OPEN WATER TRAINING

Each open water venue, has unique landmarks or naturally occurring foliage, which can be used to sight in the your swim. Taking this into account, you can easily adjust the workout below to suit the environment you are swimming in.

Warm Up: 200 strokes easy freestyle; 100 strokes of sighting every 4, 6, 8 strokes repeat till reach 100; 100 strokes of 6 kick switch freestyle, focusing on warming up the legs.

Main Set:

10 x 200 strokes as 50 strokes water polo freestyle, 50 strokes moderate build, 50 strokes sighting every 8-10 strokes, 50 strokes solid fast rate. Take 15-20 secs rest after each one.

NB: This set can be done as 200 strokes one way, then 200 back to the starting spot. It could also be completed in one line.

2 x 500 strokes freestyle, concentrating on rotating and engaging your lat muscles to drive the stroke. Take 20 secs rest in between the 2 repeats.

4 x 100 strokes of freestyle. Practise blind swimming. Spot something unmoving on the shoreline and set yourself in line with that landmark. Start your 100 strokes, and when you are finished see how far you are away from the landmark. It helps give a sense of sighting when conditions are too tough to see.

Cool Down: With a slow swim to shore, and can do backstroke or breaststroke if you want.

More workouts coming soon!