Think of a drop dead sprint freestyler who specializes in the 50 or 100 meters. Like 3-time Olympic gold medalist Sandy Neilson.

Then think of someone like 3-time Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines who swam the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle events.

Then think of someone like 11-time Olympic medalist Matt Biondi who swam all the short-distance freestyle events as well as butterfly.

Then think of competitive swimmers like Michael Phelps or Léon Marchand who also compete in the 200 and 400 individual medley.

The level of complexity increases and the scope of preparation necessarily expands as you move from a drop-dead sprinter to an individual medley specialist with a focus on additional events.

Open water swimmers require even additional levels of preparation, planning, and training.

This is especially true for swimmers like Petar Stoychev who competed in the pool and open water at four Olympic Games and also set records for solo channel crossings, won numerous professional marathon swims in different venues and countries, raced in invitational races in dozens of countries and did ice swimming both in 25m pools carved out of frozen lakes and in Antarctica.

Pyramid of Open Water Success

Before we discuss the myriad types of workouts for open water swimmers, the concept of the Pyramid of Open Water Success is important to understand. In the Pyramid, there is Base Training, Speed Training, Distance Tolerance, Race Specific Training, Skill Training, Open Water Acclimatization, and Tactical Knowledge.

• Base Training refers to getting in shape during pre- and mid-season by swimming hundreds of kilometers through daily and repeated aerobic training sets (e.g., 6,000 – 20,000 meter workouts). This is also a basic component of competitive pool training programs and a key component of professional marathon swimmers and competitive open water swimmers.
• Speed Training refers to improving your speed by focusing on up tempo swims including anaerobic training sets. This is another basic component of competitive pool training programs and a key component of professional marathon swimmers and competitive open water swimmers.
• Distance Tolerance refers to developing your ability to swim the specific distance of your chosen open water distance (e.g., 1500 meters, 10 km or 20 miles). This is another basic component of distance freestyle training groups of competitive pool training programs and professional marathon swimmers.
• Race Specific Training refers to simulating open water race conditions in the pool or acclimating yourself to such conditions during open water training sessions. This includes pace-line sets, leapfrog sets and deck-ups. Pace-line sets are where groups of swimmers closely draft off of one another in the pool, changing pace and leaders throughout the set (e.g., 3 x 1000 with a change of leader every 100). Leapfrog sets are another example where the last swimmer in the pack sprints to the front of the group every certain distance (e.g., 100 meters) or amount of time (e.g., 2 minutes). Deck-ups (e.g., 10 x 100 @ 1:30) are where swimmers must immediately pull themselves out of the water and dive back into the pool after every certain distance (e.g., 100). This simulates on-the-beach finishes when an athlete is swimming horizontally for a length of time and then must suddenly go vertical to run up to the open water finish. Deck-ups also assist the swimmer’s preparation to make quick tactical moves during a race, or in response to unexpected tactical moves by one’s competitors because there are often heart rate spikes during a race.
• Skill Training refers to teaching the fine points of open water racing techniques such as feedings, sighting, onshore starts, buoy turns, positioning, and navigational IQ practices during pool practices or, ideally, in the open water. For feeding, swimmers can place gel packs in their swimsuits to practice fluid intake during main sets. To practice navigational IQ and sightings, swimmers can do 6 x 400, but they must lift up their heads twice every fourth lap to sight balloons on the pool deck, moved around by the coach. For turns, swimmers can touch the wall, without doing a flip turn or pushing off the wall, during the last 2 laps of 5 x 200. For drafting, three swimmers can swim together with one swimmer slightly behind drafting for a set of 9 x 300 with a draft every third lap and descending by groups of three. To replicate start and finish conditions, swimmers sprint short distances (25’s or 50’s) with three swimmers per lane starting at the same time.
• Open Water Acclimatization refers to getting familiar with the open water environment including getting used to cold water, warm water, and rough water. This also includes understanding – and experiencing – jellyfish, marine life, wind chop, boat fumes, oil slicks, kelp, fog, and rain as well as swimming through waves and currents before your race or swim. It also includes “aggressive swimming” sets when a group of swimmers in a tight pack practices buoy turns and finish sprints where the swimmers purposefully knock off the goggles or swim cap of one chosen swimmer. These types of experiences are parts of open water races at one point or another. To be successful, these experiences must be encountered and mastered during training.
• Tactical Knowledge is the study and understanding of the dynamics of open water racing and the knowledge of why and how packs get formed and why they take on certain shapes. Competitive open water swimmers and coaches must understand, for example, why and how packs get strung out, where swimmers should tactically place themselves in the pack at different points during the race and the importance of hydration and feeding station tactics. These tactics should be reviewed while observing successful open water swimmers through film so questions can be asked and different scenarios can be studied.

Race Specific Training

Race Specific Training is multi-dimensional and will be the subject of a follow-up article.

Types of Open Water Workouts and Sets

• Purposeful Fatigue Training refers to swim workouts when you purposely do something stressful (e.g., go for a long run or bike ride, do a hard weightlifting session, or get only a few hours sleep) before you do a hard swim workout. This can replicate the unexpected situation when your escort pilot calls and you must attempt a crossing at an unexpected time (at night) or you have missed your international flight and things do not go according to your original plan or somehow your logistics gets messed up.
• A Stomach Grinder is a swim workout held immediately after you have purposely eaten a lot of food. This overindulgence of caloric intake may cause stomach problems – that could possibly happen during a marathon swim or channel crossing. Sometimes, an upset stomach is caused by swallowing too much water during the swim. Sometimes it is caused by the turbulence and waves in the water. Sometimes it is caused by something that you ate or drank. In these cases if you experience training with an upset stomach before your major race or channel crossing, at least you have prepared yourself for this unfortunate experience.
• An All Day Pace is a workout performed at a comfortable swimming speed that you can continue all day or at least for several hours. The tempo and stroke count tends to be slower than normal than a workout at a fast pace.
• Deep Thought Workouts refer to workouts where you stress yourself physically, but still try to maintain an intense mental focus. This kind of training can be helpful during fast races or towards the end of a channel crossing when your pilot demands that you swim faster. Examples include prime number sets that are performed during an aerobically-based pool swimming workout when you must work hard with an elevated heart rate and increasing lactate levels while thinking clearly. Different prime number sets include Beat the Primes, Hit the Primes, and Prime Number Ladder. The intervals, pacing and distances can be approximately modified as appropriate. Note: prime numbers up to 100 include 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, and 97.
• An example of a Prime Number Ladder set is 20 x 50 @ :40 with each prime number swum fast (i.e., 2nd 50, 3rd 50, 5th 50, 7th 50, 11th 50, 13th 50, 17th 50, 19th 50) and the other 50s swum comfortably. This is followed by 20 x 100 @ 1:20 with each prime number fast (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19). This is followed by 20 x 200 @ 2:40 with each prime number fast (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19).
• Hit the Primes set helps reinforce precise pace control. The number, pacing and distance of each swim can be approximately modified for each swimmer. Examples include 8 x 100 @ 1:30 where the athletes swim exactly at a 1:23 pace for the first 100, swim exactly at a 1:19 pace for the second 100, at a 1:17 pace for 3rd 100, at a 1:13 pace for fourth 100, at a 1:11 pace for fifth 100, at a 1:07 pace for sixth 100, at a 1:05 pace for seventh 100, and finally at a 1:03 pace for eighth 100.
• Beat the Primes sets are similar to Hit the Primes: 8 x 100 @ 1:30 where the athletes swim faster than a 1:23 pace for the first 100, swim faster than a 1:19 for the second 100, faster than a 1:17 for the third 100, faster than 1:13 for the fourth 100, faster than a 1:11 for the fifth 100, faster than a 1:07 for the sixth 100, faster than a 1:05 for the seventh 100, and faster than 1:03 for the eighth 100.
• Technical Stroke Work refers to training sessions when an experienced coach observes your head position, breathing pattern, body position, body rotation, hand path, and kick pattern (2 beat kick, 4 beat kick, 6 beat kick, cross-over kick) at different speeds and you try different technical drills to improve your stroke weaknesses or insufficiencies.
• Logistical Preparations are sessions in which you plan what will happen before your swim. It can include getting to the venue in plenty of time as well as dealing with contingencies (e.g., will taxis be available early in the morning, will there be traffic) and what will you eat for dinner the night before or the morning of your swim (especially if restaurants or markets are closed or located far away). This is especially important when you are racing or swimming in a new area (state, province, or country) that you are unfamiliar with (e.g., are you in Japan at the Tsugaru Channel or in Africa crossing Lake Malawi?)
• Contingency Preparations are sessions when you consider and deal with the unexpected or the inevitable such as what happens with a jellyfish sting (or with many jellyfish stings), with a goggle malfunction or a swimsuit tear, or getting lanolin on your goggles or forgetting a vital bit of equipment. These sessions can range from what happens with a lightning strike to what to do with a shark encounter. It can also include health considerations if you swim in unknown or polluted waters, especially if there is urban runoff? As a preventive measure, should you take a gamma globulin, tetanus, typhoid, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B vaccinations before the race (i.e., weeks or months before)? Is it useful to take medicines such as Rifaximin as a precautionary measure?
• Body Brain Confusion Swims – made popular during Cork Distance Week by Ned Denison – are extremely useful to prepare for the unexpected and inevitable, especially for channel crossings and marathon swims. Coaches go out of their way to remove any mental comfort that you may experience during training. They can withhold drinks or feeds – or mix them up. The total amount of training time remain unknown to you, your swim course is never straight or logical, your feeds can remain infrequent as possible, and irritations are presented in order to prepare them to handle the unexpected during their Channel swims.
• Visualization sessions can occur during long training swims or on dryland when you are visualizing what will occur or what may occur and dealing with the stress, discomfort, pain, and uncertainty of various situations that could occur before, during, or after a swim.
• Nocturnal Workouts – or swimming at night – are especially useful when a marathon swim or channel crossing occurs at night. Do you have chemical lights or form of illumination for night swimming or swims held during low-visibility situations for navigational and safety purposes? Where and how do you attach them to your goggle straps, swim cap, and swimsuit?
• Support Team Selection & Practice: Who are essential individuals for the success of your channel crossing, competitive race, or Ice Mile? Are these individuals experienced people – or are they simply friends or family members who want to share your experience? Sometimes these people are the same individuals – but sometimes they are very different people. It is important to choose wisely. You want experienced support crew for channel crossings or seconds for cold water swimming.

Note that dryland training and nutritional preparations will be separately presented in subsequent articles.

But what a well-rounded open water swimmer can do both in the pool and open water as part of their training is extremely broad and comprehensive.

Many of these concepts will be presented today at 8:30 am EST (New York time) by Steven Munatones at the World Coaches Education program (listen in here).

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