I went down to watch the Ironman Melbourne this weekend which was absolutely awesome. There were over 2000 competitors starting at once in the age group category. It was pretty choppy conditions and it was really rough particularly out the back. Quite a few swimmers I saw started the race and then said no I can’t get through this. I felt quite sorry for these guys because they have obviously trained for at least 12 months towards this Ironman. To not be able to complete the swim because of the conditions is quite heartbreaking; I really felt for those guys.
I thought I would talk a little bit today about how you can increase your confidence in the open water and increase your skills. The first thing is obviously your proficiency in the water; how well you can swim and good you can swim. It comes down to being comfortable relaxed in the water. I spoke a little bit about this in last week’s video on how to become comfortable in the water and I provided a couple of drills.
The second thing and one of the most important things is also your confidence and attitude. That comes with the training; knowing that you have done the training and the work in order to complete the swim and come out feeling pretty strong at the end that comes down to confidence and knowing you have done the work to get there. I also think this is really important for open water swimming; it’s your attitude. If you are in there with over 2000 other swimmers and competitors then you really have to have to the attitude of ‘stuff it, I don’t care what they are doing this is my race and I am going to get through it;. I have found just with this kind of attitude in my open water races this year my results have improved. 
That is because it gives me the confidence to go out there and really attack it and be aggressive and aggressive with your swimming.
If your swimming ability isn’t quite as strong as some other swimmers you can make up a little bit with the right attitude out there by being aggressive and attacking the swim. I am not talking about being aggressive in there by throwing punches or throwing your arms around to hit other swimmers. It is about the attitude of going out there and attacking it and having the sort of punch and flow stroke that I have spoken about a few weeks ago.
There are a couple of my tips for improving your open water swimming. Here is some footage from the weekend, hope you enjoy it.
That is triathlon swimming news for the week. I will see you next week.
That’s why I am picking an Ironman that has the swim in a lake.
I loved seeing the footage from the IM Melbourne swim. I lined up and did the swim – I was too late for a refund and figured it would be good practice. my race finished there and I spent the day supporting and having fun!
I thoroughly enjoyed the brutal conditions of the swim, thanks to John Van Wisse I’d had heaps of practice down at Half Moon Bay in similar and worse condtions.