# Mastering Your Open Water Swim: 3 Essential Tips for Sea Swimming | Ep 500

An episode of [Oxygenaddict Triathlon Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/951501034), 31 Jul 2024, 18 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/ea99f7d8/podcast/play/89861845/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2024-6-30%2F384067378-44100-2-1f689cf4bdd9.mp3

In this episode, Coach Rob shares three crucial tips for improving your open water sea swimming. He emphasizes the importance of practicing in the sea, and how to acclimate to unique conditions like tides, currents, and waves. Key points include adapting your stroke for waves and chop, and getting used to the buoyancy and abrasiveness of saltwater. Practical tips for post-swim and preparation for races are also discussed, ensuring athletes are well-prepared and confident on race day. * * * * * * * * SPONSORS * * * * * * * * Like what you heard in this show? Join hundreds of other age group triathletes making the most of their limited training time, training with Team OxygenAddict! http://team.oxygenaddict.com - The most comprehensive triathlon coaching program for busy age groupers. Join the Team Oxygenaddict waiting list and be the first to find out when a space becomes available: https://team.oxygenaddict.com/waiting-list * * * * * * * * * * * * precisionfuelandhydration.com Precision Fuel & Hydration help athletes personalise their hydration and fuelling strategies for training and racing. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised race nutrition plan for your next event. And then book a free 20-minute video consultation with a member of the PF&H Athlete Support Team to refine your strategy. Listeners get 15% off their first order of fuel and electrolytes with Precision Fuel & Hydration. Simply use this link and the discount will be auto-applied at the checkout. * * * * * * * * * * * * Watch on youtube Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcasts

## Transcript

[0:02] Hello and welcome to the Oxygen Addict podcast.
[0:05] We're brought to you every week by our sponsors, Precision Fuel
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[0:18] fuel. The code Oxygen 24 at Precision
[0:21] Fuel and hydration.com. Welcome to the show, everybody.
[0:24] I'm your host, Coach Rob will be.
[0:26] And every week we've been you an episode of this podcast to help
[0:29] motivate and inspire you for your triathlon goals for this
[0:32] season. Listen, a couple of quick things
[0:35] you could do for us before we jump into today's episode.
[0:38] If you do like this episode, please consider following us on
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[0:56] appreciate that. And secondly, if you're looking
[0:59] for help and advice with your triathlon training, please
[1:02] consider getting in touch with us.
[1:03] You can read all about what we offer at teamoxygenaddict.com
[1:07] and then you can e-mail us at help@oxygenaddict.com or there's
[1:11] a link in the show notes to book a call with me or one of the
[1:14] coaching team. We can discuss how we can best
[1:17] help you out with your triathlon goals for this season.
[1:21] On this episode of the show, we're going to be talking about
[1:24] three ways that you can improve your open water swim,
[1:27] specifically for swimming in the sea.
[1:30] So this is a topic that's been coming up loads recently with
[1:33] our athletes who have got races coming up that are specifically
[1:36] sea swims. And while there's a lot of
[1:39] similarities to open water swims that you might do in a lake,
[1:43] there's obviously some very big differences that you'll realise
[1:47] immediately with an open water swim in the sea.
[1:50] But there were also some subtleties around swimming in
[1:52] open water in the sea that might not be so obvious straight away
[1:56] that we can help guide you through and help stopping you
[1:59] make some mistakes. So first up, let's talk about
[2:03] the the big effect of training in seawater is going to have
[2:08] rather than just training in lake water.
[2:10] Now obviously any kind of open water swimming in preparation
[2:13] for your open water race is going to be great, but training
[2:17] specifically in open water in the sea is going to let you get
[2:20] used to some of the specific nuances of swimming in
[2:23] saltwater. The first one is not just the
[2:27] saltwater itself, but you tend to find that seas are affected a
[2:31] lot more by tides, by currents, by waves, those the big three
[2:37] things that are going to affect you.
[2:39] And on race day itself, the tide, the state of the tide will
[2:43] very hopefully be taken care of by the organisers themselves.
[2:47] But unfortunately something that they can't take care of are the
[2:50] currents on the day and the waves on the day.
[2:53] So these are things that swimming in open water in
[2:56] training can really help you get used to.
[2:58] The first thing I want to say to you here is if you've got no
[3:01] experience swimming in the sea, I highly, highly recommend that
[3:05] a you practise this before race day, but B, don't just go and
[3:10] try and get in the sea and practise on your own.
[3:13] If possible, go for coached open water swimming session in the
[3:16] sea. And at the very least make sure
[3:19] that where you go to go and do this open water sea swim is
[3:23] lifeguarded. And this can be critical because
[3:27] honestly, lots of people get themselves into trouble because
[3:30] of the current, because of undertowes, because of riptides.
[3:32] Things that they don't understand, things that are not
[3:35] obvious to someone who hasn't grown up around the sea are
[3:38] very, very obvious to a lifeguard who works on the
[3:41] beach. So my advice here is always go
[3:43] to a beach that's got a lifeguard on.
[3:44] Go and talk to the lifeguards themselves, explain what it is
[3:48] that you want to do, explain you want to go for swim.
[3:50] Ask them about any peculiarities of the area, what state the tide
[3:55] is, if there are any currents running, if there are any rips
[3:58] out there. Usually you'll find on a
[4:00] lifeguarded beach, if you swim between the lifeguards flags you
[4:03] can be pretty sure that they have, well they've done
[4:06] everything that they can to minimise the risk to you at the
[4:10] very least. It's not to say there is no
[4:11] risk, but you know people are watching out for you, you know
[4:15] that the area that they've picked for the swimmers to be in
[4:17] is the safest on that beach. If you just turn up to a random
[4:21] beach, especially if it's windy, if there's sharp, if there's
[4:25] waves breaking, you can't be sure of that and you won't know
[4:28] about the currents and the riptides underneath the water.
[4:31] So please go to a venue where you can at the very least talk
[4:34] to professional lifeguards, find out a little bit about it.
[4:38] The idea of going to a coach session in the sea or going
[4:40] swimming in an organised session, that's got other
[4:43] athletes who know about swimming in the sea as you can learn from
[4:46] their local knowledge. Anyone who's going to do Iron
[4:50] Man Wales, if you possibly can, I'd advise a trip down to Tenby
[4:54] ahead of time. Take the weekend down there,
[4:57] attend one of the open water swims that go on down there, see
[5:00] if you can attend a coached open water swim or a lifeguard at
[5:03] open water swim and just get used to being in the water.
[5:06] This applies actually to any Iron Man event you might be
[5:09] doing. Get used to being in the water
[5:12] at the event site itself. Get used to looking around and
[5:17] get look used to seeing what sites you can see and what you
[5:20] can sight on from the water. Because oftentimes things look
[5:25] very, very different from being in the water than you think
[5:28] they're going to do and from how they look when you actually out
[5:32] there standing looking into the water itself.
[5:35] So that's the first thing to think about.
[5:37] Get yourself into there in a safe, an environment as
[5:40] possible, lifeguarded and coached if possible.
[5:44] OK. The second big tip about
[5:47] improving your open water swim in the sea is, is learning about
[5:51] the effects of waves, the effects of chop and the effects
[5:54] of swell on a swimmer. So the big difference with the
[5:58] sea is obviously because the sea is so much bigger, the fetch of
[6:02] the water or the distance that the wind can blow across it is
[6:05] much, much greater. And in a southwesterly wind, if
[6:09] we take Tenby as an example, there's probably something like
[6:13] 2000 miles of open ocean when the wind is blowing in the right
[6:17] direction from from out across the open sea from across the
[6:20] Atlantic and, and up the channel that way.
[6:23] That's going to produce potentially very different water
[6:27] conditions than if you're just swimming at a local lake.
[6:29] Even if you swim in your local lake and there's been plenty of
[6:32] wind on it, Tenby beaches can have, you know, they can have
[6:36] huge amounts of swell and surf breaking on them.
[6:39] So it's very important to get used to the idea that the sea
[6:43] can be very, very different there and the state of the water
[6:46] can be very different to the state of the water in an open
[6:49] water swim just in a lake. So how do we adapt our stroke
[6:54] for the effect of larger than usual chop, let's say at the
[6:59] very minimum potentially waves, potentially rolling swell as
[7:03] well? Well, the first thing we want to
[7:05] think about and we can prepare for this in the pool, we want to
[7:08] get really confident breathing on both sides.
[7:11] If you've got chopped swell waves coming in from One
[7:14] Direction and that's the only direction you're comfortable
[7:17] breathing to, you're going to have to be breathing into the
[7:20] breaking waves in the chop the whole time.
[7:23] If you're comfortable breathing on both sides, you can simply
[7:26] breathe away from the chop and that's going to make your life a
[7:29] lot easier. And this is one of those
[7:31] examples where in a pool it's really not important which side
[7:34] you breathe on, or even arguably whether or not you can
[7:38] comfortably breathe bilaterally in open water.
[7:41] When it's it's swelly, WAVY, choppy, it can be really
[7:44] essential to have that in your armoury to be able to choose to
[7:47] breathe on the opposite side. That'll also help with your
[7:50] sighting as well. Something else that you can do
[7:54] that you can practise in the pool is swimmers often go better
[7:58] in rough water with a shorter stroke but with a faster
[8:02] turnover. So if you're someone who has a
[8:04] traditional sort of smooth, glidey swim stroke that tends to
[8:09] get very punished in open water when they swell and chop around,
[8:13] we tend to see that our best professional athletes have got a
[8:16] range of swim strokes that they can choose from and they can
[8:19] adapt to their stroke to suit the conditions.
[8:21] And you'll often see in rough water what they'll do is they'll
[8:25] shorten the stroke and increase the arm turnover so that they
[8:29] can punch through that swell and through those waves just a
[8:32] little bit faster and maintain momentum.
[8:34] If you've only ever swim in the pool, if you've only ever swim
[8:37] with a relatively slow stroke rate, and crucially that's the
[8:41] only thing that you're comfortable with, you haven't
[8:43] got that tool in your armour yet.
[8:45] You do well to learn to choose or to be able to choose that and
[8:50] you can practise that in the pool.
[8:51] That's the good news. You can practise swimming with a
[8:54] faster arm turnover but not pulling as hard and get used to,
[8:59] I often recommend people using a swim wetronome get used to
[9:04] choosing a stroke rate that's 510 strokes a minute faster than
[9:08] what you're usually comfortable swimming at so that you can
[9:11] choose that on race day if you want to.
[9:13] It's the equivalent of choosing different cadences on the bike.
[9:16] Essentially you want to be using an easier gear but turning those
[9:20] arms over faster. If you think of it that way,
[9:22] that'll help maintain momentum through any kind of chopping
[9:25] waves. So that's something that I think
[9:27] if it is rough on or rougher than you're used to, even will
[9:31] say on race day, that's a really great tool to have in your
[9:34] armoury. So that's the second tip for
[9:37] you. Plan ahead for the effects of
[9:39] waves and sharp so that you have tools in your armoury that you
[9:42] can use on race day. And the third tip that we're
[9:45] going to give you here for improving your swim and open
[9:48] water in the sea is to think about the effect of the fact the
[9:51] sea is obviously salty water, not fresh water.
[9:55] Now, you might not think that's a big deal until you actually
[9:57] get in the water. And two things are going to
[10:00] become apparent very quickly. First is we're a lot more
[10:03] buoyant in salty water than we are in freshwater.
[10:07] So much so that you, you know, a lot of athletes report they feel
[10:11] as buoyant in salty water just wearing a swimsuit as they do in
[10:15] freshwater wearing a wetsuit. It really is that much
[10:19] different. So that's a good thing.
[10:21] And that it's going to help you float.
[10:23] It's going to mean your swim times are potentially going to
[10:25] be a little bit faster. But you will feel different in
[10:29] the water. You'll feel as though,
[10:31] especially for swimmers who've got sinky legs, your legs will
[10:33] be raised, which is a good thing for going faster.
[10:37] But you'll find that if you're not used to that, you might get
[10:39] an ache in your lower back, simply because those legs are
[10:42] now floating much more than you used to.
[10:45] And it's not uncommon to see athletes like this getting a
[10:48] kind of, we'll say an extended back, not a hyperextended back,
[10:52] but the the bottom of the legs are much more raised in the
[10:54] water than they used to. And that changes how we float in
[10:58] the water. So if you're not used to that,
[11:00] if you haven't trained for that, it'll feel very different on
[11:03] race day. And especially for our Iron Man
[11:05] athletes who are going to be potentially in the water for for
[11:07] over an hour up to two hours potentially, that change of how
[11:12] your body feels in the water can be quite disconcerting and and
[11:15] can give you backache. So training in the sea can
[11:19] really help you prepare for that.
[11:21] The second thing about the salty water, and it's going to sound
[11:24] obvious when I say it is it's going to taste different in your
[11:27] mouth when you go to breathe. If you accidentally get a
[11:30] mouthful of it as you turn into the chopped breathe, for
[11:33] example, firstly it will feel very salty in your mouth and
[11:37] that's an unpleasant feeling for a lot of people.
[11:40] And secondly, if you accidentally swallow any of it,
[11:42] it's going to make you feel very sick very quickly.
[11:46] So getting used to the idea that you don't want to get a mouthful
[11:50] of salty water under any circumstances when you're racing
[11:53] or swimming in the sea, that's something that you're you're
[11:56] best to do in training to get used to it so that you know what
[12:00] to expect on race day. I absolutely advise you that you
[12:05] don't want to be going for your first sea swim on race day in
[12:09] the sea for the first time. So, so that's a really big
[12:12] point. The next thing about the salty
[12:14] water is it's much more abrasive than just lake water would be.
[12:20] And that's a strange thing to say, but people find this in the
[12:24] around the wet suit neck, around the wet suit cuffs.
[12:27] You can get really chafed if you're not used to swimming in
[12:30] salt water and if you don't use Body Glide.
[12:33] So if you've never used Body Glide or if you've never used
[12:36] sort of wet suit Lube around the neck, you definitely need to get
[12:39] yourself some. Again.
[12:41] People find they, they often don't need this at all when
[12:43] they're swimming in fresh water, but when they get into salty
[12:46] water, firstly, it's more abrasive.
[12:49] So your skin will will crack and break a lot more easily in in
[12:53] the salt water. But secondly, it's going to
[12:55] sting a lot more in the salt water.
[12:57] So plenty of body glide or some sort of wet suit loop all the
[13:01] way around the net of your wet suit to make sure that if there
[13:04] is any rubbing, it's not going to cause any cuts and that won't
[13:07] irritate you. Again, it doesn't sound like a
[13:09] big thing when we're sitting here watching YouTube or
[13:12] listening to a podcast. But if every time you turn your
[13:16] head to breathe for the next hour and a half, you get a
[13:19] really excruciating burning pain where you've got a cut on your
[13:22] neck that's been created by the wetsuit rubbing, that's really
[13:26] going to irritate you all the way through the swim,
[13:29] potentially irritate you all the way through the bike and run as
[13:31] well. So the body Glide could be a
[13:33] massive tip that can really be super helpful here.
[13:37] And the last thing about swimming in the sea I'm going to
[13:39] mention here is after you get out of the water, people who've
[13:43] seen the videos of Conan will see this.
[13:45] If the race offers you the opportunity to hose off with
[13:48] hose pipes, take it. Take the five or 10 seconds,
[13:52] strip your wetsuit down to the waist.
[13:54] Rinse as much of you as you can with the with the fresh water.
[13:58] And at the very least get it all off your face and in your hair
[14:01] as much as you possibly can. Because as you move on to the
[14:05] bike, and especially if it's a hot day, the sea water is then
[14:08] going to evaporate off you and leave that salt encrusted all
[14:12] over your skin, which is going to be uncomfortable and it's
[14:15] also going to make you feel quite dehydrated.
[14:18] Now whether it actually does dehydrate you or not, I'm not
[14:22] sure. But my experience has been if
[14:24] you go out onto the bike on a really hot day covered in salt
[14:27] water, you very quickly end up with your Tri suit caked in salt
[14:31] with your body caked in salt. It just doesn't feel good.
[14:35] And again, anything that takes away from that feeling of your
[14:39] body being the same as it usually is in training, it's
[14:42] going to be a mismatch for your brain on race day.
[14:44] You want to do away with as much of that as you can.
[14:47] So if the race has got those hose pipes to use, brilliant.
[14:50] If not, it's not a bad idea to have a litre of water in
[14:53] transition by your bike that you can just hose over at least your
[14:57] face and your neck. Just get rid of that salt water
[15:00] before you head out onto the bike.
[15:02] So there are three big tips for preparing for open water
[15:07] swimming in the sea. The first one is that you've got
[15:09] to get used to training in the salt water.
[15:12] Learn about the tides, learn about chop, learn about
[15:14] currents, get comfortable and feel comfortable actually in the
[15:18] sea environment. The 2nd is adapting your stroke
[15:22] for the effect of waves and chop.
[15:25] Get used to that and you can practise that in the pool.
[15:28] And the third is get used to the idea that salty water is going
[15:31] to make your body float differently and it's also going
[15:33] to feel different on your body and as you breathe and if you
[15:36] get it in your mouth. The key thing here is all of
[15:39] this can be trained for and prepared for if you approach it
[15:43] with enough time in advance. Don't be the athlete who leaves
[15:46] it until race day itself to get in for the first time into salt
[15:50] water and realise things feel very different.
[15:53] I hope this has been helpful for you.
[15:55] I hope if you've got a race this year in salt water, hope it goes
[15:59] really, really well and hope you go in prepared and hope you end
[16:02] up there on race day morning feeling super confident that
[16:04] you've done everything that you can and you're ready to go on
[16:08] race day morning. OK, then that brings us to the
[16:12] end of this week's episode. So here are some discount codes
[16:15] and deals for you over at Precision Fuel and
[16:17] hydration.com. Use the code Oxygen 24 for 15%
[16:21] off your first electrolyte order.
[16:23] And over at teamoxygenaddict.com I think we've got the most
[16:27] comprehensive triathlon coaching programme for busy age groupers.
[16:30] If you've enjoyed what you've heard today and the advice has
[16:33] helped you out, well, great stuff.
[16:34] I hope that's helped put some of your fears at rest.
[16:37] And I know from some of the calls we've had, it's helping
[16:40] raise the right questions in the minds of people as to whether
[16:44] their current coaching relationship is working for
[16:46] them. If you're looking for a change
[16:48] or if you're looking for high quality, proven coaching for
[16:51] Iron Man or 70.3 Triathlon this year, you can just check out the
[16:55] details of our coaching packages on our website at
[16:57] teamoxygenaddict.com. And then if you're interested,
[17:01] there's a link in the show notes below.
[17:03] You can join our waiting list and you'll be notified if a slot
[17:06] becomes available. And at that point you'll have a
[17:08] chance to book a call with us and see if you'd be a good fit
[17:11] for joining the team. So although we don't have slots
[17:14] available at the moment, we'll make those call appointments
[17:18] available to people as and when we do have athletes who end
[17:22] their coaching packages during the season if and when that
[17:24] happens. So remember, there's links in
[17:26] the show notes so you don't have to remember them until next
[17:29] week. Have a great safe training and
[17:31] racing week. I'm coach Rob Wilby and you've
[17:33] been listening to the Oxford United podcast.
[17:36] See you.

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