ASPHALT JUNKIES Summer Bronzing Crew - CLOSED (Page 54)

Sighting should be done as frequently as needs to be done to remain on course.  There are some consequences to very frequent sighting however.  Each time you raise your head to sight your legs are going to drop, slowing your progress through the water. Ideally when you sight it should provide a quick look directly in front of you but be long enough to see, using a narrow peripheral field, that you can notice the location of other swimmers, buoys or markers and other items that can provide clues as to your swim line and where you want to be going.

When beginning to sight you'll first want to get the timing of your sighting down.  You need to begin to raise your head as your arm and hand are moving forward, passing your shoulder as you begin the next stroke.  Raise your head slightly out of the water, being careful to lift just enough to see above the water.  (If you have problems with water getting up your nose, try to lightly exhale.)  Your objective during sighting is only to get a snapshot of your surroundings, then after your head is back under water filter through the information in the snapshot and determine if course corrections are required.

What to look for during your sighting: 

• Look for larger object that are out of the water, standing higher in the air.  Things such as tall buildings or masts or sails on a large boats.  If you try to see things lower on the water sighting can become very difficult and confusing.
• Look for other swimmers that you have noticed are swimming good lines.  You should not use these people as your primary sighting markers because they can always go off course too, but they can provide information.
• Obviously you should use the marker buoys used to mark out the course.

Here are a couple of videos that can help:

This one is longer and describes a few technical aspects of OWS.

This one is a visual aid only.  There is no audio instruction included but it can provide a lot of visual feedback to what a good sighting technique looks like.

Crap!!  Busted!!

Ina ll seriousness I was trying to even split the run.  The course I do is nearly a pancake so even split should be pretty easy to do if you are able to remain focused.  I tr yo to even split all of my shorter distance runs to attempt to learn to feel my way through pacing.  This can be very useful during races that have small elevation changes across the course giving the ability to project a hard but solid race performance.

I concur on the swim discussion. After swimming sidestroke at the July 4th Tri and coaching my friend through her swim, I knew that staying calm would be the absolute most important thing for me last Saturday. I made sure not to look around at where everyone else was and just tried to swim slow and consistent and not focus on the fact that it was double the distance of any race swim I had ever done.

Karl - I still think you did great considering it was onyl your 3rd triathlon.

aahhh ahhahah  hahahah h ahahhahaaa..... me and Karl are trying not to pee our pants at the moment....

There are plenty of mornings we get up here and it is 76 degrees with 90% humidity at 5:00 in the morning. Talk about miserable runs... My favorite runs ever were in Mammoth Lakes, Ca, running through snow trails and watching the sun rise over the mountains while I wore mittens, thermal long johns and tried to not let my nose freeze off!

Warren - Good vibes being sent your way.... I am not a parachute vlub member or a firefighter.... but I have donned a uniform to protect out country...

I have always admired those who seemed to have no fear, those who could fling themselves off 15' high dives, spin and still land in the water easily. I have always wished I could hit big snowboard jumps and get inverted while doing a 720 dregree rotation. I am not this person. Fear is something I know well. But, the challenge, the adrenaline rush is always worth it.

After laying my motorcycle down, I knew I had to ride again as soon as I could or I would never get over my fear. After suffering huge falls in snowbarrding I knew I had to hit those big jumps again so that the fear wouldn't take over.

My point is this... fear is real and it is legitimate. You can let it hold you back, you can let it make you panic and quit, or you can conquer it. I choose to acknowledge it and then I choose to conquer it. I believe that when you are out there riding you will have that moment when you "get your guts back," especially if you pace behind someone who is hauling soome bootay!

Go get it!   

I wish there was a bunch of like" buttons for this post! I am so grateful to be here with you guys and gals.

Yes, I agree wholeheartedly too!

I had composed a nice long note last week that said something personal to each of you (you know it had all your names highlighted in the appropriate color with smiley faces and all) but I hadn't finished and it disappeared - just vanished off my screen.  I was so frustrated that I thought I'd wait until I had a bigger chuck of time to re-compose it but that time never came.   So, I'm just jumping back in the discussion without addressing all your past notes and accomplishments.   Please forgive me for seeming to be impersonal.   I'm truly impressed with where you all are at.   You're inspirational for sure.   Good luck to racers this weekend!  And for the rest of you - have fun training and relaxing!