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12+ open water swimming tips

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Our running coach, Rob Popper, gives his expert advice on all things triathlon wetsuits and swimming tips.

  • Try before you buy. Try on different wet suits before you buy one, if you can. Many places that sell wet suits also offer open water swimming training (Swim for Tri, SBR, Tri and Run), and they usually offer some sort of “try before you buy” service. Different manufacturers have different sizing systems and “medium” doesn’t always mean the same thing, so it’s worth trying them out and making sure they are comfortable. A good wet suit will last you years and years and years, so it’s worth making sure you get the right one.
  • Practice makes perfect. Get as much practice in your wet suit as you can before you start racing in it. Many swimming pools will allow you to wear a wet suit (and many won’t, so check before you go). So, even if you can’t get to an open water venue, you can still get the feeling of swimming in a wet suit. Parliament Hill Lido is particularly good for wet suit swimming, so is Tooting Bec Lido, and many go to London Fields Lido (although it’s a heated outdoor pool and can get uncomfortably warm in a wet suit for some).
  • Preparation. Before you get in the water, make sure the suit is not too tight in the shoulders and upper body. This is best done by pulling up extra material from the legs, torso and arms towards the upper part of your body.
    1. Good tips: bend each knee and you will see a little fold of wet suit material form behind the knee.
    2. Pull up on that fold and take up any slack that is in your legs.
    3. Bend at your waist and pull up on the folds of wet suit material and take up any slack that is in the torso.
    4. Bend the elbows and take up any slack that is in the arms.
    5. You now should feel a little looser in the shoulder and neck, maybe even have a little extra material up at the top of the suit. That’s okay, it’s better to have a little extra slack at the shoulders and neck than to have it too tight and pulling against you as you are swimming.
  • Expert tips.
    • Lubrication. Make sure you are well lubricated around the neck to avoid chafing, and put some lubrication around your wrists and ankles to facilitate taking the suit off later. Preferred lubricants are non-petroleum-based (i.e. NOT Vaseline or baby oil) and are plant-based (Body Glide is a popular brand of wet suit-specific lubricant, but I have also been using Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Oil, which is a lot cheaper and leaves you smelling very nice, if you like the cocoa smell). Olive oil is another readily available lubricant, as well.
    • Preparing for the swim. On cold days (and in races), you should wear two swimming caps. Make sure your goggles are underneath the second swimming cap (so if you get knocked around a bit, your goggles won’t get knocked off, as they will be protected by the outer swimming cap). Even on a warm day, it is good to practice swimming with two swimming caps on, just to get used to the feel of it (it is a little tighter and heavier on the head and takes some getting used to), and to practice putting on two caps comfortably before a race.
    • When in the water. When you get in the water, flush your suit before you start swimming. This is the process of opening up the neck of the suit and letting in some water, then stepping out of the water (or into the shallow end) and squeezing the water out of the suit through the torso, arms and legs. This can help get rid of air pockets in the suit that might bulge out and slow you down later, as well as give you a thin layer of water inside the suit that insulates you from the colder outside water.
    • Start out slowly and easily. If it is your first time in open water, you will probably feel uncomfortable, cold, disoriented, and you may even hyperventilate. It’s okay, and it happens to lots of people. Just start out slowly and easily and find your rhythm. You will warm up, you will get used to it, and some day you may even yearn for the freedom of open water versus the rigid regulation of the swimming pool. And practice as much as you can. The more you practice, the better you will feel in open water, and the better your swimming will get.
    • Swimming around buoys. When sighting the buoys in a race, it can be better to sight a much larger object behind the buoy rather, so it is easier to see in the distance and you don’t have to pick up your head out of the water as much in order to see it.
    • Practice swimming bilaterally (breathing to either side, so you typically would breathe every 3 strokes). It can help you swim straighter in open water (since you’re not always favouring one side in breathing) and can help you adjust to changing conditions (e.g. if there is a wave coming from one side, then you can switch your breathing away from the wave).
    • Coming into T1. Kick your legs harder near the end of your swim section, so you can get the blood moving back in your legs before you stand up and get ready for the bike section. You may feel a little dizzy when you first get out of the water, which is not that unusual. Keep your balance and get your legs moving and you will soon sort yourself out.
    • Practice makes perfect. Practice taking off your wet suit. Some triathlons (like the London Triathlon) will ask you to take your wet suit completely off before you run into the transition area, others will just recommend that you pull it down to your waist as you exit the water and then take it all off in the transition area. Find out what is going to happen at your planned race, and then practice before the race day.

Taking off the wet suit:

This always takes a bit of practice and whilst you’ll look & feel weird the first time, it’s amazing on how quickly you learn. Read on for some tips:

  1. Find the zipper at the back of your neck and pull down on the cord (unless your wet suit zips in the opposite direction, in which case, pull up on the cord) and unzip the wet suit;
  2. Grab one shoulder with the opposite hand and pull down on the shoulder quite forcefully while simultaneously pulling the arm out of the sleeve with your elbow pointing straight up;
  3. Do the same for the other arm;
  4. Grab the torso of the wet suit and pull it down to your waist [if you don’t need to take the suit all the way off, then stop here and run to transition, you can keep the swimming caps and goggles on your head to avoid losing track of them until you get to transition, or take them off your head and hold on to them until you get to transition, if that is more comfortable];
  5. Grab the waist of your wet suit and push everything down as low as you possibly can (definitely below the knees, as close to the ankles as possible);
  6. Stand up, straight and don’t reach down to pull the wet suit off your ankles if you can avoid it;
  7. Take your right leg and step firmly on the left leg of the wet suit, then lift your left leg up and out to the side, making a sort of side-kick motion (and making sure no one is standing next to you when you do it);
  8. Do the same thing with the other leg.
  9. You’re done.