Putting Training Into Practice

The swim in Ironman Vichy had everything that I had been teaching swimmers at our open water group sessions.

1. The importance of being able to comfortably breath on both sides

The course was pretty much an out and back course. The sun was rising, so it was low and directly in your eyes if you breathed towards it. If you only breathe one side, then you would have been dazzled! There was also a little bit of swell in the water, which meant that if you breathed into the swell, you had a good chance of swallowing water! Being able to breathe both sides is definitely a skill you should master

2. Sighting

Such a long course meant that the buoys were well spaced out and pretty difficult to spot. It was really important to sight against landmarks to make sure you swam straight. A church spire was in line with end buoy and was my sighting point yesterday. Again, swimming straight in open water is definitely something you should make high priority!

3. Swimming in groups

Even with a rolling swim start, bunches form during the swim. I had to be comfortable swimming amongst others, as swimmers collided into me, or I spotted a gap and swam through others. Important not to panic after a few bumps and collisions and keep your stroke rhythm as much as possible.

4. Finally, drafting

After about 2,500m I had swum my way through packs of swimmers and I found a group of about five swimmers that were swimming at more or less my pace. I opted to save some energy and swim in the middle of them. Happy with pace and happy to conserve energy.

Open water skills. It’s really important to have these skills to maximise your race day swim. These can be practiced in the pool and in open water. Training with the end goal in mind, these skills will all be part of the Triathlon Swim Squad programme.

Get in touch if this sounds like something you might like to improve and refine as part of your swim training.