Learn various skills and knowledge useful for Open Water swimmers
Though there are few things as enjoyable to any swimmer as wearing brand new goggles for the first time, finding the right goggles for new and intermediate swimmers is usually a process of trial and error. Most people visit the local sports shop and pick something from the available range. This works to a large extent…
It is known that people are usually more influenced by the other people they know, friends and families, than by experts. It’s from my swimming friends that I have learned most, not distant (both in geographic terms and ability) world champions or experts. I eke out my improvements incrementally, often going backward. I listen to friends, to them…
Normally I would spilt a post of this length into at least two instalments. But I wanted to give you all the information when you may need it, which for some of you may be the period between Christmas and New Year. There are two schools of thought in swimming with respect to the utility of very…
Swimming is very much like the old saying about planting trees: The very best time to start was ten years ago. The second best time to start was yesterday. The next best time is today. But tomorrow is too late. I myself did not start ten years ago but I did incrementally improve my skills and technique…
This is my open water swimming toolbox, come and have a poke around. Okay, hang on, watch where you’re putting that finger. The toolbox is made of lycra, silicone, plastic and flesh and brainstuff. I constructed it myself because you can’t purchase one off the shelf, regardless of what some salespeople will have you believe,…
I split what was originally a single list, because well, if you are writing every week for over four and half years, you need to make your ideas count. Also, I found that the original draft just kept growing and likely will continue to so do, so this will easily allow me to add another…
There’s a discussion thread on the marathonswimmers.org forum called Tips and Tricks and I’ve been writing my How To articles for a few years. But here’s a list of brief random items I’ve learned that I threw together, which individually are too short for articles (right now anyway, who knows what’ll be possible mid-winter when…
Any experienced open water swimmer will be, or at least should be familiar with evaluating personal risk on an ongoing basis. (I have written many posts about the Do’s and Don’t’s of open water). One thing we don’t talk about is drowning, because we put ourselves in the category of people unlikely to join the…
Every so often I get asked by a runner or triathlete for a bit of stroke advice or help, which I’m always happy to do, (as, in my experience, is pretty much the case with every experienced swimmer in a public pool). Here’s how it usually goes: “Hey, you seem like a decent swimmer. I have…
(This is a repost and update, due to a resurgence in interest in this post. As it’s a few years since the original post, I’ve played with other variations of ingredients since.) Swimming generally and open water swimming especially is a sport of high energy demand. Many swimmers struggle to keep weight stable let alone…
This post was a companion to HABITUATION, both of which I wrote in early 2010. Since I revisited and largely rewrote that as Cold Water Habituation, my plan was to do the same in this post also. Acclimatization (acclimatisation for those of us who forego the use of the z) is a different factor to habituation. While…
HABITUATION was one of my very first posts, and the first post I wrote about cold and cold water swimming, over four years ago, little realising it would become my favourite subject. Although it is linked in the Cold Water Articles Index, I decided to air it out and rewrite it. (And change those capitals).…
Many swimmers are often confused about how to write a basic pool set. Many experienced but younger swimmers from a club background had become accustomed to having a coach always provide their sets, without ever needing to understand for themselves what the coach is trying to achieve or why a particular set is used on a particular…
This time of year I get more emails and PM’s asking about English Channel pilots, tides, Associations, Channel costs etc and all the related stuff. During a recent weathered-out trip to Dover in September for Sylvain Estadieu’s English Channel butterfly swim, which included yet another a trip out into the Channel, a tour of a…
Sea Lice covered in this post from 2011. Possibly due to the early summer three-week-long heatwave in Ireland, the itching we associated with sea lice has started early in the first week of August instead on late August or September when the problem usually arises. It usually noticed while in the sea. I usually notice…
This is an updated version of a post from a few years ago on following marathon swims online, with the specifics mostly aimed at English Channel swimming. This is mostly for those unfamiliar with following a swim and I’ll try to explain a couple of anticipated questions before they arise. Channel swimming is a sport…
Varne Ridge Caravan Park is such a personal part of the Channel swimming experience for myself and so many others that it is impossible to contemplate a Dover visit without Varne (as it is called) being an integral part. Every Channel swimming or crewing trip of mine to date (and I’m losing count) has involved…
I’ve written a couple of previous annual posts reviewing various goggles, (one, two) that I’ve used, of which it seems there have been quite a few. (There are few greater swimming pleasures than wearing brand new goggles!) I am a relatively recent user to Swedish googles (aka Swedes), I’ve been wearing them for less than…
During the summer of 2013 I indexed all the cold and cold water swimming How Tos for your easy perusal. This time I am indexing the HowTo articles, each again getting a brief description. HOWTO be an open water swimmer… One of the first posts on loneswimmer.com HOWTO: Open water swim tips for beginners open water swimmers…
It’s a long time since I mentioned this subject but we do need to talk about this. Really. Do you shower before swimming in an (indoor)? If not, why not? Do you pee in the pool? In two UK and US studies, 1 in 5 adults admitted they have and in the UK study 70%…
This list below was originally based on Freda Streeter’s English Channel check-list though it has evolved quite substantially. I’ve reorganised the PDF by swimmer/crew/feeds/travel for ease of use. By the third version I added version numbers so you can keep track. Major changes for June 2013 (Ver 3.0) include a new Travel section. The list includes some…
This follows up Part 1 and Part 2 of common triathlon swimming techniques and remedies, and Evan’s tips on the best use of a public pool for training and a simple effective front crawl stroke tip. I’ve written various How To’s about different aspects of open water swimming in detail. This post is intended to…
Following on from Part 1; Scissors-kick This is common and may be partially caused by increased thigh strength built up by running and cycling training. The legs kick wide, passing outside the silhouette of the body as seen from the front and adds very significant drag. In an elite sprint swimmer the kick only provides 15% of…
This post is one of a combined series of triathlon swim articles with Evan Morrison. Evan is a top American open water and marathon swimmer who holds several long distance records including Santa Barbara and the Ederle marathon swims. His article considers some common mistakes people make while pool swim training (not technique errors) and how to improve.…
With the Northern hemisphere open water season getting underway, and temperatures in many locations edging around the magic number, (10C/50F) , open water related questions inevitably arise as each year brings new swimmers and more triathletes. A common question is some variation of: I want to swim 1.5k/3k/3k/10k, can I do it or what should…
LoneSwimmer 