Open Water Swimming

I've always thought that I have seen my biggest gains in swimming by swimming in open water. I never put much thought to it until now. I'm listening to a podcast by Terry Laughlin, the guy that started Total Immersion. TI was my first intro to swimming. The reason open water swimming is optimal for triathletes (in my opinion and Terry's) is that you can feel the water and repeat your focal points many times without stopping. This trains your neuromuscular system to incorporate more permanent changes. The drawback to this is that you can also incorporate poor form and create bad habits. I feel that long course pool swimming and open water swimming has really helped me a lot this past year.

Terry takes about 13-14 strokes per 25 or 1 length of a scy pool. If I really try to minimize my stroke count, I can only get to 18, maybe 17 if I stretch it out.

He said the ratio of swimming to non-swimming (ie., gliding, turning, etc.) in a 25 yard pool is 2.6:1 but in a long course pool, it is 9:1. If you have a choice, swimming in a long course pool will help train that neuromuscular system to incorporate more permanent changes moreso than a short course pool. And, do open water swims as much as possible.