Open water swimming is gaining immense popularity with each passing day. Pools and reservoirs all over the world are teeming with swimmers and coaches, tirelessly training on intervals, volumes, equipment, technique, and more. However, beginners as well as seasoned swimmers transitioning to open water often encounter problems that they haven't faced during their regular training routine.
To tackle this, we've got you covered with three easy-to-do drills to acclimate you to the open water. Though the exercises might appear easy, they are, in fact, quite challenging.
Drill No. 1. Rhythmic Breathing
The way you breathe while moving in the water is essential to swimming efficiency. Through relaxed and paced breathing, the swimmer achieves two main goals, namely they optimize oxygen consumption and maintain optimal coordination in space, which is fundamental for open water swimming. And finally, tempo relaxed breathing gradually increases pulmonary volume. In order to get the benefits listed above, remember and apply the following techniques:
Drill No. 2. Speed Boosting
When preparing for a long open water swim, you need to remember that it's not a single speed swim over a long distance. The point is that when you cover a long distance in open water, you won't be able to maintain a constant speed. To vary your speed more effectively, train and develop your speed endurance. This skill is vital to training open water swimmers. To develop this skill as much as possible, do the following exercises:
- Swim 200 meters at a relaxed pace.
- Swim 50 meters freestyle. Half of this distance, keep your head above water. Try to stay within 1.5 minutes for 50 meters. Repeat this exercise eight times.
- Swim another 200 meters at a steady pace.
- Swim 50 meters freestyle. Complete 4 sets of 50m. Swim alternately 50 meters at a fast pace, breathing in every five arm strokes. Try to cover this distance in no more than 1.5 minutes. Repeat the exercise 4 times.
- End with a 200 meter-swim at a slow pace.
When doing this exercise, remember to alternate between intensive pace and recovery. This is a very important point, because you will not only be able to swim the given distance quickly as a result, but you will also be able to recover quickly.
Drill No. 3. Speed Play
Here we will talk about interval training – fartlek. The meaning of training is to develop the ability to swim at variable speeds. As previously stated, efficiency of swimming in open water is largely determined by the ability of the swimmer to increase and decrease the rate of movement in accordance with such factors as water temperature, current, etc. Fartlek is a long swim at one pace followed by a sharp increase in speed. This training does not develop prolonged speed endurance but rather the explosive power needed for rapid accelerations of short duration.
Conclusion
Apparently, this set of exercises is enough for a workout. But if you still have strength, you can continue and swim more at a relaxed pace.
And to get even better at open water swimming, you can train with the help of a swimming coach. They are sure to give you the necessary feedback as you exercise and let you know if you’re doing the drills correctly.
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