try not to sight too often (every 10-12 strokes).

• Remember to just lift your eyes out of the water and not your whole face/head.

Main set:

3 x 1000m (largest loop), 1 x 50m (small loop)

• Focus on maintaining good sighting technique

• Focus on sticking to a single and consistent breathing pattern (every 3 or 5 strokes)

Cool down:

Try some sculling or relaxed floating on your back and front

Warm Up: Do a quick on-land warm up before you get in the water: some star jumps and some stretches.

Open Water Skill practice:

Use this first session to acquaint yourself and acclimatise your body with the open water environment. Put your acclimatisation ritual into practice.

• Splash your face and hands

• Ease yourself into the water slowly

• Put some water down the front of your wetsuit

• Breathe with face in the water

• Float on front and back

Main set:

3 x 400m/500m

Try out the smallest loop available at your open water venue. This is usually around 400m or 500m.

• Focus on good breathing - breathe every 3 or 5 strokes

• Remember you can spin onto your back at any time to relax and regain composure

• Remember to integrate sighting into your swim (on average every 10-12 strokes)

Cool down:

Try some sculling or some relaxed floating on your back and front

Week 4 (in the open water)

Week 5 (in the open water)

Distance to swim: 1500m

Skill to master: acclimatisation and managing anxiety

Repeat this session: 2 x per week

Distance to swim: 3550m

Skill to master: sighting

Repeat this session: 3 x per week

Warm Up: do a quick on-land warm up before your swim and remember to acclimatise on entering the water

Open Water Skill practice:

(4 x 100m)

Pick two buoys, or piers, that you can swim between - ideally around 100m apart

• Focus on swimming as straight as possible whilst swimming between these two points

• Remember to keep good body alignment with arms in directly in front of shoulders - avoid crossing over the centreline of the body

• Remember to breathe to both sides and keep a good balance to your stroke

Main set:

5 x 1000m loop

(rest in between each loop, focus on maintaining a medium to fast pace whilst maintaining good technique)

Technique elements to focus on:

• Effective breathing (pick a breathing pattern - every 3 or 5 strokes - and stick to it)

• Sight efficiently

• If you need to, you always have the option to spin onto your back to rest and relax your back and to rest and relax

• Remember to follow your acclimatisation ritual, get in the water before your event and make sure you leave enough time for your body to adjust to the water

• Get to the venue early and make sure you study the layout of the course you will be swimming (if possible, do this well in advance of the event)

• Pick out some landmarks that can assist you with your sighting

And most importantly, stay relaxed, have fun and have an amazing swim!Good luck,

Good luck,

The Swim Open Teaching Team

Week 6 (in the open water)

Distance to swim: 5400m

Skill to master: swimming straight

Repeat this session: 3 x per week

On the big day itself... remember these tips