The Socratic Open Water Method

Socratic Method is named after the Classical Greek philosopher Socrates where individuals can learn and be taught based on asking and answering questions to stimulate rational thinking and to illuminate ideas.

The same form of education can be utilized by open water swimming coaches and athletes.

An open water swimming coach should be inquisitive - not instructive - after a race. By asking a lot of questions, coaches can enable their athletes to internalize and understand what they did in a race - both good and bad. By encouraging the athlete – of any age or level – to visualize who they were swimming with, what their pace was, how did they feel, the shape of the pack, their positioning during the race, the athlete will eventually become a more seasoned performer.

Open water coaches who question their athletes before and after a race help the athlete understand what can and should be done because each athlete is out there in the open water by themselves. Every decision they make in competitive situations – at the start, at the turn buoys, setting up the finish and during the final sprint – has a direct impact on their placing. And these decisions must be made quickly. Therefore, coaches can assist their athletes by constantly questioning them and pushing them to come up with the right answers for themselves in innumerable situations.


Before the race, coaches can ask:

1. Will you use Vaseline® or lanolin?
2. How many pairs of goggles are you taking to the race?
3. Who is your competition?
4. What is your goal?
5. How did you do last year? Where you satisfied?

After the race, coaches can ask about the start:

1. Where were you at the start?
2. Who was next to you?
3. Did you choose that position?
4. What was the pace at the start?
5. How did you feel until the first turn buoy?

Regarding the middle of the race, coaches can ask:

1. Where were you in the middle of the race?
2. Did you purposefully go to this position?
3. Where you boxed-in at any point?
4. When did the pace pick up?
5. Who was swimming in front of you?
6. Who was swimming behind you and to your left and right?
7. Are these swimmers faster than you?
8. What was your stroke tempo?

Regarding the turns, coaches can ask:

1. Did you speed up before or after the turn buoys?
2. Did you have the inside position around the turn buoys?
3. Did you get hit?
4. How can you avoid getting hit around the turns?
5. What was your position going into the turns?
6. How did you actually make the turn?

Regarding navigation, coaches can ask:

1. Did you know where you were going at all times?
2. Was it hard to see anything?
3. Did you take a good line to the finish?
4. Did you feel any ocean swells out there?
5. How often were you lifting your head to sight?
6. Did you see the lead kayak?
7. What sides were you breathing on?

Regarding the finish, coaches can ask:

1. When did the sprint begin?
2. Did you catch up to anyone once the sprint began?
3. Were you using your legs the whole time?
4. Was there any physical contact coming into the finish?
5. Were you satisfied with your finish?
6. How can we train better for a better finish?

While it is not exactly the Socratic method, the idea is to help the athlete improve and understand the myriad situations that happen in the open water.

Copyright © 2009 by Steven Munatones

Stoychev Comes Through Again In Lac Memphremagog

Petar Stoychev continues to dominate FINA's pro marathon swimming circuit. After swimming in the 2009 World Swimming Championships 10K in Italy and winning the Traversee internationale du Lac St-Jean, Petar won the Traversee internationale du lac Memphremagog today.

The top three results are as follows:

Men:
1. Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria)
2. Damian Blaum (Argentina)
3. Alexander Studzinski (Germany)

Women:
1. Anna Uvarova (Russia)
2. Pilar Geijo (Argentina)
3. Natalya Pankina (Russia)

According to the FOCUS Information Agency, Petar set a new record of 7 hours, 16 minutes and 22 seconds. "It was an incredible competition. Again it was held under hard conditions but I felt great all the time despite that the temperature of the water was of 18°C. I am very proud of myself, both for the new record and my 9th [FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix victory] in a row."

"At the final, there were around 3,000 people, including about a hundred Bulgarians. When I get on the first place podium and the Bulgarian anthem resounded, almost everyone started crying. I couldn’t stop myself from crying either and my eyes filled with tears when I saw the joy and happiness of the Bulgarians who are so far from Bulgaria at this moment. I dedicate my latest title and today’s record to my family that has been supporting me over all these years."

FINA Commission On Swimwear

FINA announced its Commission to control the swimwear approval process and to monitor the development of the swimsuit industry.

The Commission will be led by Professor Jan-Anders Manson from Lausanne, Switzerland.

In addition to Professor Manson, the Commission includes Rafael Escalas as the Athletes' Representative, Professor David Pendergast of the State University of New York - Buffalo (USA), Professor Brian Blanksby of the University of Western Australia (Australia) and Associate Professor Shigahiro Takahashi of Chukyo University (Japan).

David Davies - Making Waves In The Open Water

Mark Foster recently wrote a thoughtful commentary on British Olympic 10K Marathon Swim silver medalist David Davies (shown at the end of the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim) in the UK's Telegraph newspaper:

The article is entitled, David Davies should be making waves in open water, not the pool.

Mark (shown above) writes:

"David Davies will be back in the pool in Rome on Saturday morning when the heats start of the 1500 metres freestyle final. I wish he wasn't. I wish he was in a lake or in the sea."

"The likelihood is that he will make Sunday's final and then, at best, finish fourth. He simply doesn't have the speed to be truly competitive any more in an event that has effectively been turned into a long sprint."

"Yet this is the same swimmer who is one of Britain's outstanding gold-medal prospects at the London 2012 Olympics in the 10km open-water event. So what is he doing wasting his time in a swimming pool? Why isn't he out there gaining invaluable experience of the rough and tumble of marathon swimming?"

"To me, Davies is the Paula Radcliffe of the swimming pool. Time and time again we saw her run for 30 minutes only to be burned off by a group of Africans in the final lap. A brave effort but always glorious failure."

"But when she stepped up to the marathon, Radcliffe broke the world record and became a world champion. She owned the event."

"Like Radcliffe on the track, Davies lacks the basic speed to win over the shorter 1500m. If anyone wants to beat him, they need only sit with him until 50 metres to go and then blow him away in the final length."

"But like Radcliffe, Davies has the chance to make the longer event his own, to truly dominate the open-water discipline and create an aura before the London Olympics even begin."

"The Russian swimmer, Larisa Ilchenko, has done exactly that in the women's open-water event, winning the Olympic gold and eight world titles. Others are intimidated by her. That is where Davies needs to be."

"At the Beijing Olympics, he proved what an outstanding 10km swimmer he is by winning the silver medal, yet the gold would have been his if he had not shown his inexperience by taking the wrong line with about 400 metres to go."

"That is why he should have been competing in the World Championships in the open-water race at Ostia and not the swimming pool in Rome."

"There are precious few opportunities between now and 2012 to swim open-water races against truly world-class opposition. Davies needs all the experience he can get to learn his open-water trade. Perhaps he just can't get the swimming pool out of his system. He is, for certain, a hugely talented pool swimmer and he did, after all, win the 1500m bronze in the 2004 Athens Olympics."

"But the event has moved on since then, and Davies can no longer live with the speed of swimmers such China's Lin Zhang, Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli and Canadian Ryan Cochrane, who took the first three places in the 800m in Rome on Wednesday. Davies was fifth."

"I imagine the lure of competing in next year's Commonwealth Games in India, where there is no open-water competition, will persuade him to continue with the 1500m for the time being, even though Cochrane will also be there."

"But there are bigger fish to fry, and Davies needs to realise that a golden opportunity awaits him in London."

"He needs to forget about challenging himself over shorter distances and think of the bigger, and longer, picture."

While we completely understand Mark's position and wished that David had competed in the 5K and 10K races in Ostia at the World Swimming Championships, we know that Mark Perry and his coaching colleagues at British Swimming are extraordinarily focused on and committed to a long-term plan that culminates in Olympic open water swimming medals for Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

David's own strategic long-term plans to achieve his Olympic goals also seems reasonable. "I'm still ticking the boxes on learning the ropes in open water, and ticking boxes on improving my speed and strength."

David's coach Kevin Renshaw explained, "Really, open water this year is just to gain experience. We revisited the plan and while Rome was on the list, we feel that he's got enough FINA world cup races after the world championships. We're really excited about the progress he's made on speed and power, and that's been the priority."

Speed and power...all the open water swimming medalists in Ostia certainly had those attributes in abundance.

We also observed that the warm-water, rough, trapezoid-shaped sea course in Ostia bears no resemblance to the anticipated cold-water, flat-water, rectangular course in the Serpentine at the 2012 London Games.

While medaling in the 1500-meter freestyle in London has got to be deep within David's swimming DNA, the allure of swimming as one of the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim favorities in front of hundreds of thousands of British fans in the center (centre) of London must also be a factor pushing him on a daily basis while training.

With a swimming speed still significantly faster than his open water rivals, David's experience and abilities are especially suitable to the relatively-easy-to-navigate course and conditions in London.

Looking forward, we foresee David dictating the pace and influencing the Olympic 10K field in London despite his relative inexperience in the sport.

It will certainly be a great race.

Tower 26 Tips On The Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim

Gerry Rodrigues, founder of Tower 26, provided 14 tips on how to swim well at this weekend's Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim in Southern California, one of the most competitive open water races in America.

We will Twitter from the starting and finish piers about the Pier-to-Pier Swim tomorrow.

The Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim is arguably America's fourth most competitive race behind the new international NYC Pro Swim in New York City, the fast RCP Tiburon Mile in San Francisco, and the tactical USA Swimming National 10K Championships in Ft. Myers, and up there with the popular Waikiki Roughwater Swim in Honolulu, the Lake Berryessa Swim in Northern California and the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim in Maryland.

The Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier Swim is part of the annual International Surf Festival and is a 2-mile pier-to-pier race between the Hermosa Beach Pier to the Manhattan Beach Pier, a beautiful stretch of Southern California sun, sand and surf where many television and film industry types live and play.

Gerry's 14 tips for the race on Sunday, August 2nd are as follows:

Race day forecast: sunny, 1-2 foot surf every 7 seconds, high tide, possibly slight north current with low winds (i.e., smooth, lake-like conditions).

Tip #1: Do not start to the farthest right unless you are a 1:10 per 100-yard swimmer or faster.

Tip #2: Look for open spaces or pockets to enter as the horn sounds, both while running in the water and swimming at the start.

Tip # 3: It is possible there will be a dip or inshore hold due to the high tide. Be aware. You should check for this during your warm-up.

Tip #4: Keep looking for open spaces as you swim at an angle toward the Hermosa Pier.

Tip #5: Tightly round the pier, but swim approximately 15 feet or more if you are NOT a 1:10 per 100-yard swimmer or faster.

Tip #6: Begin sighing frequently for the Manhattan Pier, every 6-10 strokes.

Tip #7: There are three objects to assist in your navigation: (1) your position as you swim toward Manhattan Pier, (2) your position as you swim away from Hermosa Pier, and (3) your lateral distance from shore (you will need some right-sided breathing).

Tip #8: Draft as best you can off a faster swimmer, either at their feet or on their hips. Keep sighting frequently.

Tip #9: Buoy line - there are several buoys placed between the piers, use them as navigational targets.

Tip #10: If there is surf, it is best to stay a more outside course. But, the suggested course for this year's predicted conditions are a direct line, neither inside, not outside. However, any inshore or off-shore currents should be checked. Ask the lifeguards. Any positive currents, either in- or off-shore, would dictate a more inside or outside course.

Tip #11: As you round the Manhattan Pier, fast swimmers (1:10 per 100-yards or faster) can usually hug the pier with the anticipated low-surf conditions. Slower swimmers should approach the pier a bit wider, about 15-25 feet from the pier. Inexperienced swimmers should take wider turns at greater than 25 feet.

Tip #12: As you approach the finish, sight behind you, looking for waves so you are not surprised with a volume of water crashing on you. If you are confident, attempt to ride every wave as they should be rather small.

Tip #13: Expect in-shore holes or uneven ground. Swim or dolphin over them.

Tip #14: Smile as you run-up the beach. You just swam one of the most beautiful race courses in Southern California.

Photo of 2006 race finish.

St. Vincent's SWIM Across The Sound

This Saturday morning, 160 swimmers and 80 escort boats have taken off from Danford's Marina in New York for the 22nd annual 25K solo swim across the Long Island Sound as part of the St. Vincent’s SWIM Across the Sound.

15 solo swimmers and 26 relay teams of 2-6 swimmers have raised thousands of dollars for St. Vincent's programs. Each relay team is required to raise US$7,500, 2-person relays are required to raise US$3,500 and solo swimmers a minimum of US$1,500.

The SWIM started in 1987, when a lone swimmer named Jeffrey Keith, who had lost part of his leg to cancer, swam across the Long Island Sound with Matthew Vossler and raised US$5,000 for the cancer charity. Since then, the swim has grown into a year-long series of events, which has raised millions of dollars, US$2.65 million in 2008 alone.

Sponsored by St. Vincent’s Medical Center Foundation, the SWIM raises funds to provide financial support and care for the needs that health insurance companies do not cover. The SWIM provides cancer screenings at low- or no-cost to the elderly, underserved and uninsured and helps cancer patients and their families.

Race director Elizabeth Fry says, "This is the first year we’re offering the two-person relay category. Cancer is so prevalent, and I want to help in any way I can. This is a great event, and the swimmers work so hard fundraising for the SWIM. They’re amazing."

The solo swimmers include Bethamy Aronow (43), Jim Barber (49), Tom Coffey (49), Erin Flynn (28), Robert Gary (38), John Gosman (47), Nancy Haynsworth (51), Jan Johnson (54), Jacob Kennedy (29), Kathy Kirmayer (45), Martin McMahon (46), Tina Oakes (47), Sean O'Connor (49), Victoria Rian (42) and Kevin Sherman (44).