I am currently training for my first open water swim event mid March this year. It is a 1.5km swim in a lake.

I have been swimming for the past 4 1/2 months three times a week after having a baby in May 2024.

I can currently swim a continuous 1.5km in approx 33minutes in the pool with tumble turns. However I am having to switch between freestlye breast stroke and backstroke to keep going. Because I find my technique gets sloppy and fatigue starts to really set in trying to do continuous freestyle only.

Is it normal during OW swim events for people to switch between strokes? And is this ok??

I am anxious that I currently cant swim the whole distance freestyle and am reliant on switching to breast stroke or backstroke to catch my breath.

On a completely seperate note. I dont stop to adjust my goggles or cap. I role onto my back and keep swimming. As if i was in OW. I can also easily tread water as well. However my cap has been driving me mental and I keep getting an air bubble in the top. I’m wondering if its from constant tumble turning, or if I have the wrong size cap????? Any idea?

Any training tips for a first time OW swimmer is also welcome :))

I’m on week 2 of swimming double what a normally swim. Effectively building up to some 3k outdoor swim events and a long outdoor swim in summer, 7.5 miles. I feel fine during and straight after my swims, doing around 3.4 k doing day on day off at the pool. I’m struggling the rest of the day, feeling tired, and my sleep is poor, a lot of awake time and twitchy legs. How do I improve my sleep and nutrition? I take high strength vit C and magnesium that are not cheap! I’m female and age 53 so may take longer to recover re age. I’m tracking everything on my Coros watch too. Tips please to improve nutrition, I already eat healthily and get plenty protein but need help please 🙏 muscles taking longer to recover too so must be needing something more.

Hi! My partner and I do a lot of wild swimming, and he's a diver and dives in pretty chilly locations.

I'm trying to find some changing robes, but I am specifically looking for changing robes lined with cotton and NOT made from recycled PET. I'm not even sure this exists (it's been pretty hard to google search).

I'm not opposed to the outer material being recycled PET, but it's important to me that the liner is cotton/linen/some other natural fabric.

Hi everyone!

I am going on a Swimtrek holiday to Turkey in June and I am not sure what to pack (and buy in advance) (wetsuit, short sleeve wetsuit, just a swimsuit, rash vest, etc.). I could really use your suggestions!

Some info:

• Expected water temperature is 22-26 degrees celcius (73-77°F). Air temperature: 22-29°C / 72-84°F

• We will swim about 5 km a day, usually with a break in between.

• I am a OK swimmer (I'm a triathlete, swimming is not my forte). I take about 22 minutes per kilometer for longer distances.

• I want a nice relaxing swim every day.

• Pictures of previous years show people wearing just bathing suits.

• I tend to get cold quite quickly.

• I only have hand luggage, so I cannot bring too many options.

Any advice is welcome! Thanks :)

Hi All! I'll be visiting my sister next month near Tom's River, New Jersey and I'm trying to figure out where in the ocean I can swim that's nearby.

It seems like NJ (the USA?) is way more restrictive about getting into the water so I'm trying to understand if/how/where I can go without getting arrested. Is there an app/website I should be using to find out where is permissable or if there are any swimming groups in the area? Google is not revealing much.

Obligatory safety disclaimer/context: My sister/her husband would spot me if there's no groups, I swim year-round in the UK and I don't go deeper than waist-level this time of year. I am also American and grew up in NY but have been in the UK for a long while now.

We’re going to be spending a few days at Hilton La Romana, which is on the southeast shore of the DR. I’m looking forward to swimming at the beach.

I’m wondering if anyone has been there and has any tips or advice about this area for open water swimming.

1.2k swim here today - Fairhaven, VIC, Australia

Just the title.

Hi all! I'm planning a trip to Europe in April/May 2025. I know for sure that I'll be spending time in London and the Auvergne Rhone-Alps region of France with friends. I would love to visit a couple OWS destinations during my travels! Do you have any recommendations? Thank you!

I just signed up for the Portland 12 Bridges swim which is an 11 mile swim down the Willamette River under all 12 Portland bridges. My friend will be supporting me on a kayak. Any suggestions on how to administer nutrition? Solids, liquids, both? I’m thinking 5 bottles of my Infinit Nutrition blend and affix a bar or gel on the bottle with a rubber band just in case I need something solid in my stomach. I would then drip feed, taking half a bottle every 30 minutes. Is this a sound plan? Any suggestions based on your experience?

I'm training for long-distance open water swimming and looking for a coach to help me with speed and technique in the pool. Any recommendations in LA?

Hi there,

For the background, I use to swam in a club as a kid until my 12. Didn't since swim until last July, I could swim max 100m but was short of breath. I'm now 45, since I did my 2nd lung emboly, I quit all activity except diving. and I'm not the typical swimmer body :D 1m90 for 110kg

I ask my kid's teacher to make me a plan to do 1000m. I completed it in 2 month, I had to have a new objectif... I've the chance to have a greek wife, and every summer, we go to our summer house in Greece, close enough to the beach.
I said to her, know I want, next summer, to swim from a beach to another... 5km in open water :D

Today I did my 1st 2500m continuously in 1'49/100m in a 25m pool - +/- 45min
1st 500m I was exhausted, 500 to 1200m I was good, 1200m to 1800 feel a bit tired in the shoulder but OK, then I didn't feel anything, I was in automation mode, I just pay attention to the technique.

here 3 exemples of my typical training.

Warmup: 100m
4 times 50m freestyle - 15" rest

4 times 50m freestyle pullboy - 15" rest

8 times 50m freestyle pullboy & paddle - 15" rest

4 times 50m freestyle - 15" rest

4 times 50m freestyle

200 m cooling down
---------------------------------------------------------
200m warm up

100m freestyle - 20/30" rest

200m freestyle - 20/30" rest

300m freestyle - 20/30" rest

200m freestyle - 20/30" rest
100m freestyle - 20/30" rest

200m cooling down
-------------------------------------------------------------
200m warm up

10 times 50m freestyle - 30"-60" rest
8' freestyle
3 times 150m freestyle with accessoire (pullboy, paddle, board,...)

200m cooling down

Should I change my training plan? Continue it? I use to swim during my lunch time, I've 45/50 min max in the water, maybe from time to time, I can extend it.

Thank you for your help :)
Cheers :)

I posted the same in r/Swimming

I'm by the sea and I'd like to do some morning swims parallel to shore, but that puts the sun right over my right shoulder where I get an eyeful of sun when I breathe that way, even trying to angle my eyes "forward". Are tinted goggles enough to solve this or am I going to have to just breathe on my left? I'm trying to practice bilateral breathing so I'd like to avoid that.

Im looking for a free countdown widget for a swim event thats coming up.

Does anyone know any free ones? (That dont have in app purchases that make you pay subscription for the widget function).

I only really want it for the one event im training for, hence why im not keen on a paid one or subscription.

Thank you!

I had an idea to swim 100 miles this year, but I’m pretty new (and not even in my peak condition cause I got lazy) so I’m curious what y’all’s typical mileage is.

Looking to participate in November in a 20km down the river event, for what I saw average time is around 4 hours in the water. Now. What your training session would like to for thar?

I’m doing the Pier to Pub swim in Lorne this Saturday and I’m in need of a bit of guidance… This will be my 15th Pier to Pub, I’m a casual swimmer but I love it very much. My times have ranged from 18-29 minutes over the years, with my average time being 23:02.

I’m in the open the category, which typically swims late afternoon.

I come into the swim each year with pretty similar fitness/preparation, but my times and how I feel I’ve swam differ so much each year. I know there can be lots of variation with tides/waves/people/positioning, but I feel like I’ve never really mastered the tactics!

So I’d love some help. Here are some things I’ve identified might be affecting my time, but I’d be open to any suggestions!

• I tend to zig zag and struggle to stay in a straight line. I’ve tried different starting positions on the rope over the years, from way out the end of the rope to right close to the rocks, and everything in between, but it doesn’t seem to make much difference for me! I’d say maybe I stayed most on-course the year I swam right near the rocks as I was following the rope, but I also had to stop and look where I was going so much I lost valuable time.
• I can never decide when to stop swimming and start running in the water! Not sure if there’s really a tactic here…
• I struggle with the balance between pushing myself and taking it easy. Every year I feel like I could’ve pushed myself more, but I probably don’t have the fitness to go all out from start to finish.
• I have worn a wetsuit every year. I swim a lot faster generally and am more confident without a suit, but I obviously float more in the suit and I’ve never done the actual event without it, and I worry about how it’ll feel to not float with all the people swimming around me.
• The tide in the late afternoon. This of course changes, but I never really know how to manage the times in general.

Those are some starters! But as I say, I’d love any and all suggestions. My goal is to achieve a time of 24 minutes or under 😊

How do environmental factors such as water temperature, altitude, currents, weather conditions, water visibility, and the presence of marine life influence a swimmer’s performance and safety in open water events??

When swimming long distances, I sometimes want to remove my fins for a few minutes to rest my ankles, while continuing to swim. However, in some places, e.g. an ocean, I have nowhere to put the fins. How to swim while carrying fins (i.e., when the fins aren't positioned on my feet)?

Getting changed after a swim in a public place worries me... how do you put underwear on without flashing everyone? Or do you skip underwear? Tell me your ways!

Hey guys so I think I would like to get a wetsuit. Been an open water swimmer for most of my life, I’ve never used a wetsuit before but I believe it could make some of my winter swims more comfortable (I’ve lived in somewhat of a moderate winter climates, South Africa & Qatar-currently).

Any advise on how to go about finding my size - the perfect fit and any affordable/reputable online shops to choose from?

Thank you all and happy new year!

I'm training for my first 8K channel crossing this summer, and my intermediate goal is to get to 5K OWS comfortably in training by the spring.

Seeking a good travel destination in Latam/Caribbean for OWS for March / April. Criteria are:

• water temp at least 24 C / 75 F,
• travel under 6 hours from Northeast US, ideally less with direct flight
• ability to swim at least 800m along a beach parallel to shore
• OWS community to swim with, ideally with some coaching
• town to stay in

Right now, frontrunner is Tamarindo in Costa Rica where I can hopefully swim a little with VAMOS Ocean Racers . Any other ideas welcome!

I'm currently training for a Marathon swim ~5+ hours, however I tend to get sea-sick in certain conditions. Any tips? In the past I've taken Sea Legs tablets with mixed success. I was wondering if I could get something prescribed by my doc, however I'm not sure if anything stronger would impact my ability to swim.

This is a story from about 4 years ago in Connecticut, but a recent comment on this sub reminded me about this.

I dipped my toe into open water swimming during Covid. I picked a guarded swimming beach, went during slack tide, stayed away from rip currents, and brought my bright orange tow float.

3 minutes after getting into the water, the lifeguard started motioning me to get out and shouted, “No inflatables!” I was literally still in chest height water so I stood up, opened my buoy, and shouted back, “This is for my phone and clothes and so you can see me!” And waved my jeans in the air at them. They were not happy with this response and repeated, “no inflatables!”

So then I showed them I was letting the air out of my buoy until it was underwater, and continued my swim towing my deadweight float, and the guards left me alone.

This entire experience kind of put me off swimming in the ocean for a while. Like, why? Was I being the dumb one? Is there some danger from having a buoy that I don’t know about?