Open Water swim, how you should do it ! (with videos)

This weekend we had the ITU World Championships in Hamburg, Germany where the fastest athletes in the World had a chance to compete again. I had a pleasure to race there and the amazing lake makes it for a beautiful swim!

Dear athletes,

This weekend we had the ITU World Championships in Hamburg, Germany where the fastest athletes in the World had a chance to compete again. I had a pleasure to race there and the amazing lake makes it for a beautiful swim!

I love to watch the pro athletes swimming, specially because it shows to all triathletes out there that you should NOT swim like the Olympian swimmers you keep trying to compare yourselves!

Most of the athletes here have a swim background, some were Olympic level and they all swim very similar (technique) :

1 - Breathe every two strokes - Again I have been saying this to all for years that despite the bilateral swimming helps with form (you keep head in the water longer so you don't messed up with your stroke) you are breathing less!!!! So find a side you are more comfortable (and efficient) and start breathing at every stroke so you will get more air = swim faster !

2 - Quick arm turnover - Again this is open water swimming where you will be swimming long distances so the goal is to be fast using the least amount of energy. When you increase your turnover, you improve your body position (bringing legs up to surface), creating less drag and reduce the need for kicking (use too much energy). Also it reduces the amount of force per stroke (breaks effort in small pieces) , increase breathing frequency and help maintain speed.

3 - Straight arm recovery - If you keep your arms straight during the recovery phase of your stroke (after the pull to hand entry phase) , it helps to increase arm turnover and require less shoulder mobility (problem of most non swimmers) . Also correct most of the problem with "crossing" the arm when entering the water.

4 - Sightseeing - When the athletes are looking up to see where the buoy is, they DO NOT use this time to breath!!! Big mistake most triathletes do! If you try to breath when you are also trying to look up, it will require you to keep your head out of the water for a longer period of time, making your legs to drop down and causing you to STOP your forward motion. Then to get back to your pace, you have to exert extra effort.

Take a look at the videos (very short) and pay attention to the details I mentioned above ! Enjoy your swim and get faster !!