Pool Sighting Drills: Crocodile Eyes Swim Session

Session Overview

Poor sighting is one of the most common reasons triathletes lose time in the open water — yet it’s a skill that can be rehearsed in any pool. This 45-minute session teaches the crocodile eyes technique, builds sighting into your freestyle rhythm, and trains you to lift your head without disrupting your stroke, so you can navigate confidently on race day.

What You’ll Need

• Pool access (25m or 50m lanes)
• Goggles — ideally open water goggles with wider lens
• Swim cap
• Optional: pull buoy for technique focus sets

Warm-Up (8 minutes)

Swim 300m easy freestyle at a comfortable pace. Use this to settle into your rhythm and notice your body position — are your hips high? Is your head in a neutral position? Finish the warm-up with 2 x 50m as: 25m catch-up drill into 25m full freestyle, focusing on keeping hips level throughout.

Main Set

The sighting drill: Every 6 strokes, press your forehead forward (not upward) and peek forward with just your eyes above the waterline — the crocodile eyes position. Your eyes should clear the water just enough to spot a buoy. Don’t lift the chin; keep your neck long. After sighting, return smoothly to the neutral head position.

• Drill block 1: 4 x 50m sighting every 6 strokes — 15 sec rest between reps
• Build block: 4 x 75m sighting every 4 strokes — focus on minimising hip drop — 15 sec rest
• Race-pace block: 4 x 50m at CSS pace with sighting every 8 strokes — 20 sec rest
• Continuous block: 200m continuous freestyle — sight every 6 strokes as if navigating a course
• Total main set distance: approximately 1,100m

Cool-Down (5 minutes)

Swim 200m easy backstroke and breaststroke. Backstroke naturally relaxes the neck muscles you’ve been engaging throughout the session. Finish with light shoulder rolls at the pool edge before stretching your chest and trapezius.

Coaching Notes

• Crocodile eyes: your eyes clear the water on the forward press — your mouth stays below the surface
• Most swimmers over-lift the head; this causes your legs to sink and adds drag — keep the lift minimal
• Scale easier: sight every 10 strokes to start, then gradually reduce the interval as confidence grows
• Scale harder: combine sighting with bilateral breathing alternation — sight on left, right, or front
• Practice both left and right sides so race-day conditions don’t catch you off guard