"BillX" <
[email protected]> wrote in message news:<
[email protected]>...
> I have a good bike and run (top 2) but lousy swim for my age group. What does it take to get out
> in front and stay that way in an open water swim? I had a race today where I got caught with about
> 10-20 other swimmers and never broke free of them in the 1/2 mile swim.
For 1/2 mi or greater distances, IMHO the thing you need to work on most is your endurance in the
water. The more quality distance you can put in, especially in the open water, the better you will
do. Low weight, high rep weights will help in this area too, working on things such as your lats and
triceps. Having good cardio conditioning is helpful, but you still need to train the particular
muscles involved. The other key element is HOW you swim it - find a good, fast, but maintainable
pace. USE LONG, STRONG STROKES - whatever you do, don't simply use a high turnover, slip water, and
burn out. If others get ahead of you, so be it - often the tortoise wins, especially when you have
two other legs to do! What often happens is that people go out strong, can't maintain the pace, and
die like a drunken sailor. So, swim your pace, and don't get sucked out and into the red zone! Now,
if you have the chance, you might want to let a faster person go by, and then draft off of them.
This will allow you to go faster without using as much energy. But again, don't do this if it causes
you to burn out. You will do better if you keep a strong, sustainable pace. And, the more endurance
you have in the water, the longer you will be able to maintain a faster pace.
