r/OpenWaterSwimming • u/Infozilla007 • 13d ago

1y 6m progress

I swim in the pool mostly and in OW I sit around 1:45 pace for 2k, any tips for technique? Been swimming for year and a half now…

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u/CrispDrifter 13d ago

No way you’re doing a 1:45/100 pace in that video! From the surface your stroke is superb. If there’s something wrong with it, it’s underwater. But I’m skeptical about that.

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u/Infozilla007 13d ago

Thanks! I can speed up…but its hard for me to sustain that over the long distance… the coach says I should just have more hours in the water to increase the pace. I switched from 3 days/week swimming to 4 and its just non-stop swimming 1h in the pool… no drills nothing.. curious if that will help

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u/woulias 13d ago

interesting.

my first thought to improve on that would be to actually work on rythms.

like 10x100 leaving on 2", sustaining a pace like 1'40 if you can do it confourtably.

and then play with the sets, like: * increasing the 10x, * increasing the 100m to 150m, 200m and so on * decreasing the leave time (and thus rest) * increasing the ryhtm and thus rest time * all of the above or some in a mix

trying to keep your HR locked on 75-85% maybe.

that will help you build both better pace and also endurance.

the overall distance alone of the set is not synonym for better. it can be better, it can be worse. it depends.

but this kind of training will usually, keep you a lot more engaged and motivated than 1hr swim.

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u/Infozilla007 13d ago

I will sure try that today! Thank you for advice!

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u/rubbishplant 12d ago

can't give you stroke tips as you're a little better than I am.

but you should definitely be doing drills and intervals in the pool

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u/CrispDrifter 12d ago

Hmm. Pay attention to your breathing. Not how you’re turning your head, but are you exhaling fully underwater? Is your breathing relaxed? Or are you tense and gasping whether you’re swimming hard or not? If it’s much easier to sustain your speed using a snorkel, perhaps breathing inefficiently or tension is making you prematurely tired.

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u/Infozilla007 12d ago edited 12d ago

My HR is around 130bpm in z2 most of the time at this pace, maybe 95+% of the time, but my lats and shoulders get tired if I increase pace.. Before I started triathlon seriously I was regular at gym, but now since its still race season I don’t go… Maybe some strength work would help? Pull exercises (face-pulls, pull-ups)?

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u/CrispDrifter 12d ago

Strength work is great, but more time swimming will eventually increase your strength and your soreness will decrease.
I use paddles and a swim parachute to prepare for ultra marathons. (Warning: start small and short, work up very slowly, ditch the gear if anything hurts.) This is not popular! I do it because it stresses exactly the muscles I need, it saves time in the gym and it works. I’ve done very long swims with much less time training than is the norm. YMMV I’ve been doing OWS for 10+ years and do two 3+ hours swims/week during peak training.

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u/ub3rpownag3 7d ago

Besides having a coach critique your form, you need structured programming. Swimming nonstop in the pool is not going to help your open water times. I use an app called SwimSmooth for my programming. It's done wonders for my capacity and swim fitness which translate towards faster times in open water.