Goggles: There are many choices of goggles.  Reviews don’t really do justice either.  You can’t really go wrong with a pair of Swedish style goggles that suction cup to your eye sockets.  The image below are called socket rockets.  They aren’t the best for diving and aren’t as comfortable as others, but they look awesome and are very effective.  Try out a couple different pairs and see what your face likes.  The last thing you want is to get in the race and your googles start leaking water or are fogging up!

• Anti-fog spray:  Buy some of this.  It will make your experience a lot better.  The pool chlorine will eat your goggles and rubber over time.
• Swim cap: Get a swim cap and practice with it.  You’ll have one in the race so make sure you practice with it.

Other nice gear but not necessary

• Goggles case:  Don’t let your goggles get scratched
• Kick board: Practice your kick in the water.  Kicking is challenging when you first start.  You’ll learn that it makes a massive difference over time.

Wetsuit: There’s a lot of different wetsuits.  Wear your trisuit or whatever you are wearing for the bike/run under your wetsuit.  If you don’t, you’ll be stuck in the transition area wet and trying to put it on!

This is where things start to get exciting. I recommend going for it and making your first race and honestly as many races as possibly open water. It’s way more fun and the better you get at swimming the more fun it will be. The biggest difference between open water and the pool is that you can’t see anything under the water in open water like you can in the pool. It’s dark, but that’s ok!

Open Water: Open water has rougher water. You may be kicked in the face accidentally by someone in front of you. Don’t over exert yourself at the start. The most important thing about open water swimming is that you need to know where you are going!

• Find a point: Before you get in the water, look to see where you are going and find a marker on the horizon you can still see once you jump in.  Once you jump in the water it’s a lot harder to see where you are going, but that’s ok because you just found a point to swim towards (mountain, flag pole, building etc).  There will be a race marker hopefully in the water anyway, but make it easier on yourself.

• Looking up:  You’ll want to practice looking up while you stroke.  This will take some serious practice and it’s definitely intermediate and advanced level swimming.  As a beginner feel free to breast stroke once or twice to look ahead and make sure you’re not totally in some far off place (because it actually may happen).
• Go straight: Looking up will allow you to go as straight as possible.  Every swimmer no matter who you are will need to make sure you are going straight.  Otherwise, you may be zigzagging the entire way, wasting energy and time.

Pool: The pool is fantastic for training!

• Take a gym bag with a towel and leave it on the pool deck.  Don’t pack any valuables!
• Lanes full: Don’t sit there if all the lanes are full.  Ask someone if you can jump in their lane!  Two people can share one lane!  If there’s two people in every lane, just have the 3 or more of you swim in a circle.  Pass each other if there is a slower swimmer.  It’s fine!

Swim Attire: Girls, choose a well fitted swimsuit.  There are some two piece suits that work well, but you’ll want to consider a one piece for the greatest overall performance and convenience.  Guys, it honestly doesn’t matter if you wear board shorts or a speedo during practice.

When it comes to nutrition and swimming, it will be far more simple than biking or running.  While in the water the reality of swimming and eating doesn’t really exist.  While in the water your skin will absorb water and hydrate you.  The main thing is that you eat enough food before and proper nutrition after your workouts.  Overall, make some healthy choices when it comes to your fuel.  Bread, milk, water, eggs, fruit, vegetables, nuts, fish etc.  The reality is that your swim workouts won’t be long enough to really need to intake calories during.  Focus on the exercise but don’t workout on an empty stomach.

Water: Be sure to drink water before and after.  If you have cramped muscles or even if you don’t, water will help solve and prevent issues.

You will of course be moving your arms the most during the swim so make sure you stretch out your arms. After a while, your hands and even feet can cramp up. If you don’t stretch/warm up and go out hard, then your muscles expand fast and get tight. Circulating blood flow by stretching and warming up will get your muscles ready for an intense workout. A decent rule of thumb is that the more serious you take your stretching, the more serious you take the workout.

Focus on these areas (but not limited to):

• Triceps
• Hands
• Forearms
• Core (sides and stomach)

Other important areas:

• Feet
• Legs