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Only some swimmers who train in open water regularly have the luxury of water that is always calm and still.
More likely the water will be moving, and moving differently on different days.
Often, a favored route will have a current or waves in one direction and we swim at different orientations to that current/waves at different sections of the route.
In this case, you need to set up a measurement plan for each section of the route, which will make sense for that section. A rear-end current will push you faster. A side current will disrupt stability. A head-on current will shorten the strokes.
But these are great opportunities to practice improvement relative to those conditions. Each section of the route presents a challenge of its own. For example, you can take a stroke count on that section and then try to match it or improve upon it the next time through.
If you swim out-and-back with a head-on/tail-end waves, you can play the game of averages and swim that line several times. Your goal is to set an average stroke count for both with/against the waves, then make the goal of matching or improving upon your stroke count for the next laps on that line.
Or, you can set different Pace Combinations to test which ones allows you to swim with the same effort level at different orientations to the waves.
There are lots of valuable training games you can play in open water under all sorts of conditions. It’s just that absolute precision does not exist in open water swimming. The natural forces require you to adapt and to adjust your expectations.
So, when you show up to the open water venue and find it different or less attractive than before, consider how you think you should currently be able to perform under today’s conditions and then set a goal for practice to improve upon that performance expectation.
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