OW training & coaching

Heleen Peverelli onderzoekt of koudwaterzwemmen echt zo goed voor je is.

De belofte

Het is alweer de vijfde winter dat ik een paar keer per week met een groepje vrouwen in het Amsterdamse IJ zwem. Hartje winter kan het kwik dalen tot zo’n vier graden, maar voor mij geldt: hoe kouder, hoe beter.

Als ik me na zo’n tien minuten zwemmen afdroog op de kant voel ik me vrolijk, energiek, vitaal en ontspannen. Een gevoel dat ik de hele dag met me meeneem.

Laatst werd mij (Richard Broer) gevraagd of ik wel eens een 100 x 100 gezwommen had. Ja, uiteraard! een mooie uitdaging voor open water zwemmers in de winterperiode. De meeste ervan worden rond de jaarwisseling georganiseerd en soms ook vlak voor het open water seizoen. Het is een mooi meetmoment om te weten waar je staat op weg naar de zomer.

Heb ik ze allemaal afgemaakt? Zeker niet!

Choosing a good coach is crucial for your personal or professional development.

In my opinion, a good coach is like a good doctor (yes, I will compare a coach with a doctor, since both specialties are related to the body and mind of athletes, and by often a coach should understand more than a doctor in a narrow specialization).
Here are some guidelines to help you find the right coach for your needs:

Define Your Goals:

Simon Griffiths discusses the realities of “after-drop” and how swimmers can manage it.

If you have spent any time hanging around open water swimmers you may have heard the term “after-drop”. If you’ve done any swimming in cool water, you may have experienced it. For the uninitiated, after-drop refers to the decline in your core body temperature after you have got out of the water.

In Scandinavië, Schotland, IJsland en de Baltische Staten is wildzwemmen gewoon toegelaten, tenzij er expliciet staat dat het verboden is. The right to roam, zo noemen ze het daar, een basisrecht op bewegingsvrijheid. Maar waar exact moet je in België zijn om te zwemmen in de natuur?

Zwemmen in de zee kan prachtig zijn, mits je dat veilig doet. Daarom geeft zwemjuf Linda Damme ieder jaar een aantal zwemlessen in open zee aan haar leerlingen. Afgelopen week was het zover. Met een wetsuit aan, een badmuts op en een zwemboei rond de middel, namen de kinderen een frisse duik in de Oosterschelde.

Op de Facebook pagina van de ACNEG vond ik een video die fraai de techniek demonstreert hoe te voeden bij een marathon-oversteek.

It’s the first Saturday of October, at 6:15 in the morning. It’s still dark out, with the faintest of light creeping in over the eastern horizon. I’ve arrived at the Gravel Pond, where most of my open water training over the last decade has occurred, hoping to sneak in one last long swim before the pond closes for the season. I have no distance goals today; I’m just aiming to swim until 10 am, when the session closes.

The nighttime air temperatures are hovering around 37 degrees F (2.7C). The water temp is still warm enough, right at 58F (14.4C). The temperature contrast is causing a fine layer of mist over the water, as if the air is struggling to steal the remaining warmth from the water below. The skies overhead are crisp and clear, with a nearly full moon just starting her descent toward the foothills to the west.

When a great white shark stole a flipper from freediver Callum Stewart, he felt terror, curiosity and a deep love for his family – all in the space of 30 seconds.

A week before a great white shark took my diving fin, I went diving with nurse sharks on the New South Wales south coast. It was epic. I’ve always really liked sharks and was interested in seeing them in the wild. From what I’ve been reading and hearing, sharks are really not interested in attacking humans.

Even if you never want to enter a swimming event, learning how to turn quickly and efficiently around a buoy is a fun and useful skill to learn. If you do have swimming events planned, a well-executed buoy turn will not only give you a faster swim but also make you feel more confident and look really professional!

Buoy turns can be one of the most daunting parts of a swim event or triathlon. Like a mass start, they are feared for being like an aquatic rugby scrum as swimmers vie to get round the buoy as quickly as possible. 

‘One minute per degree’ is a rule often touted among cold-water swimmers, but is it a reliable guideline? Heather Massey and Mike Tipton of the Extreme Environments Laboratory at the University of Plymouth investigate.

There is an inverse relationship between water temperature and rate of cooling (the colder the water, the faster your tissues cool). So, the idea that in-water duration is reduced as water temperature cools in winter and spring is not a bad starting point.

But the nature of the relationship between water temperature and deep body cooling rate varies hugely between individuals.

“You will get dragged down by weeds!” Just one of many anxious thoughts that might go through a swimmer’s mind before taking the plunge. Simon Griffiths has your myth busting guide to swimming safely with weeds.

There is something about being in open water that nags on your subconscious. However comfortable you are in the water, and however competent you are at swimming, somewhere in the dark recess of your mind is a voice that says you don’t really belong here.

If you want to perform at your best in the water, you need to keep warm. Here, Professor Mike Tipton highlights the body parts that it's most important to insulate

To continue swimming in open water through winter safely and comfortably, you’ll need to make sure you take measures to keep your body warm. But what are the most important body parts to keep toasty while swimming in cold water? Professor Mike Tipton explains…

If you understand the underpinning physiology, then everything else will make sense. You can’t lump gloves, boots and hats in together, as they do different jobs!