Olympic triathlete Joe Maloy’s open-water swimming tips

By Joe Maloy

2016 U.S. Olympic Triathlete, THREE Co-Founder and Editor at Large

Swimming in the open water can be disorienting for any swimmer! It's an uncontrolled environment that provides completely different feedback when compared with swimming in a pool.  

Let’s start with some guidelines:

1) Accept the things that are out of your control. All the worrying in the world will not make the choppy water calm down, bring the buoys closer, or draw a line on the bottom of the ocean for you to follow. Accept the reality that your route will not be perfectly straight or that your breaths might sometimes come with a gulp of water. At the end of the day…it’s just swimming.  

2) Direct your thoughts to the things that are under your control. Your challenge is always to employ the talents you’ve trained. Focus on those familiar actions which are 100% under your control. Focusing your thoughts on what you can control reduces anxiety and helps channel emotional energy to your advantage.    

3) Remind yourself that emotions are just energy that needs to be channeled. Open water swimming is a little bit wild. See the beauty in that difference. Be grateful that you have the skill and ability to interact with the world in such a unique way.    

Now, you’re ready to swim, but these sets only work when you do!  

Most of the workouts below are designed to be 30-45 minutes long. In the pool, pushing off the wall each lap cuts down on the actual distance you swim each lap. Open water swimming is a more efficient use of your time (than swimming in a pool) because you spend more time swimming and less time gliding.

Workout #1:

Here’s a good workout to start with if you’ve been out of the water for a while and need to get back in swim shape!

Begin with the following set 4x:

Optional 1:00 additional rest b/t rounds.

:30 swimming + :15 rest

:40 swimming + :15 rest

:50 swimming + :15 rest

1:00 swimming + :15 rest

5x:

1:00 swim + :30 rest + :15 MAX! + :30 rest

2:00 rest

2-4x:

2:00 swim + :30 rest

Workout #2

This workout is designed to increase speed by making you more powerful and efficient in the water.

10:00 choice warmup.  By the end of this warmup, your heart rate should be elevated and you should feel mentally and physically prepared to swim FAST!

10x (:10 tight streamline kick + 25-50 strokes MAX! + 25-50 strokes easy + :20 rest)

5:00 choice swim, broken up however you’d like

10x (:10 tight streamline kick + 25-50 strokes MAX! + 25-50 strokes easy + :20 rest)

5:00-10:00 choice swim, broken up however you’d like

Note: During the streamline kick, work on keeping a high body position in the water.  Then, keep that body position high during the 25-50 strokes MAX! by engaging your core and keeping your head low in the water.

Workout #3:

This workout is designed to boost your aerobic swimming capacity.

60 strokes swim + 10 strokes backstroke + 5 breaths rest

80 strokes swim + 10 strokes backstroke + 5 breaths rest

100 strokes swim + 10 strokes backstroke + 5 breaths rest

60 strokes swim + 20 strokes build to 7/10 effort + 5 breaths rest

80 strokes swim + 20 strokes build to 8/10 effort  + 5 breaths rest

100 strokes swim + 20 strokes build to 9/10 effort  + 5 breaths rest

Aerobic Swim Pyramid: Swim all of the following @ moderate 4/10 effort, and take 3-4 deep breaths as recovery between each swim.

50 strokes

100 strokes

125 strokes

150 strokes

200 strokes

150 strokes

125 strokes

100 strokes

50 strokes

**Begin with the pyramid 2x through and progress this set by adding strokes to each swim (or time to each rep if you prefer to go by your watch).  Keep the rest short…less than :15 seconds or 3-4 breaths and try to maintain speed or get a little bit faster as you go.

Editor’s note: This information is designed for educational purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for, nor does it replace, professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You should consult your physician or other health care professional before starting this or any other fitness program to determine if it is right for your needs.