Open Water Swimming

Open Water Interval Training (OWIT) Workouts – 2025 dates to be confirmed

Interval training sessions that combine fitness and open water skills such as breathing & sighting techniques, swimming straight, pacing, drafting techniques, group starts and more.

Sessions are for intermediate and advanced swimmers who can comfortably swim a minimum of 400m Freestyle without stopping in the sea (any pace or speed).

Places are limited to 20 swimmers per session.

Dates	2025 dates to be confirmed
Where	Freyberg beach or Hataitai beach *
Time	6:30 – 7:30pm (60 minutes) – Briefing at the beach from 6:20pm
Cost	$15 per workout or $104 per season (8 workouts)
Age	18 & over

* Notes:

If the weather conditions aren’t suitable at Freyberg beach, the sessions will be conducted at Hataitai beach. In this case, you will be notified by text or email on the day before midday.

If the sea is unsuitable for swimming, your session will either be credited or refunded.

Book Spring Season Pass

Book Casual Workouts

Book Summer Season Pass

In many ways, swimming in open water requires a variety of skills that can be very different from swimming in a pool.

It is important to be prepared physically and mentally for an open water swim.

Please find below what I consider to be the most important skills to practice as well as useful tips.

Develop your Freestyle technique

Practice bilateral breathing

Develop and practice breathing on both sides at the pool as well as in the sea. Depending on the conditions (e.g. waves, sun orientation, sighting points, where other swimmers are), you may have to breathe on one side only for part of the race.

Practice sighting

A good sighting technique helps you swim and navigate with the least amount of disruption to your swimming.

Sighting effectively is the key to swim straight between buoys or markers.

Try to spot landmarks such as large fixed objects on the horizon (e.g. peak of hill, trees, building, etc.).

Whatever sighting technique you choose, you have only a second to capture a “snapshot” of what is in front of you, a picture you can process for the next few seconds while you decide whether to make any small corrections to your swim course.

Integrate sighting into your stroke when training at the pool (e.g. target a fixed object such as a water bottle or a diving block).
Practice all sighting techniques then choose the one you are the most comfortable with.
Sight regularly such as every 6 strokes.

Easiest

Alligator eyes

Most efficient

Sight into breath

Alternative option

Breath into sight

Choppy condition

Water polo

Practice pacing

Practicing your race pace at the pool will help you avoid going out too fast at the start of the race. Conserving energy at the beginning, means you can maintain your speed to the end.

Learn More

Interval training and send-off intervals are your best tools

Constant pace and rest are the foundation for developing your endurance and are best accomplish by swimming intervals. This ensures consistency and accountability of swimming pace and rest.

Break up your workout into shorter sets with a specific goal.

For example, if you are training for a 1500 metres race and your goal time is 33 minutes, you could train towards achieving this goal with swim sets such as:

15 x 100 Freestyle on 2’20 to 2’30 (starting each 100 m every 2 minutes 20 seconds or 2 minutes 30 seconds) with a steady pace around 2’10 to 2’15.

5 x 300 Freestyle on 7’00 to 7’30 start (6’30 pace)
3 x 500 Freestyle on 12’00 start (11’00 pace)

It is equally important to swim at different speeds. Find more about swimming at different paces.

Find more info about the benefits of interval training & how to build your fitness in the Outpace blog.

If you need help to improve your technique and achieve a 1500 m Freestyle in 33 minutes or faster, the All-in-One plan is the perfect place to start.

If you are targeting a faster time and you need workout ideas, Outpace Swim Workouts will help you build your fitness throughout the year.

Tips before the race season

A few months before the race season:

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Build your fitness

Overall fitness will mostly be built in the swimming pool, practicing interval training
Train the way you race

Build your open water confidence

Overall confidence and learning to relax will only come with time spent in open water
Increase your weekly time spent in open water

Practice with your wetsuit in the open water

Get used to swim with your wetsuit is important
Adapt your stroke to the conditions and to the additional buoyancy of the wetsuit
If you need quality wetsuits, please visit the Arena range in the Outpace Shop.

Race day tips

Learn More

Recon the course

Workout key landmark features (hills, trees, buildings) as buoys are sometimes difficult to spot.

Bring two pairs of goggles

In case one snaps or leaks.
Preferably, get a tinted and a clear pair to have the choice depending on the weather conditions.

Warm up well

Warming up in the open water before a swim event or a triathlon is important.
A good warm-up will help elevate your heart rate progressively, get used to the water temperature, test your goggles and give you an opportunity to sight and plot the course.

Just before the race, practice some deep breathing with a focus on exhalation.

This will activate your parasympathetic nervous system to decrease stress and anxiety.

At the start of the race, as soon as you put your head in the water, focus on exhaling well.

I always do this for the first five minutes of the race if not the whole race!
A good breath out which helps to relax and switch the mind away from the stress of the race.
In addition, exhaling well stops you from holding your breath and building Co2 in your system.
This is the tip that I usually recommend and it works really well!