What do you do with a swimmer who panics at open water swim races or triathlon swimming? As a triathlon coach who has run hundreds of open water swim sessions, I’ve thought about this a lot.
Here are six methods we use in our group sessions to help prepare triathletes and swimmers for their open water event.
✅ Warming Up Well Prior To ‘Starting The Session’.
Raising the heart rate gradually, finding your stroke rhythm and your breathing pattern. Then a few faster efforts to get revved up prior to the main set. This is something you can often do prior to a race. However, if you can’t, try and raise the heart rate by other means – a short run, some aggressive arms swings, some swim cord work. A good warm up is a key component in avoiding race day panic!
✅ Starting Fast, Recovering Whilst Swimming And Settling Into A Steady Pace.
We all set off too fast in a race. We don’t mean to, the excitement and adrenaline take over. To familiarise ourselves with this, our group sessions include quite a lot of work on starting fast and then settling into a more manageable and maintainable pace. The ‘uh-oh’ feeling of triathlon swimming on race day when you’re 400m into your race and exhausted, is something that the swimmer is used to and can then be managed rather than letting panic set in.
✅ Recognise The Signs Of Working Too Hard Or Going Too Fast.
Pacing work has been a big part of our sessions. Recognising what is a sustainable race pace, what that feels like, is important. Just because you’re in a race, doesn’t mean you should swim the start like it’s a 50m sprint. We’ve done work on what ‘over-pacing’ – or enthusiasm as we like to call it – feels like. Once we recognise the signs of this enthusiasm, we can take action before we blow up in a race.
✅ Pacing.
As we’ve identified above, pacing is key. We’ve worked a lot on pacing in our group sessions. We’ve included:
- Fast starts and then settling into a race pace.
- Building pace efforts, where we start slower and then build the intensity as the swim progresses.
- Even paced swimming – holding the same pace throughout the race or interval.
Having the ability to switch paces and adapt to the race is important.
✅ Slow The Stroke And Reduce The Kicking.
During part of the pace work, and the fast start efforts we’ve been doing, settling in to a sustainable pace often means slowing the stroke rate a little and definitely reducing the leg kick. This lowers the heart rate and helps regain a sense of composure and confidence. We’ve thought about our leg kick a lot – and the impact it can have on intensity and effort levels, without actually increasing our pace.
✅ Swimming In Amongst Other Swimmers.
Anxiety on race day often comes because you’re in amongst many other swimmers. In our open water sessions, we’ve included this in every session.
Swimming really close to other swimmers.
Being comfortable drafting other people, or letting swimmers behind tap your toes without putting you off.
Being confident around turn buoys and knowing what line to take and how to get around quickly.
Work on these skills in your open water sessions!
With all of the work above, the swimmers should feel confident and comfortable and ready to race!
Open Water Skills Guide
I have put together a guide to open water swimming / triathlon swimming – packed with more open water swim advice – and is available (for free) in a PDF. If you’d like a copy, click here!
Is there anything else you would do to help reduce anxiety on race day? Anything you’ve tried that works for you?
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