How to decide on your next big swim

The summer is almost over and you’re probably thinking about your next big swim. But you need to decide just right. You don’t want a swim that’s too difficult for your level, but also don’t want something too easy. You also want something new, a different location, but it should be within your budget.

In this blog, we talk about 4 questions that can guide you to find your next big swim for next year. We will talk about distances, expectations and motivation. And with your plan in place, you can start your training for next year already and have the best possible experience.

1. What type of open water swim?

This should be the first question you ask yourself, as it more or less decides the rest of your planning. Training for a channel swim, for example, is not going to be the same as training for crossing a lake like Lake Geneva. This has to do with the difference in the buoyancy of salt water and fresh water.

Buoyancy means that denser water produces more force to keep you afloat. And this is where things get interesting. While freshwater weighs about 62.4 pounds per cubic foot, saltwater weighs about 64 pounds. Saltwater produces more force to keep you afloat. When your body is higher in the water, you have less drag and thus your stroke is more efficient.

But what happens in freshwater? You will hardly notice the difference in the first couple of hours. But your shoulders will start to feel heavier than in saltwater. Some swimmers say that 3 hours in the sea is like 6 hours of swimming in the lake

2. Where do you want to swim?

After deciding on the type of water you want to swim in, it is time to decide where you’re going to go. There are a few things to consider: your budget and your interest in the region.

The region you’re going to influences your budget. However, your budget should not hold you back if you want to swim in a certain place. You do incredible swims on a shoestring budget.

Take for example the story of Ian Lazarenco and his Japan swim. He brought his tent and slept on a camping ground or out in the fields. For food, he brought a lot of fresh products with him, honey, nuts and vegetables. He even went as far as to book a flight a day before his swim, that way he would stay as little as possible and save money.

If you have more budget available (when the region you’re going to is less expensive or closer to where you live) you could combine swimming with sightseeing. After swimming your big swim, you could take your family out to see cities, nature parks or other local oddities. Combining swimming with sightseeing makes it easier to get your family along on your trip.

3. What is the weather going to be like?

By the time you know where you’re going to swim, you should also start learning more about the weather conditions. For open water swimming, you could argue that experience is even more important than raw swimming skills. Knowing how to handle choppy water, obstacles and wildlife is crucial.

Read back on a few years of weather reports in the region you’re going to and pay special attention to the wind. As wind can tell you a lot about the waves you might face. The wind has to blow at a high speed over a large area of water to create waves, while the direction depends if the water goes from the shore to the shore, or along the shoreline (all three influence the time it takes to swim a certain distance).

4. How is your motivation?

You feel pretty pumped up right now. You’re already imagining the summer, the day you arrive on the shore, and are all ready to go for your big swim. However, during the year you might feel your motivation sinking. You might now have as much time to train as your thought, and what seemed like a great place to go, is losing some of its greatness in your mind.

In these kinds of cases, your high expectations are lowering your motivation. The best advice we can give you on motivation is to make your swim something you can’t back out of. Prepare the trip, pay for the flight already, think of a concrete date and put it on your agenda. Make it real and it will be real.

Your next big swim stars now

Before planning your next swim, have a look at the questions we have discussed above. They will help you find a swim that will work for you, for which you will feel motivated all year.