Summer is on its way - shall I ditch the pool swims in favour of the open water??

It's a common question asked by triathletes preparing for races which are usually in Open Water, but also by swimmers who still want to maintain their fitness but are drawn to the beauty and tranquility of the open water.

So, should you forgo your chlorinated repetitve slog up and down the blue lines, trying not so swallow band-aids and hairballs, and not get lane-rage from the breast-strokers??

Personally, I believe that if you leave the pool behind for a few months you will get slower, so if race performance is important to you, keep those speed endurance sessions in the pool going through the summer.

Now, obviously you do need to get in the open water, to get used to the consistency, the wetsuit, the temperature, and practice those all-important skills such as sighting, turns and starts. Your open water sessions should still have a purpose. So when you DO go out, your know what you are trying to get out of the session.

Here's an example of a session I would give one of my athletes:

200m easy warm up to acclimatise to the water.

3 x 500m as a moderate-hard effort, starting off with 20 strokes hard, as if you were in a race, then settling down into the remaining part of the set. Practice your sighting during those 20 strokes to make sure you are heading in the right direction, and then every 5 or 6 strokes thereafter.

Take just 1 min recovery in between each of the 500s to regroup, get your breath and refocus for the next set.

Cooldown for 200m very easy before getting out of the water quickly and removing your wetsuit as if in a race.

If you'd like to read more about the pros & cons of open water swimming, have a read of the below article by fellow Swimsmooth Coach Jason from SouthWest Swim, who was fortunate to interview International Marathon Swimmer and Olympian Hector Pardoe who actually spends most of his training time in the pool!

PoolVsOpenWater.pdf

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