Do you swim faster in the pool than you do in a wetsuit in open water?
You should be seeing speedy swimming gains from about 7-10 seconds per 100 metres from swimming in a wetsuit, with some clients seeing a lot more up to 30 seconds where it's helping change their body position for the better!
Does your open-water swim pace not represent what you are able to do in the pool?
Surrey Quay Mychett Lake 1-2-1 Open water swimming lesson bookings are now available from the end of April 2023!! Book now don't miss out!
Please email Nick to check there is a time slot available first before booking here: speedyswimming@gmail.com
Find out more here and how to book :
If you answered yes, something is a bit amiss, and we would love to help you fix it!
It could be one of more of the following:
Your wetsuit might not be fitting correctly, (Ie not pulled up enough so it's pulling on your legs) restricting movement and also your biomechanics
Navigation and not swimming in a straight line
Sighting too high or incorrectly, causing your legs to drop and affect drag and resistance slowing you down, or not sighting regularly enough
Pacing (we see so many triathletes who actually seem to physically slow down in open water or seem to do their zone 2 training in open water)
Slowing down around swim buoys
Not acclimatising to the water temperature first, or with enough swims in open water
Not warming up before a triathlon or open water swim (especially important if you are not given the chance to warm up in the water
Not drafting on the feet or hips of another swimmer or being drafting on and hence slowed down by the extra drag of another swimmer (we can show you how to lose a swimmer on your feet or hips doing this! )
Or your swim technique in open water changes due to the cold
Potentially breathing as well if you usually breathe from your chest instead of your diaphragm, or you end up taking lots of short breaths when you start building up levels of carbon dioxide in your lungs and therefore going into oxygen debt quickly
Kicking too much and bending your knees using up precious levels of oxygen much better needed by your upper body and arms
Not rotating enough from your hips on a long axis and therefore maximising your distance per stroke
Are your swims in open water effectively like your base training? long and slow steady-based sessions instead of race-paced targeted and structured training sessions? Do you do the same session each time, and feel like you have hit a plateau with your swim fitness?
Setting off too fast at a pace for you to sustain, (going into the red zone and then taking 10-15 minutes to recover back to a level where you can push the pace again at tempo or threshold level)
Not doing the right interval training sessions at your targeted race pace (we can work this out for you with a fitness test and set up your training zones in Training Peaks)
Surrey Quay Mychett Lake 1-2-1 Open water swimming lesson bookings are now available from the end of April 2023
Please email Nick to check there is a time slot available first before booking here: speedyswimming@gmail.com
