Why effective open water preparation often begins in the pool

Training for Open Water, While Still in the Pool

If you’re training for open water or triathlon, you’ve probably been told that nothing replaces open water.

Cold exposure. No walls. Sighting. The sense of chaos and the adrenaline rush of being in the thick of it.

There’s some truth in that but it’s incomplete. What actually determines whether someone copes well in open water is not where they train but how organised their movement and breathing are in the water. And those foundations are built far more reliably in the pool.

Open water exposes weaknesses . It doesn’t always create skills. Open water has a way of revealing things quickly:

a) breathing that falls apart under pressure;

b) strokes that shorten when conditions change;

c) tension that creeps in as soon as pace rises;

d) energy wasted fighting instability.

These issues don’t start in open water. They are already there . Open water simply removes the buffers. The pool is where those weaknesses can be addressed  before they become costly.

Triathletes who swim well in open water tend to share a few things in common:

a) their stroke holds together without walls;

b) their breathing stays reliable under stress;

c) they don’t rush when things feel unfamiliar;

d) they conserve energy without thinking about it.

None of that comes from “toughing it out”. It comes from efficient mechanics, experience and a calm nervous system  both of which are far easier to train in a controlled environment.

Why the pool is still the most effective training tool

The pool allows you to do something open water doesn’t: notice what’s actually happening.

In the pool, you can:

a) feel how alignment changes as fatigue builds;

b) understand how breathing affects balance and direction;

c) remove tension that costs speed and stamina;

d) swim continuously without interruption or panic.

For triathletes especially, this matters. Every unnecessary movement in the water carries a cost that shows up later on the bike and run. A swim that requires constant correction, tension or breath control elevates effort early, leaving the body less able to settle during the transitions that follow. When swimming is efficient and organised energy is conserved, breathing stabilises more quickly and the bike and run begin from a place of control rather than recovery.

This is not to say that open water should be avoided. Quite the opposite. Practising in both environments matters  not to replace one with the other but to understand what each reveals.

The pool shows you how you move when conditions are controlled. Open water shows you where the mental walls appear. For some, it is breathing for others it is direction, uncertainty or the loss of visual reference points, strength of waves or water current if swimming in open sea. These struggles are not failures they are information.

When swimmers move between pool and open water with awareness, they begin to recognise which challenges are technical and which are psychological. Once that distinction is clear, training becomes far more effective. You stop trying to fix everything at once and start addressing what actually needs attention.

The mistake many swimmers make

Many swimmers try to prepare for open water by adding stress with harder sets, simulated chaos, aggressive pacing or / and excessive sighting drills.

What they often miss is that stress doesn’t build skill. It reveals it. If technique collapses under pressure, the answer is not more pressure it’s better organisation and brake down all of the elements that will make you swim soother and stronger.

Calm is not the opposite of performance

There’s a persistent myth that calm swimming is passive or slow. In reality, calm is what allows technique to stay intact when effort increases. When the body is organised the stroke lengthens naturally, breathing remains steady, direction is clearer and energy is conserved. This is why many swimmers report that open water feels unexpectedly satisfying when their pool training has been done well.

Not easy but controlled.

Preparing properly without pretending the pool is open water

You don’t need to make the pool chaotic to prepare for open water. Trying to recreate open water conditions indoors often distracts from what actually matters.

What prepares swimmers far more effectively is learning to swim well despite the walls being there; not relying on them for rest, direction or reassurance. Uninterrupted swimming, maintaining rhythm over longer efforts, staying aware of body position as fatigue builds and remaining composed when breathing or pace shifts are the skills that transfer.

The walls may still be there. But the dependency on them doesn’t have to be. And those skills don’t disappear when the lane ropes do.

When pool training has done its job

Open water feels different when:

a) you trust your stroke;

b) you trust your breath;

c) you trust your ability to adapt.

At that point, conditions become variables not threats.

Open water doesn’t require a different swimmer. It requires a well-prepared one. And that preparation almost always begins in the pool.