There are several open water-specific skills that can be practiced while swimming open water or even in a pool! Here are some general suggestions for building open water-specific skills.

1. Sighting: one should practice sighting often while leading on both arms until the motion is as smooth and unobtrusive as possible. The lower body should not drop when you sight, as this will increase resistance, and the swimmer must work to get that body position back to ideal as soon as possible. Once sighting technique has been perfected the swimmers should continue to practice sighting to build strength in the lower back. Try doing a heads-up swimming/dolphin kick on back combination or sighting 1-2 times per 25.

2. Feeding: Try to emulate feeding in competition during practice.  Leave water bottles at the end of the lane or by the side of the pool and practice sneaking a fast drink in the middle of a swim. Head to the nearest body of open water (with race-day crew if possible) and practice feeding from a boat or kayak, working out procedures and communication strategies well before the swim, until feeding is fast and efficient.  The swimmer should know how much, and what, to consume and the schedule, then try it out!  Take notes, such as how certain foods or liquids made the swimmer feel, how much was consumed,  and how often urination occurred (i.e. monitor hydration levels). Ideally, the swimmer will never race with food or liquids they have not tried out during a training session.

3. Speed Changes: Open water swimming is a highly strategic sport that sometimes requires erratic speed changes.  You must be prepared to sprint at any given moment, so train your body to handle sudden spikes in heart rate. Speed play sets should play heavily into your training, and can have little “extras” such as breath control, deck-ups, and mid-pool flip turns thrown in to increase difficulty.

4. Pack Swimming/Competitor Contact:  Open water swimming can be a full-contact sport, and pack swimming can be panic-inducing, so it is important to get as comfortable with this as possible.  Try doing pool sprints swimming 2-3 to a lane (as many as will fit swimming side by side), longer swims drafting in pace lines (swimmers leave 2-3 seconds apart and swim on one another’s feet), and open water training sessions with swimmers of similar speeds and abilities that swim together and alternate positioning themselves as pack leader. Inadvertent contact is the idea!

5. In-and-outs: Swims with beach starts and/or finishes can be tricky!  For ocean swim starts, practice getting past the wave break, ducking under waves and catching riptides. For ocean swim finishes, practice coming into shore, watching your back for waves and body surfing when applicable. Once on shore practice transitions and running up the beach.  Be careful—your ankles will most likely feel unstable and shaky.  Keep in mind that sometimes currents travel at an angle, and it can be far more beneficial to swim with the current to shore and run to the finish line than to try to fight the currents in an effort to correct your trajectory.

6. Dolphining: While dolphining is best practiced in a zero-entry scenario, it can also be practiced in a shallow pool.  Try doing 25s Dolphin Dive with a deck-up at the end to emulate the finish and transitioning from swimming to standing.

7. Buoy Turns: Courses vary, and turns may be 180 degree turns, 45 degree turns, or anything in between, but all turns are tricky in their own way.  Most swimmers will make turns by doing breaststroke, corkscrew (alternating freestyle and backstroke so the swimmer is literally rotating 360 degrees) or by stopping and turning.  While stopping and turning may be the easiest, the swimmer loses momentum and may be run over by other swimmers.  Breaststroke allows the swimmer to maintain some momentum and sight easily while executing the turn, but still represents a loss in speed and can lead to inadvertent competitor contact.  The corkscrew technique is the fastest option when executed correctly, but can be extremely disorienting. Practice multiple ways of executing turns before deciding which way works best for you.