Competitive racing - open water

Paceline sets are drills in the pool in which groups of swimmers (generally three to five) draft off one another, swimming behind the toes of the swimmers in front of them in one lane. In this way, the swimmers use drafting, much like a cycling peloton in the Tour de France. For 100-yard paceline sets, the leader of the group swims 100 yards at a set pace. The other swimmers follow closely behind. After 100 yards, the leader momentarily stops and waits at the side of the lane as the other swimmers continue swimming. The swimmers keep the same order as the new leader takes over and leads the group for the next 100 yards. This pattern is repeated until everyone leads the aquatic peloton for two to four rotations.

If each leader swims at a fairly good pace, the swimmers gain the following advantages:

• Excellent aerobic workout
• Practice drafting on the feet of teammates
• Learning to conserve energy while drafting at a good pace
• Increased awareness of other swimmers and practice at swimming in groups
• Practice in increasing and decreasing pace in the middle of a training set

Even without access to an open water swimming venue, open water racing can be replicated with pool open water (POW) training. POW is an easy-to-implement, educational, and enjoyable introduction to open water swimming that leads to increased confidence and helps acclimate pool swimmers to the open water environment.

POW can prepare swimmers for the rigors of swimming in the open water. POW enables a swimmer to practice the following:

• Swimming without lane lines and without following the black lines on the bottom of the pool
• Swimming in a pack of swimmers
• Performing quick turns around buoys in traffic
• Swimming without pushing off the pool walls
• Executing defensive and offensive racing maneuvers and tactics
• Positioning and drafting in various positions
• Dealing with the physicality of swimming in close proximity to other swimmers

POW swimming is typically conducted after removing the lane lines and setting four turn buoys in the corners of the pool near the intersection of the backstroke flags and the outside lane lines. This arrangement creates a rectangular course that is parallel with the perimeter of the pool. If all lane lines cannot be removed because other swimmers are also using the pool, a few lane lines can be removed and two turn buoys can be set near the ends of the pool. This configuration reduces the footprint necessary to hold a POW workout and provides the same benefits.

After a POW course is set up, swimmers can practice left- and right-shoulder turns around the buoys (see figure 24.5) by alternately practicing in clockwise and counterclockwise directions. The ability to make turns in either direction is important because there are no standard open water courses or turns.

POW swims are useful training tools, but the following guidelines can make these training sessions even more beneficial:

• When a group of swimmers becomes accustomed to POW swimming, add different configurations to the workouts. By doing X- or Z-shaped patterns in the pool, swimmers can become adept in doing any type of turn in the open water (see figure 24.6).
• A triangular course allows swimmers to practice turns at various angles, not only 90-degree and 180-degree turns.
• The coach can use a whistle and issue yellow and red penalty cards in practice to simulate what swimmers might experience in races.
• Hold some POW sessions in a shallow pool to create more turbulence.
• Practice onshore finishes by doing deck-ups at the end of each set.
• If a large number of swimmers are participating, groups can be set off at different times to maximize the number of people using the course (see figure 24.7). For example, when the first swimmer of group 1 reaches the first turn buoy, the second group can start, enabling more swimmers to swim the course simultaneously.
• To help swimmers become familiar with various positions that they may encounter in races, mix up the positions (e.g., inside or outside, front of the line or drafting, or boxed in) within any given POW set.
• Swimmers need to remain alert for physical contact. Impeding or interfering with teammates is not the goal, but it will happen in POW workouts.

Deck-up sets are another race-specific training drill for onshore finishes. In deck-up sets, the swimmers immediately pull themselves out of the pool after every swim and then dive back into the pool to start the next swim. This drill helps swimmers get accustomed to the rapid body position change (from horizontal to vertical) that occurs in an on-the-beach finish.