Open-Water Navigation
Have you ever done an open-water swim before? If yes then you know what I am talking about when I say that those big turn buoys you easily see from the shore, are not so easy to see when you’re swimming at water level. Hopefully you have great eyesight and anti-fog goggles; otherwise you could be in for a tough time. However there is hope! You can practice some drills in the pool and in the open-water in order to improve the “navigation” during your race.
Remember when you compete in the open water, you don’t have lane ropes or that solid black line on the bottom of the pool to follow. And you certainly cannot rely on the swimmer in front of you either, as they may be plotting an inaccurate course themselves. The best solution is to lift your head while swimming, and navigate for yourself.
- Water Polo Swimming Drill:
Keep the head out of the water while still swimming in a forward direction (just like a water polo player). Add in a few repeats of this drill during each swim session to allow you to develop this style of swimming. Don’t do more than 400m of this drill per session.
Lifting the head out the water requires extra effort in the neck, arms, back, and legs. The arms and elbows tend to drop while in this position, so you will need to continually practice this drill to gain strength. Weaker swimmers and those with a bad sense of direction tend to stop during their race, lookup to find their direction, and then continue on. This process is slow as it breaks your rhythm, stops any forward momentum, and ultimately keeps you from progressing to the next performance level.
Do the Water Polo swimming drill three times per week for the next month, and I guarantee you that you will swim straighter lines out in the open water and your swims will improve.
- Glen Gore (guest blogger)
Navigation not only involves looking forwards but backwards as well. There are those rare moments when looking back is the only way to navigate.
* you’re in the surf zone and you need to line up with the breaking waves (or just be aware that you’re not getting one on your head!)
* you’re navigating “backwards” off the markers behind you because you can’t spot the ones in front
* you’re keeping an eye on anyone making a break from behind you
* you just want to know who’s been tickling your feet the last 200m
i use two drills that might be worth giving a try. the first is the coca-cola twist (named after the coca-cola ribbon device). during a set of 50s (for example) when you’re halfway down the pool, flip into backstroke, take 2 strokes and then continue the roll back over to freestyle. you should do a smooth 360 degree roll.
while on your back look around the pool area and read a sign, or count swimmers/spectators on the deck- something to hone the task of scanning.
executing the roll takes timing, co-ordination and strength but done correctly, shouldn’t slow you down much at all.
the other drill involves peeking under your armpit with an exaggerated recovery that looks like you’re swimming with a lope. on the recovery, get your arm high out the water (be sure to get a big kick in) and as you’re about to breathe, stare back under your armpit at your feet- or again, at the pool deck. do this in the middle of the pool for 2-3 consecutive strokes before returning to a normal stroke. done with precision, this also shouldn’t affect your times much at all.
the biggest part about these little changes is that they require bursts of intense effort (lifting/rolling the body, bigger kicks and stronger arm movements so you definitely need to get used to them.
oh.. and nothing beats being able to actually swim in a straight line.
i’ve used this drill with a group in open water and it gets the point across quite well.
set up a “soft” buoy about 20-50m away. line up your swimmers and have them swim at the buoy *relatively slowly*. take one sighting (using the lessons learned from the blog post) when starting out and then swim the rest of the way normally without sighting. you should pretty much hit the buoy. increase the distance as your groups swims straighter.
tip: place a “catcher” 10m other side to stop those who swim really skew and miss