Sunday, June 28, 2009

Open Water Swimmer Podcast

John Kenny, a former USA Swimming national open water swimming champion who now trains triathletes, talked about open water swimming with Ben Greenfield, a personal fitness guru, in a podcast.

John discussed the following questions here:


1. Should my stroke count and arm turnover increase in the open water?
2. If so, by how many strokes per minute?
3. And if so, should I be using a swimming metronome?
4. Should my breathing mechanics be different in the open water?
5. Should I do the 2 Stroke R, Breathe, 1 Stroke R, Sight, Switch Sides pattern that I see almost all the pros doing in triathlon swim video footage?
6. If so, how do I do that?
7. Should I sight first, then breathe, or breathe first, then sight, and does it matter?
8. How often should I sight?
9. Should I change my swim mechanics if I’m swimming downriver?
10. What about in a choppy lake vs. a choppy ocean with breakers?
11. In an ocean start, at what point should I stop running and start swimming?
12. Can I learn how to 'porpoise' or 'dolphin dive', and will it make me faster?
13. How far away from the feet of the person in front of me can I be before I lose the draft?
14. How hard should I work in the first 200 meters to catch a draft?
15. What is the #1 workout to get more comfortable with open water swimming?
16. What is the #1 workout to get faster in the open water?
17. Is there a way to eat and drink while swimming in the open water?

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