Open Water Swimming (Paperback)

by Penny Lee Dean (Author) "In 1987, Lynne Cox of Southern California decided to swim the Bering Strait from the Little Diomede Island off of the United States to Big..." (more)
Key Phrases: fastest male, eggbeater kick, open water swimming, English Channel, United States, Catalina Channel (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"
"""This is an excellent book. Anyone contemplating entry into a triathlon, participating in an open water swim or assisting with the physical or mental preparation of an athlete will find Open Water Swimming extremely useful. Penny's technical skills and abilities will enable most swimmers to make drastic improvements in all aspects of their swimming."""
Dale Petranech
Former Secretary
FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee
"""Open Water Swimming is a wonderful treatise that is needed in the swimming community. Penny is flat out the most successful swimmer of all time. Her channel crossing record and her other accomplishments set her apart from the rest of the field-and so does this book. Open Water Swimming gives insight into a not widely known discipline. Penny has done it all in this book. I recommend it to anyone involved in aquatics."""
Samuel James Freas
President
International Swimming Hall of Fame
"

Product Description
Author Penny Lee Dean, a swimming legend and world-record holder in 13 events, shares her unique knowledge of racing and solo swims in Open Water Swimming. From innovative stroke techniques to navigation strategies, Dean’s insights are invaluable to long-distance swimmers, marathon swimmers, triathletes, and their coaches.

Open Water Swimming features

• 13 stretches for increased flexibility and smooth stroke technique,

• 16 practice drills for improved form, and

• 43 different workouts for greater endurance.

Whether you’re a beginner-level open water swimmer or you’re about to brave the English Channel—which Dean swam in world-record time—Open Water Swimming provides the conditioning plans, event profiles, and mental training techniques you need to succeed.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Human Kinetics Publishers (February 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880117044
• ISBN-13: 978-0880117043
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #80,580 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #19 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Exercise & Fitness > Swimming
  #31 in	Books > Sports > Water Sports > Swimming

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book, July 8, 2000

By	Jonathan Dodd (Dublin 4 Ireland) - See all my reviews

This is an excellent book. I am considering training for the English channel swim and found this book excellent as a source of vital information with regards open water swimming. Not only is the book from a world expert but there is great passion in the writing as well as superb technical aspects of swimming in open water. I especially liked the fact that it dealt with very long swims unlike many of the commercially available open water books out there that are catering for triatholon swimming distances as obviously that is where the money is with regards to publishing and selling.It is what most long distace swimmers train for. There are very few books on long distance open water swimming longer than a triatholon swim so this book for me is a must. As for the reviewer that felt she wrote the book like a drill coach, if you want to swim something like the english channel any approach unlike the one in this book will equal failure.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Useful for the beginner open water swimmer, September 10, 2008

By	Donal Buckley (Ireland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I started Open Water Swimming two years and quickly came across this book in my hunt for more information. At the time I found this to be helpful in some areas, given the almost complete lack of information on Open Water.
It may be more helpful to Tri-athletes but in retrospect with a few years long distance swimming behind me, but I think that it is somewhat shallow, no pun intended.
At the time of reading, I was starting swimming and training by myself (and still am mostly),and many of my questions were about how to move up from 1/2 mile to mile pool swims to longer sea distances. I did not find this particularly useful in this regard and I thought it's section on training was too brief, with too much emphasis on stroke.
For the specifics of Open Water swimming it meeds more emphasis on training plans & recovery, acclimatisation and habituation, goal-setting, and more specific information on some of the features of river and open sea, (jellies, flora & fauna, currents, surface topography, weather, course setting, etc).

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just right for a SERIOUS swimmer, June 9, 2000

By	Craig Klugman (Fort Wayne, Indiana) - See all my reviews

Penny Lee Dean writes like a coach, which she is. You can almost see her writing chapter titles and outlines with a magic marker on a board, with a group of swimmers taking notes. The book is as clear as water, and about as interesting. If you really want to swim long open-water swims, like the English Channel or across some big lake, this is clearly the book for you. She has excellent training tips, instructions for dealing with obstacles and injuries, and motivational ideas. But if you aren't quite so serious about long, excruciating, time-consuming swims, if swimming is only an important and not pivotal part of your life, you will find the book slow going, which, by the way, is how I swim.