Your pool fitness transfers to open water — but your pool skills don’t. The transition from pool to open water requires new techniques, different pacing, and a mindset shift. Here’s what to prepare for.
What’s Different in Open Water
No walls. You don’t get a push-off every 25m. In a 1km open water swim, that’s 40 push-offs you won’t have. Your aerobic demand is higher without the rest from turns.
No lane lines. Without a line to follow, you’ll drift. Navigation (sighting) is a skill you need to practice.
No pace clock. You’ll swim by feel and GPS. Pace judgement becomes more important.
Conditions. Waves, current, cold water, sun glare, and chop all affect performance. Pool pace doesn’t translate directly to open water pace.
Wetsuit (often). If you wear a wetsuit, it adds significant buoyancy that changes your body position and pace. Open water with wetsuit is usually 5–15 sec/100m faster than pool pace.
Technique Adjustments
Sighting
Sighting is lifting your head briefly to spot a buoy or landmark ahead, then returning to swimming. If you don’t sight regularly, you’ll drift off course and add significant distance.
How to sight: Every 10–12 strokes, lift your eyes just above the waterline (not full head lift), spot your landmark, then complete a normal breath on your next stroke.
Practice in pool: Do 4×50m in the pool lifting your eyes every 6 strokes, then rotating for a breath. Gets you used to the movement.
Bilateral Breathing for Waves
In open water, waves may force you to breathe to one side or the other based on conditions. Bilateral breathing (every 3 strokes) gives you flexibility. If you only breathe to one side and waves are hitting from that side, you’ll take in water.
Drafting
Swimming directly behind or beside another swimmer reduces your drag. In races and group swims, positioning behind a faster swimmer can reduce your effort by 20–30%. In pool training, you never draft. In open water, it’s a legitimate skill.
Your First Open Water Session
For your first few open water sessions:
- Swim with others, never alone
- Stay close to shore or within a safety zone
- Start with short efforts (200–400m) to gauge pace and comfort
- Wear a brightly colored swim cap and consider a safety buoy (tow float)
- Check water temperature — below 18°C (64°F) usually warrants a wetsuit
Tracking Open Water Swims
Open water swims don’t have defined lap distances, so GPS becomes your primary distance metric. Apple Watch Ultra and most modern Garmin watches have reliable open water GPS.
Apps like SwimBeat can log open water sessions with GPS distance, time, and pace. Unlike pool tracking, stroke count and SWOLF aren’t as meaningful — focus on overall pace and distance.
How Much Pool Training Transfers?
Your cardiovascular fitness transfers almost entirely. If you can swim 3km comfortably in a pool, you have the fitness for open water distances.
What doesn’t transfer:
- Sighting technique (practice needed)
- Pacing without walls (practice needed)
- Wetsuit body position (adjust in a few sessions)
- Comfort in conditions (experience only)
Budget 3–5 open water sessions to make the technical adjustments. After that, your pool fitness takes over.