While pool and open water practice may seem dissimilar, the two are actually remarkably complementary. Open water offers a host of transferable skills, including variety, aerobic benefit and strategic training.

Swimming World queried four coaches with outstanding open water credentials on how two seemingly different training environments actually enhance swimmer development:

Catherine (Vogt) Kase (associate head coach, USC; head U.S. open water coach, 2016 Olympics and 2009-2013-2015 World Championships)
“I love the aerobic benefits of open water—half the time, no walls, can still mix up speeds, strokes and build endurance. I have seen great benefit of swimming fast in the pool following an open water race one to two weeks later. Most of the top open water athletes winning medals are doing pool training and open water racing. The key is you have to get kids that BUY into training outside the box in open water. Pool and open water training complement each other,” she says, “and keep things interesting.”

Bill Rose (former chairperson for the USA Swimming Open Water Steering and Open Water Swimming committees; coach of innumerable international open water champions)
“Ninety-five percent or more of open water training is in the pool,” he says. “And the type of training hasn’t changed too much because the 1500 is the pool race for which they prepare. The best training for open water is swimming in an open water race.”

Tyler Fenwick (associate head coach, University of Virginia; assistant head U.S. open water coach, 2018 Pan Pacs)
“Change is good! Having athletes swim in a different environment can serve to inject excitement into their seasons. At Tennessee, we had practices where we took the entire team to a quarry and ran a variety of practices. There was a lot of fun, smiles and hard work!”

Ron Aitken (head coach and CEO, Sandpipers of Nevada; head U.S. open water coach, 2014 (ages 17-18)-2016-2018 Junior World Championships)
“We don’t look at pool and open water training as separate things. It is a part of our program; open water is just another event. We still train athletes for pool events, just like we do for open water. We help swimmers understand they are capable of doing open water by swimming 5,000-yard sets every once in a while. Truthfully, it equates to a 5K, so they get the confidence they can do it.

Read the original article here