markers to judge your pace, but swim pacing is a tricky business. Incorporate these stroke-count and pacing sessions from Dan Bullock, coach and trainer at www.swimfortri.co.uk, into your training and learn how to master your pacing in the open water

other words, pit stops for your arms) occupy about a quarter of the time and distance. In open water, a mile will take at least 10 per cent more time to swim (because push-offs boost your speed) and there are no pit stops.Meeting these challenges demands

Five years ago I was excitedly planning my first middle-distance triathlon. Training was going well but then an incident in a deep lake left me in such a state that I was unable to race. The event involved a sea swim at Weymouth, Dorset

to swimming in the outdoors, you can choose from goggles, masks or a hybrid. Some people like the extra feeling of protection offered by masks, while others are happy with larger styles of goggles (we've tested both types here).Whatever you choose, your open

We've all committed open-water swimming sins. And no, that doesn't mean the undignified fisticuffs at the start of a race, but offences that are entirely our own fault: aiming for a swan instead of a buoy; forgetting everything we know about

, and events vary significantly in terms of length and location. Don’t fancy swimming in the choppy, open seas? Then start with a pool-based time trial. Worried your bike-handling skills won’t hold up on hills? No problem, choose a pancake-flat course

Most runners who are considering their first triathlon can cope with the cycling aspect of the event. It's the swimming that scares the life out of them. But it shouldn't, as long as they know the basics. "Gifted swimmers simply have a better

There were 43 world records set at this year's controversial World Swimming Championships in Rome. One of them came courtesy of Australian Christian Sprenger, who swam the men's 200m breaststroke semi-final in a staggering 2:07.31.Swift it may have

Keri-Anne Payne's name is synonymous with open-water swimming. She won silver in the gruelling 10km marathon swim at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, when open-water made its Olympic debut.With London 2012 quickly approaching, Keri-Anne is predicted

I am not a fish. I'm not even a hippo or an elephant. They all swim instinctively. I don't. There is nothing I find natural about moving through water. That's not to say I can't swim. Like most people, I've been swimming since childhood. For periods