PURE PERFORMANCE | SWIM
5 STEPS
TO A FAST SW I M L E G
BY B R E N TO N F O R D
1. Practice open water skills in the pool
There’s a big difference between swimming
fast in the pool and swimming fast in open
water.
Just like bike-handling skills require
regular practice and experience, the same
thing goes for open water skills. Getting
comfortable sighting regularly (every 6-12
strokes), swimming in a pack and being
confident in choppy conditions come only
from practice. Most of these things can be
done in the pool, and I’ll often have the
squads I coach do pack swimming at the
end of their session once a week. A set of
8x50’s at race pace in group of 5-10 people
can help increase your confidence being
surrounded by other swimmers.
If you’re having trouble sighting
comfortably and easily you might
be doing it wrong. Using the ‘sight
and breathe’ is much easier than
sighting after you breathe. There are
a lot of videos online to show you how to
do this.
2. Get out in the open
Swimming in the ocean or lake can be a very
different experience than in the pool. The
best way to gain confidence and get better
at it is to do it.
Across Australia there are many groups
and clubs you can swim with in a safe and
supportive environment like Manly’s ‘Bold
and the Beautiful’.
Don’t leave it until race day, especially if
you are racing in a wetsuit. Swim at least
three times in your wetsuit before racing
36 | MULTISPORT MAGAZINE
in it to get used to the extra buoyancy and
how it might affect your arm recovery.
3. One race pace set per week
Most weekends we run freestyle stroke
correction clinics around Australia, and one
of the most common things I hear from
triathletes is that they ‘only have one speed’.
This is often caused by training at one
speed, also know as the ‘grey zone’.
Many swimmers will do their fast efforts
too slow and their slow efforts too fast.
One of my favourite ways to develop the
strength, fitness and pacing to maintain a
quicker speed in races are race pace swim
sets at your race distance. For example
if your next race is an Olympic distance
triathlon with a 1500m swim, a main set
once a week of 15x100m at your target race
pace (e.g. 1:40/100m) with 20 seconds rest
after each 100m can help get you there.
4. Plan (for the good and the bad)
Before each race the very best swimmers
will scope out the course; where the buoys
are, what land markers they can line up with
while swimming to make it easier to sight
and how deep the entry and exit points are.
Having a race plan can help you pace the
swim correctly and avoid being caught up in
someone else’s race.
In the last two triathlons I raced at, the
same swimmer tried to swim with me for
the first 500m, but he ended up fatiguing
quickly and getting swallowed by the pack
behind. He would have been better taking
the first 500m easier to avoid ‘blowing up’
so early in the swim.
Finding an athlete of a similar or slightly
quicker speed to you at the start line is a
good way to find someone early to draft off.
That is if you trust they can swim straight!
If you’re less confident in open water,
start to the side of the pack to avoid being
swam over.
5. Visualise
When I’m coaching triathletes, during
the main set I’ll often ask them to picture
themselves in their most important event
for the year. I want them to visualise how
they will feel, the effort they’ll be putting in
and how they expect to be swimming.
This is an effective strategy for reducing
your nerves on race day because you’ll feel
like you’ve been in that situation many times
before. At smaller races I have my athletes
visualise the key moments of their race prior
to starting.