Open water swimming for beginners

Open water swimming is something that you are likely to have to do for any olympic or ironman distance races. There are also lots of sprint distance races that will have a sea swim but it is easy to find one without.

Open water swimming can be quite dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. Always be prepared to have to go home because of the weather conditions or just practice getting in and out of the water quickly a few times. You may also want to check the water quality online.

When you are open water swimming (especially if it is your first time) I recomend trying to go in a group because it is safer and much more fun. It will also be more like a race because you will be able to draft and people will be swimming much closer to you than in the pool.

When you do open water swimming in a race it is highly likely that you will get hit accidently at the start. This means that in an event with a sea swim you can either:
Go with the group and just keep swimming.
or
Wait 10 seconds after they say go so you can avoid the mass of people at the start which might mean youend up with a slightly slower group of swimmers than you would have if you had gone with the main group.

Wetsuits
A wetsuit is probably the second most expensive thing you will buy in triathlon after a bike so it is important that you get one that suits your personal needs. I use a Speedo Proton (£140) which is very flexible. If your legs sink you will want a wetsuit with thicker material for the legs (the maximum allowed in competitions is 5mm) but you will want thinner arms for flexibility. Remember thicker material will help you float but will be less flexible.