Swimrun is a strange and beautiful sport: you chain running and open-water swimming, no transition, often as a roped pair, through spectacular landscapes. Born in 2002 from a bet between friends in the Stockholm archipelago, it's now exploding in France.
It's also my discipline of heart — the one that earned me my three ÖtillÖ world titles. In this SAFE PACE episode, Tom Ralite (winner of the legendary Rockman) and Johanne Laizeau (2025 French mixed champion, two-time ÖtillÖ Cannes winner) explain how to get started the right way. Here's the essential — as a coach and a practitioner.
Swimrun, concretely
- Alternating running and swimming sections.
- No transition: you swim in your shoes and wetsuit, run in the wetsuit.
- Often in pairs, sometimes connected by an elastic rope.
- Distances from 10 km (sprint) to 75 km (ultra).
Essential gear to start
Minimum kit (for a first race)
- Swimrun wetsuit (not triathlon): short or removable sleeves, bottom opening to drain water on run, back vent. €300 to €600.
- Light, draining trail or road shoes: avoid shoes with lots of foam (water retention).
- Hand paddles (€50 to €80): essential to swim in suit + shoes.
- Pull buoy: offsets shoe drag. Held between thighs.
- Clear or amber goggles depending on the light.
- Elastic rope (€10 to €20) if running as a pair — safety + swim gain.
Don't buy everything new the first time: renting or borrowing a wetsuit to confirm the drive is an excellent first step.
How to train depending on your profile
Swimrun isn't just knowing how to swim and run. It's the ability to go from one to the other, in shoes, in a wetsuit, tired, that makes the difference.
— Tom Ralite, SAFE PACE episode
- Runner profile: swimming is the bottleneck. At least 2 pool sessions/week, one with paddles; work breathing and crawl with paddles.
- Swimmer profile: running is the injury risk. Progressive volume (+10%/week max), technical trail work, ankle/calf strengthening.
- Mixed profile: prioritize combined sessions — 4 to 6 run/swim transitions per week. That's where the body learns true specificity.
Each profile needs a different load and progression: if you want personalized swimrun training, that's exactly what I build with my athletes.
How long before your first race?
Finding the right partner (often the hardest part)
Johanne stresses it: the pair makes or breaks the race.
- A similar level in running and swimming — the faster one can pull the other via the rope.
- The "Swimrun France" Facebook forum and race websites' partner exchanges to find a teammate.
Nailing your first race
- Choose a short format (10 to 20 km combined).
- Recon the course, or at least the water entries and exits (often slippery, that's where injuries happen).
- Test your gear in real conditions at least 3 times before — not on race day.
- Start very progressively and open the wetsuit zip while running to breathe better.
- Eat and drink regularly on the run sections.