Swimming well in triathlons takes more than just hard, smart training. Tactics play an important part and in this article, the fourth in a series of five blog posts, Professional Ironman and Triathlon Coach Brendon Downey looks at some key points around navigation and ocean swimming for athletes to consider on the day of their event. Checkout the triathlon category if you missed Bendon’s earlier posts.
Navigation
Generally in professional races there is not a lot of Navigation required, the lead swimmer often has a lead Kayak to follow and everyone else is just following the swimmers in front. However knowing the distance to turn buoys and the exit can be helpful. I recommend learning a very low head up check, its almost like a sideways look.
Here’s a description of this: As you reach forward and begin to roll your body, take your breath while looking forward (lift your head sligthly), because you can do this without lifting your head far, you avoid your feet sinking and creating extra drag, this is particularly helpful in non wetsuit swims but you have to practice it!
That said for your typical weekend warrior triathlete there is a good case for doing more sighting then you may think (say every 10 strokes), the less experienced you are the more you need to sight. You can test how straight you swim by taking a sight on something say 200m away in still open water and putting your head down swimming 100 strokes and have a look at how on course you still are.
If you are swimming 90deg to your target you can benefit a lot by working on swimming straighter and also working on looking/navigating while swimming. This is a great way to improve your straight line swimming ability also.
Catching waves and dealing with swells
Waves are there to be caught. I have stood up jumped on a wave and been 45sec ahead of those who kept swimming. Practice this, it’s fun and can come in very handy especially for those that live on open sea coast areas, that said I’ve caught waves in lakes on rough days also.
Racing Breathing
Breathing into or away from waves? Generally the advice is to breathe away from waves. I learned open water swimming in very windy conditions often with decent swells coming through.
I like to breathe towards the waves because I can roll more on my breathing side and that makes get my windward arm over the wave easier, plus as I can see the waves coming I can time my stroke so that I maintain a better rhythm (ie shorten or lengthen the stroke).
Be sure to subscribe to my blog and receive the last post in the triathlon series, as well as additional expert advice and insights that can help you.
Featured Articles