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Open Water Swimming
The X Factor
By Clint Lien
Photo:
Erin Ruff
 I
did my first triathlon in 1984 and I haven’t
gone through a season of training without
including a good helping of open water swimming,
but I never kidded myself – I knew open water
swimming was not giving me the same returns on
my training hours that pool swimming was. The
precise measurements – the clock on the wall –
the feet in front of me and the hands behind
me. It’s almost impossible for me to get in the
pool with a group and not work hard.
But jumping from the pool to the puddle always
made it easy to back off. Usually the sun is
out. You’ve got your wetsuit on and you’re with
one or two friends who may or may not swim
somewhere close to your times. Either way it
doesn’t usually matter. A leisurely pace out to
some land mark and back was the standard issue
for the day. Afterwards we’d lay in the sand
and work on our tans. If we ever cracked forty
minutes in the drink it was a good day.
I used open water swims as recovery sessions - a
time to practice sighting and maybe some
drafting. That’s how it’s been for the last
twenty three years.
This year it’s been different.
This year I got involved in a local triathlon
club here in Victoria called Team X.
When head coach Steve Chater told me that three
of the six scheduled swim workouts would be at
the lake as soon as it was warm enough to get in
(and even a few weeks before that time) I kissed
goodbye the gains I’d made in the pool up till
then.
Three open water swims a week seemed a great way
to add about four minutes to my IM swim time.
Most of the Team Xers were Oly distance swimmers
and a loss of a minute or two in the swim would
have serious ramifications over that distance.
To say I was more than a little concerned would
be an understatement.
Our first session was called for a Tuesday
morning in mid May at 7 AM. I, along with nine
or ten other intrepid souls, showed up with our
wetsuits clutched firmly in hand. We’d had a
dreadful winter/spring here in Victoria and the
water would be crispy.
I took some comfort in the knowledge that no
matter what Chater would ask us to do, once we
were out there we’d all just settle into our own
little standard lake effort and I’d get through
the workout by going to my happy place for about
forty minutes and then get out. Hot coffee
would follow quickly.
On the beach it was clear the coach had been
there long before us. Through the mist coming
off the lake we could see him coming to shore in
his canoe and out on the lake were six orange
extra large garbage bags, inflated and floating
in place.
Steve, with his trusty Ranger Rick laser
sighting glasses, had anchored (with sand filled
bleach bottles) the bags in precise distances
from each other – the first set of two were
twenty five meters apart, fifty for the next two
and hundred for the last two.
He had a workout planned. This wasn’t going to
be a standard “swim to the big island and back”
session.
We were off. Ninety minutes and 4,300 meters
later we crawled out of the lake – as good a
workout as I’d ever done in any pool – with the
added benefit of practising my sighting,
drafting, buoy navigation and mass starts.
The weeks went by. The water got warmer and I
didn’t miss a workout. Few of us did. Swimming
open water was a pleasant change from the
monotony of the pool and few of us believed we
were losing anything by doing the majority of
our yards in the big puddle.
A recent session in the pool confirmed that, not
only had my swim times not suffered but had, in
fact, improved. I was turning in the fastest
100s I’d produced in over seventeen years.
It was clear that an open water swim can be as
beneficial from a fitness point of view as a
pool swim if the swim is structured and
implemented with thought and effort. Team X is
lucky to have someone like Chater who is willing
to get out there and make it happen. But if you
don’t have a Chater in your life, then be one.
Maybe you don’t need the laser measurements, but
knowing exactly how far you’re swimming makes
progress easier to measure. Also, having exact
measurements makes it easier for the coach to
ration out the various intensities as dictated
by where the swimmers are in their race season.
Another benefit is the flexibility of the
course. Every time we come out to the lake it’s
a mystery as to how the buoys will be placed.
Chater makes a point of studying upcoming race
courses and he’ll place the buoys to mimic that
course. We practice shallow water swimming and
run-outs (I generally find myself getting passed
by about nine athletes in the five meter run
out.)
Unlike the pool, it’s not practical to expect
technical work on your stroke in the open water,
but technical swim skills don’t stop with your
stroke. There’s sighting, buoy navigation,
swimming in a crowd, drafting and mass starts.
And while the coach may not be able to walk the
deck, inspecting your stroke, having one
standing on the shore ensures that if you decide
you don’t feel like bringing your ‘A’ game, it
will be noted.
So, if you decide to come out to a Team X swim
you can count on a day at the beach but it’s a
day where your swimming and racing skills will
improve.
If you don’t have a Team X in your neighbourhood
– make one!!!
If any Victoria athletes would like to check out
the Team X open water swim go here:
http://www.teamxtri.com
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