There are many people that want to experience the thrill of open water swimming. However, this requires a refined set of skills, as well as great physical and mental strength. Fortunately, there’s a way to achieve your goal through regular training while following safety guidelines.  

Besides, when you consider potential obstacles, open water swimming can bring many health benefits. Of course, if you live in San Diego you may find time to practice and prepare at a nearby open swimming pool. If you wish to uncover some professional secrets of this sport, continue reading!

How do you train open water swimming?  

Whether you’re preparing for a triathlon race, or you just want to break a personal record, to properly train open water swimming, professionals recommend the following three tips: 

1. Swim with eyes closed

When you swim without opening your eyes, you can easily lose sight of where you’re going. This is especially true in an environment where you have no actual boundaries between lanes. However, practice makes perfect, and professionals learn how to position their body in order to swim straight. 

2. Sighting practice

Sighting is one of the essential skills for swimming in open water, to properly and timely recognize obstacles in your path. For this purpose, it’s important that you have a set of sturdy swimming goggles and to know the right technique. 

Professionals recommend a regimen called Tarzan drill or polo swim drill. This drill is vital as it boosts the trapezius muscles, which facilitate efficient sighting. However, it’s quite demanding, so if you’re a novice, you should limit it to 100-200 yards. 

There are three tips to consider before trying out the polo drill: 

• You should keep your head above water. Try not to turn your head side to side.
• Prevent your hips from sinking, by kicking a bit faster than normal 
• Try to maintain a normal rotation during the drill. 

3.Get used to physical contact

When you’re practicing with a team or a partner, it’s useful to ask them to touch your feet or to elbow you. When you’re used to this feeling, you’ll be less distracted and more relaxed when you swim in a group of competitors. Inexperienced athletes tend to react aggressively in such situations, and this is what you want to avoid. Remember, kicking harder in the water won’t make you faster. 

How do you build endurance for open water swimming?

When you plan to swim in the ocean, endurance and stamina are your best friend. In fact, this is a matter of your own personal safety in open water. Of course, this doesn’t come naturally and it’s vital to take small steps first. For this reason, professionals recommend that you fully prepare for the open aquatic environment by practicing in a safe swimming pool, with necessary supervision.

Your long endurance swim training can be broken into four stages:  

1. Warm-up

Your warm-up should include low-intensity drills, relaxed swimming, and some alternate strokes. Also, don’t forget to establish a comfortable breathing rhythm. This is necessary to calm you down and prepare your body for further training. Since doing this before a race isn’t alwasy possible, try some dry-land warm-up activities. 

2. Straight swimming & navigation

This drill involves practicing swimming straight in an environment without lanes, after 5 – 15 minutes of warm-up. While you’re swimming in a steady rhythm, try to practice sighting and keep your direction. The goal should be to swim efficiently, relaxed, without fatigue. 

3. Strength & power workout

If your goal is to achieve great speed and to lift your head high above the water, this is the part where you should focus. After 5 – 15 minutes of efficient warm-up, get into 3 – 10 rounds of 4 polo strokes, combine it with 10 strokes of normal, mid-intensity swimming. Don’t forget to relax between sets – threat some water to prevent burnout! 

4. Speed workout

If you aim at increasing your swimming speed and stroke rate, you should include a polo drill as described above (1-3 rounds of 4 polo stokes, combined with 10 strokes of normal swimming). However, for added speed you should have 3 – 10 rounds of ten sprint strokes. Finally, you should have 10 strokes of relaxed swimming. After 1 – 2 rounds you can alter from polo to race pace swimming. Make sure to practice this in shorter sections for best results. 

Where can I find San Diego’s best-known open swimming pool? 

To properly prepare for your first open water swim, it’s best to start practicing your polo strokes at a local pool. When you live in San Diego, the Plunge is your safest bet. Our facility has been a household name for over nine decades, and we’ve helped many athletes to achieve their goals. 

Besides our famous pool, we have everything you need to boost your physical fitness, improve your athletic performance, and lead a healthier lifestyle. We’re located just a couple of blocks away from Ocean Beach, so you won’t miss us. 

If you wish to learn more about our membership programs and swimming lessons, don’t hesitate to give us a call!