Keri-Anne Payne's Open Water Swimming Training Programme

Keri-Anne Payne came home from the Beijing Olympics with a silver medal in the 10km open water event, as well as competing in the pool.

With the British Gas Great Salford Swim, which is part of the Great Manchester Games, just days away Keri-Anne has put together some training tips for anyone who is interested in open water swimming.

Hello to all of you budding open water swimmers!

I’ve designed a 4 week plan to help you train for the British Gas Great Swim Series. I hope you enjoy it and reach your goal.

Top Tips:

- The length of the sessions will differ at the start depending on your level of swimming, but the main principles are the same.

- Try to swim 3-5 times a week, and at the end of this plan you should hopefully be able to 'comfortably' swim a distance of 2000m in the pool, without stopping.

- The Great Swim will be a constant swim so is more demanding than swimming in a pool, which is why you should be able to swim further than a mile.

- This plan mainly focuses on endurance and working the arms, as they provide the most propulsion. However, kick based workouts - to help provide stability in the stroke, pure technique sessions and a little speed work are also included.

- The exact nature of each session will be determined by how much time you have.The crucial elements are a warm up, main set and swim down. If time permits you can also work on technique.

- It helps to have at least one training partner or even join a local club. It’s always easier to keep motivated and is more fun to exercise in a group.

- Finally, try out the wetsuit you’ll be wearing at the event in advance, because the sensation of swimming in a wetsuit is different to that of swimming a normal costume.

Suggested Session: Start of Week 1

Warm up -  8x50m mix of freestyle and back stroke, with 15 seconds rest between each 50
Main set  - 12x100m Freestyle swim set, with 20 seconds rest after each 100m 
Warm down - 200m
Total workout  = 1800m
Overall session length depends on the competency of the swimmer, so the main set might be as short as 6x100 or as long as 20x100.

Suggested Session: Week 4 (end of month)

Warm up -  8x50m mix of freestyle and back stroke, with 15 seconds rest between each 50
Main Set - must be at least 2000m in length in total, preferably around 2500m
Warm down - 200m
Total Workout = at least 2500-3000m
 
In order to work all parts of the body and keep the regime interesting, the 4 week block can be split into five-session cycles:
- 3 sessions with main sets that are swim based
- 1 pull only session(using a pull buoy)
- 1 kick only session.

Kick Based Sessions using a kick board will be shorter than the swim/pull based ones.
The main set is around 50-60% of the swim set distance, in the above example for week 1, the main set would be around 6x100 or 12 x 50m.

Swim Main Sets shouldn’t just be 100’s every time. Two out of three swim main sets should be aimed at longer distances, working towards the straight 2000m, to increase endurance.

For example, in each cycle where there are 3 swim main sets
Main Set 1 -  7x300m, swimming at constant speed, with 30 seconds rest
Main Set 2 -  4x500m, swimming at constant speed, with 30 seconds rest
Main Set 3 -  20x50m or 12-15x100m, swimming varying rep speeds with 20-30 seconds rest between, will help improve your overall speed.

2000m Swim
The full 2000m swim should be swum one week before the British Gas Great Swim event, to give you the confidence of swimming continuously for the length of time you’ll swim at the event.

Good Luck!