16 / / Open-Water Swim Special 2019
OPEN WATER SWIM SPECIAL
O
nceyou’veswuma fewtimesin
openwaterandhavecompleted
a fewraces,it’stimetothinkabout
thenextstep– speed.Wesatdown
withGB’sbestmarathonopen-
waterswimmerJackRexBurnelland
super-fastGBtriathleteJess
Learmonthtofindouthowthey
trainforopenwaterandfindthose
marginalgainscomeraceday:220:Doyoutrainallthetimein
openwater,ormoreinthepool?Jack:Weobviouslyliveina verycold
countryunlikehereinMallorca,so
unfortunately, 100 percentofour
trainingis doneinthepool!We
tailorit toopen-waterstylepacings
andthingsthatrelatetotheopen-
waterrace,butwedon’tdoany
trainingoutdoorsuntilwecomeout
toa raceora trainingcampwhere
wehaveaccesstoopenwater.I
thinkpool-basedtrainingdoesgive
usa bitofanadvantage,though,
becausewe’reusuallythequickest
swimmersinthelast400-500mand
thatcomesfromgainingthatspeed
andtechniqueinthepoolandthen
applyingthattotheopenwater.Jess:Wemainlytraininthepool
too!I’mswimmingfivetimesa
weekinthewinterandfourtimes
inthesummer,soabout20-25km
a week.Wemixit upthough– we’ll
doonerace-pacesession,one
threshold,anaerobic,andthena
fewsprintsandstufflikethat.
FromApril,we’llswimoncea
weekoutdoors.220:What’sthekeyskillthatyou
shouldpractiseforopenwater?Jack:Forme,youdon’tneedto
worryaboutthefitness– swimming
is swimming,whetheryou’reinthe
poolorintheopenwater!I guessthebit that’s different is being in close
quarters with other swimmers. In
training, you need to put yourself
in that environment. If you’ve got a
few mates, go down to the pool and
do 3-4km swimming really close to
each other and don’t be bothered or
scared if you do knock each other or
get hit. Obviously, nothing is
malicious - it’s about getting used
to the fact that you are going to get
hit by others in the water.Jess: We’ve started to bring in swim
to bike practise with turbos on the
side of the pool – that’s the bit that I
find hard! Drafting is a really goodone to practise, too. If you swim
with a group, try doing 400m, for
example, and take 100m each at
the front while the others get used
to swimming on feet.220: What advice do you have for
people training for a long swim?Jack: I think again it’s about putting
the miles in. Unfortunately, an easy
route just doesn’t exist. I think for
distances that are further than what
you’re used to doing, you just have
to go over and above what you have
been doing to make yourself
comfortable in that environment. IfPro athletes Jack
Rex Burnell and Jess
Learmonth show off
their water exit
skills on our shoot
in MallorcaOPEN-WATER
PRO ADVICE
Wondering how to get
faster in open water?
Pros Jack Rex Burnell
and Jess Learmonth
have this advice...