What you do in the last 200 to 300 yards of your swim has a huge impact on how well you will do on the bike and run.

Expect to feel weird when you stand up.  You may feel lightheaded, your legs may cramp, or your stomach could be upset from drinking strange water.  These are normal results of an open-water swim, especially if you’ve been wearing a wetsuit and literally dragging your legs behind you.

Sara always makes sure to get her legs moving in the last part of the swim.  With a few hundred yards to go, she’ll throw in some extra kick, trying to elevate her heart rate so that she’s ready to go from horizontal to vertical.    

If the waves are small, Sara swims straight to where her fingers are dragging on the bottom -- whether that’s the beach, the mud, or the shore.  

She feels it’s much faster to swim into half a foot of water and then stand up.  There’s much less chance of feeling unstable or falling over.

Take small steps to get your blood flowing and reactivate your legs.  Take your time, and you should be feeling recovered and grounded by the time you get to the transition area.

When you exit the water, immediately lift your goggles to your forehead so you can see where you’re going.   Reach for your zipper cord, and get a head start on stripping off your wetsuit.  

By the time you reach your bike, you should have your wetsuit down to your waist and all you need to do is strip off the legs.  

Practice this!  And practice doing it as fast as you can.  Set up a race situation with your friends to see who can get out of their suit the fastest.  This kind of practice is challenging and fun -- a true shakedown run to get you ready for race day.  

In these next few clips, we’ll see how Sara handles the exit for an ocean swim.  

In an ocean finish, with waves breaking, it’s important to keep an eye on the waves as you head in.

Basically, you want to wait for wave and ride it in to shore.  This is much faster and more efficient that trying to swim against the current that’s washing back into the ocean. 

What’s the best way to practice riding the waves?    Body surfing.  Take a day off from swimming and go play in the waves, learning just how to catch a wave that will carry you right into shore and drop you at the finish line.   


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Practicing the Finish