Improvements In My Open Water Swim (OWS)

As much as I enjoy the sport of triathlon, I hate the open water swim. Not to mention, I practice diligently for the swim getting in my 3 sessions of 4+ miles per week, some in the open water, and some in the pool. In my first full season of triathlon last year, I was absolutely horrendous at the swim, even after getting lessons at the YMCA (more on this later). I was always in the bottom 10% out of the water.

After putting in extra hard work in the pool and putting time in the open water during the week without seeing any significant improvement, I started to wonder if it was something with my technique that was making me so horrible without little noticeable improvement race over race.

As a USA triathlon member, I get weekly emails with articles that have tips for improvement in all facets of triathlon. I'm always on the lookout for improving swim times. Back in May, one of the email newsletters contained the article Develop World-Class Open Water Swim Mechanics by Jesse Kropelnicki. The article seemed to really hit home for me with some parts of my training that might be translating to poor results in open water swims.

Because I've done most of my water training in a pool, and have had swim lessons from an instructor who swims competitively in a pool, I was taught a stroke that is ideal for the pool but not the open water.  The article talks about how pool-born swimmers have "long glide, strong catch, and low turnover/cadence who are most efficient in calm, smooth, non-crowded waters." However, any triathlete knows the open water on race day is anything but calm and non-crowded.  The article recommends doing a more efficient and comfortable swim by having a strong back end to the stroke with high turnover. Such a stroke will allow me to maneuver better in a very crowded water and will allow me to get the most out of my stroke without being stalled by the current. It is difficult to explain in writing so here is the video of swim analysis with coach Jesse Kropelnicki.

Since watching this video I've been working on a shorter stroke that has my hand perpendicular to the water and my elbows bent in such a way that it feels as if i'm pushing my way through the water similar to when you do a tricep dip by hanging off of a flat bench. I've also been making sure I am pushing through completely especially on the second half of the stroke where prior watching this video I was abandoning the stroke in favor of straightening my arm out to efficiently prepare it for the next stroke. I'm no swim guru so the video explains things much better than I could but I wanted to write about my experience with these tips.

The jury is still out on how much it has improved my swim time but my year-over-year results in the Morton Plant Mease Triathlon have improved significantly enough that my overall time has improved by several minutes and my peers have noticed me getting out of the water sooner. My pool lap times have even improved by 3-5 seconds per lap. I just feel like I'm learning to swim all over again so I have to pay attention to every stroke and be sure to focus on keeping my elbow up and my hand perpendicular to the water.

Swimming in Sydney - The Ian Thorpe Aquatic Center

I've been staying in Sydney, Australia for about 6 days at the time of this writing and have only now made it to the the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Center.  The Ian Thorpe Aquatic Center is at 458 Harris Street in Sydney. I'm staying about an 8 minute walk away at the Holiday Inn at 68 Harbour Street near Chinatown. The walk to and from feels safe. I've always been kind of reluctant to wonder from my hotel in unfamiliar cities because I have no idea about crime rates, good vs. bad parts of town, so I usually just stay close to my hotel so going here was perfect.

It is the peak of triathlon training season in Florida, United States so I had to be sure to get some swimming in during my 2 week trip.

The Ian Thorpe Aquatic Center is open from 6:00 AM to 8:45 PM during the week and from 6:00 AM to 8:45 PM on the weekends. The gym is a YMCA but don't expect your United States YMCA card to get you in, they won't accept it. I had to pay $6.20 AUD to get in.

The swim area alone is very impressive. There is a giant wade pool for kids and plenty of change areas both around the pool and in one of several locker rooms.  The pool has a 50m length. So for you newbies, hopefully you can swim this distance without having to grab the side of the pool to take a break. Some lower lanes were broken into 2 25m halves.  Each lane had a marker up to indicate Slow, Medium, or Fast speeds and the lanes are cycle swim at all times. Even though I consider myself a below average triathlon swimmer, I found myself swimming in the fast lane.

After getting in my laps and changing back into my clothes, I took a walk around. Among the things I saw in the center were  a small gift shop, a small inside/outside eating area with an excellent view of the Sydney skyline. The gym was broken down into two levels with the other level having a complete exercise area. The exercise area was fantastic with plenty of free weights, weight machines, and cardiovascular machines such as bikes, treadmills, ellipticals, etc. The exercise area was probably the most spacious workout area I have ever seen, very impressive.

Below are some shots of the center, the pool area and skyline from the outside eating area.