Gray Guys/Girls Masters Focus Triathlete Forum--OPEN! (Page 9)

As you likely discovered, the best way to prepare for an open water swim is to swim in open water.  I know . . . DUH!  Right?

"When I mentioned the snout full of water, the head swim instructor basically said "get used to it."  THAT IS THE WRONG ANSWER!  - Get another swim instructor!  I find it incredulous that a professional swim instructor would say something that ridiculous.  Yes!  It is true that on rare occasion you will inadvertently take in a gulp of water.  That certainly is not the rule nor is it something you should get used to.  News flash, it will also happen in a pool - even if you are by yourself in the pool!  If you learn to breath and sight properly it will in no way become a regular occurrence.  Sorry, I will climb down off of my soapbox now.  Nothing infuriates me more than coaches/instructors saying stupid things, especially to newer swimmers.

Now, on to answering your question. 

There are a couple things to consider when you are talking about sighting.  The first thing is that regardless of how you do it, you are going to slow down a little bit when you sight.  Let me explain why (this is assuming you continue to do freestyle and don't switch to breaststroke when you sight in which case slowing down is to be expected).  Imagine that you body is a teeter-totter for a moment.  One end goes up, the other end goes down.  In the same way, when you lift your head to sight your legs are going to drop.  That increases your frontal area exposed to the water and you slow down.  If you raise your head an excessive amount you will likely also introduce a scissor kick which will slow you down even further because that will throw off you balance in the water.  What you want to do when you are sighting is minimize, to the extent that you can, the leg drop and completely eliminate any scissor kick.

The next consideration is how you are going to sight.  There are several different ways:

1)  Switch to breaststroke or butterfly - Obviously this is the least desirable way as you will slow dramatically if you switch to breaststroke and most triathletes can't do butterfly properly in a pool, let alone the ocean.  However, it will likely provide one of the best actual sighting opportunities as your head is fully above water.  I would only consider this in EXTREMELY rough conditions (Wave/troughs in excess of 6', etc.)

2)  What I call a "high head breathing movement."  That would be where, when you breathe, you completely lift your head out of the water and look forward during your "breath."  The problem with this is that a) you don't get a very good sighting so you will likely need to repeat it several times, and b) it will completely destroy your balance and rhythm, plus your legs will drop significantly, all of which will slow you down rather dramatically.

3)  Now we are getting to the preferred methods.  Shortening your stroke and completely lifting your head out of the water (stroke recovery begins mid torso instead of at the hip as in a normal stroke).  I call this a 'water polo' stroke as it is exactly what water polo players do during a game.  Yes, when you shorten your stroke you are swimming less efficiently.  However, as you shorten your stroke, you turnover rate will likely increase.  The net result is that you will be a bit higher in the water.  When you lift your head completely out of the water, your legs will still drop, although not quite as much and you will get an EXCELLENT sighting, meaning you don't have to repeat as frequently.  The net result is you get a good sighting and your pace doesn't dramatically drop off.

4)  Finally, my preferred method - I use a 'modified' water polo stroke.  I barely shorten my stroke and lift my head only until my eyes are out of the water.  The advantage is that you are maintaining a fairly efficient stroke and because your head is not as far out of the water, your legs are barely dropping, if at all.

It is a very good idea to practice whatever breathing method you are planning to use before race day - remember, "Nothing new on race day."

I suggest something like, assuming a 25 yard pool, push off from the wall, swim 5 stroke, "sight" for 5 strokes, return to normal stroke and complete the lap.  Do that for something like 5 x 100 on whatever your normal rest period is.  I would do that at least 3-4 times the two weeks before you event.  More if you are not comfortable with sighting.

I uploaded a photo to help visualize the various sighting techniques.

(sighting.jpg)

OOOOH!  That made the hair on the back of my neck stand up!  A word of caution on 'catch up drills.'  Triathletes are generally better served with less glide than what the catch up drill will teach you.

I will be happy to debate the issue all day long, however, after years of having the discussion, at the end of the day my advice will still be the same - lose the catch up drill.

Just my two cents based on 45 years of swimming experience.

Wonderful words of wisdom!

I finally came to the realization that I will never again swim a sub 60 second 100 yard breaststroke or a sub 50 second 100 yard freestyle.  That is not to say however that I can't be very fast as compared to other old guys - that is that mental thing kicking in.  Back when I was swimming, the single thing that took me from being an OK swimmer to an elite swimmer was the mental aspect.  I believed I could do it.  Not until your head is in the game can you arrive at your full potential.  That is even more true as an older athlete!

The mental aspect, sadly is NOT the only thing as you still have to put in the physical work.  As we age, unfortunately, we tend to lose lean mass more easily, it takes longer to recover, taking a day off results in a larger fitness loss than in our younger days, to name a couple of the older athlete pitfalls.  We won't even begin to go into the metabolic changes as that is just depressing!  The wisdom that comes with increasing years however helps to mitigate the reality of years.  I find myself now training smarter not necessarily harder.  I still have the incredibly intense workouts, but now I have a plan.  I know what the workout goal is and I know how to best achieve the goal instead of, as I did in the past, just throwing yards or miles at the 'problem.'  Years of experience finally showed me that recovery is every bit as important as stressing the body.

Like you, I often see the arrogance of youth.  Last year, there was a discussion here on the BT forums about the, shall we say intensity, of many open water swims.  There was a 20-something individual that said a number of times, "If you are in front of me and in my way I am swimming over you."  Never mind that foolish line of thinking is a) contrary to the rules, b) an incredibly slow way to pass someone, and last but not least, c) a very dangerous way to pass someone and one that could cause serious injury or death to any of the people involved.  Ironically, when I looked at his swim splits from previous race reports, he averaged less than 2:00/100 - he was a slow swimmer!  It was clearly the bluster of youth speaking.

I regularly go to the gym and witness a younger person make the comment, after seeing a weight challenged person ,  "Why does that fat pig have to be here?"  When I see that same extremely overweight person at the gym, I want to go up and share how much respect I have for them, because they are there.

Yeah, if I was given a choice between young and strong or older and more mentally developed, I would choose being older.  Mental trumps everything else.