Triathlon Open Water Swimming Tips: How to Build Speed with Skill and Strategy
Success in open water swimming is rarely just about fitness.
You can be the strongest swimmer in the pool, yet struggle with execution, strategy, technique, or confidence in the open water. That disconnect is frustrating. It’s also incredibly common.
Open water introduces chaos and demands adaptability – elements that don’t exist in the comfort of lane lines. But here’s the good news: open water swimming is also full of learnable, practical skills that you can train, many of which you can practice even in a pool. These skills will directly improve your race performance.
Whether you're preparing for your first IRONMAN triathlon or chasing a new personal best, the lessons in this article will help you swim faster and more efficiently, without wasting energy or adding unnecessary stress to your race.
What You'll Learn
How Do You Draft Effectively in Open Water Triathlon Swimming?
Drafting Conserves Energy and Builds Efficiency - But Only If You Do It Right
Effective drafting involves swimming directly behind or just off the hip of another athlete to reduce drag and conserve energy. But to benefit, you must stay alert, assess your draft partner's pacing and direction, and be ready to break away if needed.
Drafting is one of the most misunderstood tools in triathlon swimming. When used well, it creates significant energy savings and can enhance your swim speed without additional effort. But it only works when approached with intent.
Effective drafting means finding the right position and staying alert throughout the swim. Here’s what this looks like in practice:
Position: You should be directly behind another swimmer’s feet or just off their hip, where resistance is reduced and your efficiency increases. Too far back, and you’re caught in the turbulence of their wake. Off to the side, and you're no longer gaining much benefit.
Awareness: Be selective. You’re making an active decision to follow someone else’s movements. That means you need to check their pacing and their ability to swim in a straight line. If they’re zigzagging, slowing, or inconsistent, you’re following them – and likely making those same costly mistakes.
Drafting is not about latching on and then zoning out. You need to staying sharp, constantly adjusting, and knowing when to break away.
What to Practice:
Integrate pace-line swimming in your training with rotating leaders. This helps you learn how to enter and exit the draft zone without losing rhythm, and this skill can easily be practiced in a pool lane if you don’t have consistent access to open water.
Notice how each draft position feels. Swimming behind feet offers the most drag reduction, but the hip position allows better visibility and control.
In pool workouts, train your internal awareness of pacing. This helps you detect when the person you’re drafting is slowing or has inconsistent speed. Use perceived effort, not just the clock, to make smart choices on race day when conditions are variable.
What’s the Best Way to Sight in Open Water?
Sighting is Essential for Navigation and Energy Conservation
Sighting should be smooth, subtle, and built into your stroke rhythm to avoid disrupting your form. Lift your eyes just enough to spot a target, then rotate into your normal breath. Aim to sight every 4–6 strokes and use fixed landmarks when buoys are hard to see.
Many triathletes focus heavily on pace and stroke mechanics but underestimate the role of navigation. Sighting poorly can add dozens (or hundreds!) of meters to your swim.
Sighting isn’t just about seeing where you're going. It’s your #1 tool in maintaining efficiency and avoiding wasting energy.
A good sighting technique is subtle and efficient. It should integrate into your stroke rhythm with minimal disruption. As your lead hand enters the water, apply slight pressure downward to lift your eyes just above the surface—ideally to nose or goggle level. Then roll your head sideways into your normal breathing position. This creates a smooth, two-part motion that keeps your body stable and reduces drag.
Avoid lifting your entire head or dropping it too fast. These mistakes create resistance, break form, and spike your effort.
Frequency also matters: sighting too often can make your stroke mechanical. Too little, and you risk going off course. Typically, sighting every 4-6 strokes is a good rhythm to aim for.
One final word of caution: Don't rely solely on race buoys. In glare, chop, fog, or on long straightaways, those buoys might be hard to see. Buoys can also potentially drift. Whenever possibly, use fixed landmarks as visual anchors instead: buildings, trees, boats. That way, even if visibility is poor, you maintain a strong, accurate trajectory.
Pro tip: On race morning – or even the day before your race – head to swim start and look for easily identifiable landmarks you can incorporate into your sighting plan.
What to Practice:
Include sighting in your pool workouts. A simple drill: sight every 5–7 strokes during long sets and aim to maintain a consistent stroke rhythm. Put something like a swim buoy or small cone at the end of your lane for practice locking onto a specific object.
Practice sighting on both near and distant objects in open water. This trains your peripheral awareness and helps with visual cue prioritization.
Refine your sighting mechanics in calm water before challenging yourself with more chaotic race-like conditions.
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How Can You Navigate Buoy Turns Without Losing Speed or Position?
Smoothly Executed Buoy Turns Save Time and Reduce Stress
Choose between a tight inside turn for minimal distance or a wide arc to maintain momentum, depending on your comfort with contact and crowding. Look past the buoy rather than aiming straight at it to set up a smoother, more controlled turn.
You’ll rarely find a triathlon that doesn’t have a buoy turn.
Buoy turns are often a pinch point in open water swims. They can feel like a pileup on a freeway: everyone slowing down, bumping elbows, and disrupting flow.
But handled properly, they are an opportunity to gain time, avoid collisions, and stay in control.
There are two primary strategies – hugging the buoy tightly or swinging out wide:
The tight line keeps you close to the buoy, cutting distance. It’s best suited for confident swimmers comfortable in contact. Some advanced athletes use a corkscrew motion, transitioning briefly into backstroke around the buoy to maintain momentum. This is effective, but it requires skill and practice to make it smooth.
The wide arc, while adding a bit of distance, can preserve rhythm and reduce stress. If you’re less comfortable in close quarters or if the pack is thick, a smooth outside turn may keep you moving forward with less interruption and ultimately more speed.
Pro tip: Don’t aim for the buoy itself. This forces a hard directional change. Instead, sight past the buoy and shape your approach early. This helps you smooth out your line, maintain momentum, and avoid unnecessary corrections mid-turn.
What to Practice:
Set up mock buoy turns in open water. Practice both tight and wide paths to build confidence in multiple scenarios.
Train with small groups to simulate race conditions. Learn to make decisions under pressure and keep your stroke controlled in contact-heavy environments.
Experiment with different turn techniques like the corkscrew in training – not on race day.
How Should You Approach Triathlon Swim Starts, Exits, and Land Crossings?
Starts, Ends, and “Aussie Exits” Are An Often Overlooked Element of Triathlon Swims
Stay calm and purposeful to avoid spiking heart rate. Enter smoothly, dolphin dive when appropriate, and continue swimming until both hands and feet can touch the ground or exit ramp.
Starts and exits can heavily influence how your swim feels, and how well you transition into the bike. They’re some of the moments where your heart rate will be highest throughout the entire race.
Yet most athletes don’t train these moments. Avoid losing crucial time in your swims by praciticing these elements:
Swim Entry: On starts, if you’re entering from the beach, run (but don’t sprint!) into the water until it reaches thigh depth. At that point, more experienced swimmers can dolphin dive by launching forward and gliding beneath the surface – dolphin dives tend to be most useful in true surf conditions. Repeat until you’re deep enough to swim with rhythm and avoid touching the bottom with your hand during a full stroke. If there’s heavy surf, dive under waves rather than attempting to swim through them.
Swim Exit: This is equally critical. Stand up only when your hands can comfortably touch the bottom (or when both hands and feet can easily touch exit structures like ramps or stairs). Standing too early forces you to wade slowly against high resistance, elevating your heart rate unnecessarily – making for a difficult run into transition.
Some races have land crossings or “Aussie exits” during multi-loop swims. These tend to spike heart rate and break rhythm. Your best response is to keep moving smoothly, stay upright, and breathe with control. Don’t think about a sprint – keep the land portion at a moderate effort. Once you re-enter the water, give yourself 15-25 easier strokes to re-establish form and composure. You may have higher traffic in the water when you re-enter, so sight frequently and be prepared for body contact.
What to Practice:
Rehearse starts and exits during open water sessions. Try to simulate different types of start formats including in-water starts and beach entries.
Include short beach runs during swim sets to simulate land crossings. This teaches you how to manage transitions without panic and manage your heart rate.
Create small training simulations that include entry, swim, exit, and short transition jogs to build fluency in the full race sequence. This can also include “deck-ups” at the pool!
How Do You Adjust to Currents on Race Day?
A Fast Swim Comes from Having A Toolkit to Adapt, Not Just Endure
Adapt your stroke rate and line based on current direction—higher cadence against current, angled trajectory in cross-current, and steady pacing with downstream flow. Sight frequently and use pre-race observations to inform your race-day strategy.
Open water swims rarely go exactly as planned. Wind, current, chop, and course layout all influence your race. The best swimmers know how to respond:
Swimming with current / downriver: You’ll feel faster, but don’t ease up! Maintain steady effort and rhythm, and take advantage of the assistance. Make sure you sight frequently near the exit so you don’t overshoot.
Swimming against current: Shorten your stroke slightly and increase your cadence. Maintain a strong line forward.
Cross-currents: aim slightly upstream or into the current to avoid being pushed off course. This correction is far easier to make early than after you’ve drifted off the line. Sight frequently to avoid swimming extra distance off-course.
On looped courses with land exits: Use the first loop to establish rhythm, then build effort on the second. If you exit and re-enter mid-race, don’t sprint in or out. Keep it smooth, stay upright, and allow your heart rate to settle before resuming swim pace.
Remember that tough conditions like wind, chop, rain, and current are great opportunities to seek out during training. Instead of avoiding them, use them to sharpen your adaptability and resilience.
Use race-day conditions as a way to express your preparation, not just survive. These situations reward presence, awareness, and practiced decision-making.
What to Practice:
Seek out variability in your training environment. Lakes with wind and chop, rivers with current, and ocean conditions all build valuable adaptability.
Study the course map in advance. Note where currents might be strongest or where loops and exits occur. Have a plan for each section.
Watch buoy or even boat/kayak behavior during your warm-up. Buoys leaning in one direction (or kayakers having to paddle to stay in place) signal current flow. Use that information to guide your sighting and navigation.
Final Thoughts: Purposeful Practice Builds Real Confidence in Open Water
Open water performance is not about stacking more distance. It’s about building a toolkit of skills that keep you composed, under control, and efficient even when the environment gets messy.
The decisions you make in the water influence how you transition into the next phase of your race.
Developing these skills doesn’t require a training overhaul. But it does requires commitment to small, smart adjustments and a willingness to get uncomfortable during training sessions. If you train these skills under pressure and in realistic conditions, you’ll arrive at your race confident and ready to perform.
Ready to Build Confidence and Control?
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