By Gary Emich - SportsTG · Practice drafting in the pool with one or two friends. With experience...

n the open water, do you:• Get nervous being so far from shore • Have difficulty sighting

• Swim a crooked line• Lose that nice form and rhythm you have

in the pool• Panic when choppy water or waves

smack into you• Hate the body contact of all those flailing

arms and legs?If so, read on.

NervousnessConfidence and composure are the basicbuilding blocks of all successful open waterswimmers. They don’t hyperventilate andgasp for air when they first jump in. Theydon’t worry about being sushi on the sharkbuffet table. Waves crashing on top of themisn’t enough to derail their mental concen-tration.

But how can you get to that same feelingof oneness with the water? It’s really notthat difficult. If you’ve ever transitionedfrom road cycling to mountain biking,remember how you had to spend time in thesaddle until you felt comfortable in the offroad environment? It’s the same with openwater – with each outing you’ll gain moreconfidence and composure; and after awhile you’ll find yourself looking forward tothese workouts – guaranteed.

Some of you may not get to swim regu-larly in open water; so seize every opportu-nity that presents itself. It’s not realistic todo all your swimming in the pool and thenexpect an easy transition to open water.

SightingA finely honed ability to sight is anotherimportant skill of experienced open waterswimmers. And, this is something you canpractice in the pool. During your warm-up orcool-down, pick an object at the end of thelane: an exit sign, a window, a life ring, etc.Raise your head slightly without disruptingyour horizontal body axis, locate the objectand return to your breathing rotation.

For some swimmers, it’s easier to take abreath, glance slightly forward and then puttheir faces back in the water. For others, it’smore natural to glance first and then take abreath. Try each way and see which worksbest for you.

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in open waterSUCCESS

The important thing about that forwardglance is to maintain “alligator eyes” (pic-ture an alligator with only its eyes above thesurface). Don’t lift your head so high thatyour nose, mouth and chin are out of thewater – only your eyes.

How often should you sight? An easyway to find out is to push off the pool wallwith your eyes closed. Count how manystrokes you travel before you hit the lanedivider. Do this multiple times. If you hit thedivider each fifth or sixth stroke then sightevery fifth or sixth stroke.

Do you veer to the same side of the laneeach time? If so, use this information toyour advantage. If you always veer right,then position yourself to the left of the packon race day to help you swim a straighterline.

You also may want to rethink using thosesmall pool goggles in the open water.Without a lane line to follow, you need thebigger peripheral and direct field of visionafforded by larger lens goggles.

Bilateral BreathingBilateral breathing goes hand in hand withsighting skills. Though very difficult to mas-ter initially, it’s one of the most valuableskills you can develop. Practice during everysingle pool workout. Breathe right, strokeright, stroke left, stroke right, breathe left,stroke left, stroke right, stroke left and startthe cycle again with a right breath. It takesup to 15,000 muscle repetitions to repro-gram your body so be patient.

The payback is three-fold. Your neck mus-cles become more balanced. You improveyour sighting since you now can look in twodirections. And, most important duringchoppy water conditions, when the waveshit your face from one direction, simplybreathe on the other.

DraftingDrafting is another useful skill to learn sinceit allows you to go faster while using lessenergy. The best drafting position is 6-12inches behind the swimmer ahead of you.Stay close enough to the swimmers so youcan tuck into the slip stream but not soclose you’re continually slapping their feet.Practice drafting in the pool with one or twofriends. With experience you can tell when

By Gary Emich

you’re being pulled along and when you’ve lostthe zone.

An important thing to remember - make surethe person you’re drafting off is swimming astraight line. You’ll lose any drafting advantagesif you’re zigzagging all over the place.

High Recovery Elbow & Long Body PositionIn pool swimming, the focus is on one perfectstroke after another. In choppy water, you fre-quently need to adapt your stroke to water con-ditions. Maintain a high recovery elbow so thewaves don’t wash over your arm. Wait ‘til thewave/chop conditions are right and then quicklythrust your hand and arm back into the water.

A longer body position also is essential to pre-vent you from being bounced about like a ragdoll. Keep as long or as “stick-like” a body posi-tion as possible. Keep both arms even with orforward of your chest for the entire stoke cycle.Keep your arm extended in front of you untilyour other arm is about to enter the water andthen begin your pull back – think open water“catch-up” stroke.

Aquatic Wind TunnelIf currents are present, they latch onto even theslightest body protrusion to thwart your forwardmomentum. Visualize swimming in an aquaticwind tunnel with your body moving through thesmallest “hole” possible to minimize the cur-rents’ effect.

Multiple SpeedsExperienced open water swimmers swim at aquick steady pace throughout the race. But theyalso can speed it up when necessary to over-take another swimmer, to break away from thepack or to move from one pack of swimmers toanother. During your open water sessions, prac-tice going race pace for a while with several 100-or 200-yard sprints. Also practice the skills out-lined in this article. Instead of swimming theentire session at one speed or just to get in the“mileage,” mix it up! Use your time in the openwater wisely!

Gary Emich is a level 1 USAT certified coach spe-cializing in open water swimming. He recentlycompleted his 500th Alcatraz swim without wet-suit or fins – a new world record. Gary also co-hosts a new open water swimming DVD “LaneLines to Shore Lines: Your Complete Guide toOpen Water Swimming.” See the free trailer orcontact Gary at LaneLinesToShoreLines.com.

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