Open Water Star Marc-Antoine Olivier Is Still Training for 5 Hours Per Day

Arena is a SwimSwam partner.

23-year old French open water swimmer and Arena elite athlete Marc-Antoine Olivier is part of a youth movement in open water swimming. In an arm of swimming that is dominated by older, more experienced swimmers. Along with 22-year old Florian Wellbrock and 23-year old Kristof Rasovszky, 3 of the top 4 finishers in the premier men’s 10km race at the World Championships, he was one of 3 swimmers aged 23-or-younger in the top 4 finishers.

Olivier, like many swimmers around the world, has had to adjust his training under the coronavirus pandemic. For a swimmer who has to race 10,000 meters in his primary event, this time out of the water can be especially damaging to his endurance. While strength to some degree can be maintained out of the water, maintaining that swimming-specific endurance can be a challenge.

Olivier says that he and coach Philippe Lucas are trying to keep their daily hours of work as high as normal, with two-and-a-half hours of work in the morning, and another two-and-a-half hours in the afternoon. That includes some precious water time while quarantined with his family in the countryside in the North of France.

“I’m lucky to have a weight room at home and my neighbors have a swimming pool where I can keep in touch with the water,” Olivier said of his workout routine.

Olivier says that in the mornings, he warms up in the weight room on an exercise bike and then races his girlfriend, Océane Cassignol, also a French swimmer, on the bike. “[Océane] is with me on lockdown, so we motivate each other.”

In the afternoons, he warms up for 30 minutes on the bike and then does a run for about an hour-and-a-half of running, then he stretches. While the pool is not a lap pool or training pool, per se, Olivier says that he’s able to get in and at least maintain some feel for the water.

Olivier says that motivation is hard, because, while the dates for the 2021 Olympic Games (for which he’s already qualified) are known, he doesn’t yet know when he can resume training, what will happen with European Championships, and whether or not he will catch coronavirus. “All of these are questions where we still have few answers and which weigh a little on my mind.”

Besides training, what is Olivier doing to keep himself busy while the country is shut down?

I rarely have time to go (to the family home) during the season so I’m taking advantage of seeing my parents for longer meals than usual where we chat and share a lot, especially about swimming and sports in general,” Olivier said. “We usually spend 1 or 2 hours gardening, in the afternoon, and we finish the day with a “family evening” watching a series on TV or playing video games. I’m play “War Zone” a lot lately.”

In all, Olivier says that he’s learning patience from this experience.

“You have to know how to be patient, always have a plan in mind in situations like this with a well-defined objective,” Olivier concluded. “This has allowed me to do work that I don’t usually have time to do and it’s a bonus for the rest of the season and the one after.

“I can’t wait to come back to the edge of the pool to train, improve my level and above all go for victory in each race.”