Training and Preparation for Open Water
Open Water Swimming
At BUDS, most of your swimming will not be in a pool, it will be in the 63 degree ocean. Every day is different in the open water and the most important thing you must learn how to do is swim in a straight line.
The first thing you need to do when you arrive on the beach is assess the situation. Which direction is the wind blowing? Which direction is the current going? What are the tides doing? How big are the waves? Where are the waves breaking? The more you know, the better, as you must assimilate with the ocean.
swimming in a straight line: HOW TO SIGHT
Learning how to swim in a straight line is half natural instinct and half sighting properly. Sighting is simply breathing to the front instead of the side. Though, you can sight without breathing - by sighting only with your eyes, leaving your mouth and nose submerged. We call these alligator eyes. The better mobility you have in your shoulders and neck, the better technique you can have while doing this. The most you come out of the water, the more drag you create. Guys can go REALLY slow due to bad sighting - you want your mouth as close to the water as possible.
When you sight during sidestroke, think about leaning on your bottom arm - try and keep that arm close to the surface of the water.
You can also sight by doing a breaststroke stroke. Do a few normal CSS strokes, then do a fly kick with a breaststroke pull. I do like this for guys that undulate and dolphin kick well. I like it because you get a longer, more comfortable line of vision.
Foggy masks suck - how do you know where you are going with a foggy mask? Try and get the newest mask you can get and make sure you do a nice job of spitting in your mask. Once your mask goes on, don’t take it off. If you break the seal, you will need to spit in it again to combat the fog. If you have a super old super foggy mask, keep some spitty water in your mask and when it gets foggy just shake your head and the water will clear you right up.
Training Strategies for Open Water
Distance Matters: Every week in BUDS you’ve got a 2 mile open water swim. This is over an hour of straight swimming. Make sure you are doing longer swims in the pool with fins on. Train both sides. Do longer threshold sets. This means stuff like 20x100 on 2 minutes holding 1:40.
Train in Open Water: There is nothing better for training open water than to be training in the open water. I’ve heard multiple guys say the first time they ever got in the ocean was at BUDS. That’s not good. You don’t want that to be you.
Sighting in the Pool: Practice sighting techniques in the pool. This skill is crucial for staying on track. You are better off sighting more and staying in a straight line, then sighting less and falling of course.
Swim on Both Sides: Most of the time you will be swimming with a buddy - swimming about 6 feet apart, face-to-face. This means one person is on their right side and one person is on their left side. This is another reason why you should train and become proficient on both sides with fins. Not so much for normal CSS.
Buoys: If you have access to open water, get yourself a buoy with a kayak anchor. This is probably the best way to work on sighting. It doesn’t matter where you put the buoy - just swim at the buoy repeatedly, sighting. Go from different angles and distances.
What's Next?
Join the Combat Side Stroke Workout Group
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