"There is nothing like pink toilet paper or a floating plaster to come at you from the deep to make you swim faster!" says Duncan Hough, vice chair of the Birmingham Running and Triathlon Club (www.bratclub.co.uk). But your first open-water swim

Jumping in the Thames or heading for the beach aren’t always possible when you’re training for a triathlon but there are some open-water swimming skills you can practise in the pool. By spending a few minutes every week honing your ability, you

, Bike and Run Training (June 17) Steve Trew, Triathlon coach Solid Gold: Training Tips from Rebecca Adlington's Coach (June 24) Bill Furniss, GB Swimming coach Race Day: How to Prepare for Big Events (July 1) Helen Jenkins, GB

Whether you're serious about racing your first triathlon or you just want to do some cross-training in the pool, there are two types of swimming workouts that offer the most benefits for runners. The first is swimming laps, or endurance swimming, where you

, as it will require less searching and can be spotted and remembered before the race." Be sure to make your reference point an object that will not move.Breathing lessonsThe art of breathing when swimming front crawl is the area that holds most fear for newcomers

There comes a time in a race when you know that if you grit your teeth, breathe hard and really go for it, there's a good chance you'll run and ride faster, though not for very long, perhaps. The same cannot be said of swimming: trying harder

- and sometimes even in the pool when you're training. However, he's right: making friends with water could be the difference between loving every minute of a triathlon and metaphorically holding your breath until you exit the water.Triathletes from a non-swimming

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

thinking about trying an open-water session if you’re targeting a race that features an open-water swim.” One of the best – and easiest – ways to improve your front crawl is to seek a second opinion. “It’s always good to get some advice from a trained eye

triathlete you will eventually have to take the plunge into the great unknown. But every time you brave an open-water session you'll build the crucial confidence and skills that will prove invaluable on race day.Open-water swimming may seem deep, dark and a