New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming
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2013-09-11 9:45 AM |
111 | Subject: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming: Spend More Time in the Pool. I coach a regular open water swim practice for the triathletes and open water swimmers in the area. This article is my observations of some of the participants in the practices and is my contribution on how we can make open water swimming a little safer for everyone. A lot of the best open water swimmers in the world will tell you that they get their best workouts not in open water, but in the pool. The pool is a controlled environment – distance is always the same, conditions are always the same, the water is clear, you can follow a black line and there is a pace clock to gauge performance. The pool is a simple, efficient training environment. If you are looking to improve your strength, conditioning and technique in the water, there is no better venue. Here are a few recommendations for when a new triathlete with a limited swim background should start open water swimming: - Do you have an experienced swim coach? This is a coach with years of on deck experience coaching swimming. Look to a Master’s swim program preferably one focused on open water swimming or ask how much experience they have coaching open water swimming. - Do you know your pace per 100 in a pool? If you don’t know, you need to spend more time in the pool. On a side note, if your pace is slower than 2:30/100 yards, you need to spend more time in the pool. - Can you comfortably swim 1000 yards in the pool without stopping? If you can’t, then you need to spend more time in the pool. - Do you train alone? Again, training for the strength, conditioning and technique needed to be efficient in open water swimming is a team effort. You can’t effectively do it alone. Swim training is very different from training for the bike or run of a triathlon. - Do you think 2000 yards is a long workout or 10,000 yards a week is impossible? If you do, you need to spend more time in the pool. - Do you think that 4 times a week is too much training for swimming? Four times a week is my recommended minimum for new triathletes without swim backgrounds looking to become efficient in swimming and to tackle the open water swim. - Do you have a big fear of open water swimming? This is perfectly natural and healthy. Even experienced open water swimmers have a little apprehension before going into open water swims. You have to respect the environment. But if your first instinct is to look for the kayaker or the buoy to grab onto, you need to spend more time in the pool. - If you think that what is holding you back and why you can’t swim is your technique, you need to spend more time in the pool. - Is an upcoming race that you entered driving you to get in the open water against your better judgment? If it is, you need to spend more time in the pool and probably think about canceling that race. - Have you been swimming consistently (4 times a week) in the pool for less than three months? You need to spend more time in the pool. I usually recommend 3-4 months of consistent, hard training before we start to introduce a little open water swimming into the mix. Swimming and open water swimming are challenging, exciting and rewarding pursuits. They require a lot of discipline, experience and hard work. With the right coaching guidance they can be safe and fun. I look forward to seeing you in the pool. You can see the original posting of this article here along with other articles: www.magnoliamasters.com/swim-efficiency/ and take a look at the workouts the team does to get ready for open water swimming. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me. tim at magnolia masters dot com. |
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2013-09-11 10:22 AM in reply to: snappingt |
Master 3888 Overland Park, KS | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming If you had the time to fully read the above, digest it and reflect upon it, you need to spend more time in the pool..... Actually some very good points here, thanks for sharing. I totally agree that the more valued time is in the pool. I only swim open water during races. I think a lot of people put too much emphasis on "practicing" in open water. I do think it's important, for familiarity, sighting etc. but improving your swim times should involve hammering out sets and sets of shorter, high intensity distances. The biggest gains I was in my swimming was when I made the jump from swimming on my own, sets of 500 to 1500 yards on my own, to masters swimming with those tough sets of 100's, 150's etc. |
2013-09-11 10:32 AM in reply to: reecealan |
111 | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Actually, one of the worst ways to get better at open water swimming is to swim open water. As you said, the big gains came from swimming with a team in a pool with hard sets of 100s and 150s. Typical practice in open water swimming is too slow and long and all you end up doing is "practicing" bad technique over and over again. Now, the skill set of sighting, navigational IQ, swimming in a large group, drafting, buoy turns, etc is best sharpened in races. I think there is too much emphasis on "practicing" in open water. If you have some anxiety in the open water then get in and practice a little to get more comfortable. But the best training so that you are in shape and efficient in the water happens in the pool. That's what will help you get over any anxiety the quickest. |
2013-09-11 10:35 AM in reply to: snappingt |
Master 3888 Overland Park, KS | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming At last nights master swim there was a newer guy that drifts towards swimmers coming the opposite direction. So a swimmer new to triathlons in the lane next to me mentioned that so I told hm dealing with things like that will help your open water swimming |
2013-09-11 10:42 AM in reply to: snappingt |
Elite 3140 | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Yes I agree with most things but you cannot.learn to swim in the ocean, waves current, chop etc bu swimming in the pool.Very informative and thanks for.posting but it seems a little like a backdoor advertisement for.your business. Sorry but if I answered every physical problem on his board with a statment that they could.come.to.my office etc, the administrators would wipe out my post and potentially ban me.But maybe I am the only one that feels.that way when I got.to the end. |
2013-09-11 10:46 AM in reply to: 0 |
Champion 14571 the alamo city, Texas | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Originally posted by FELTGood Yes I agree with most things but you cannot.learn to swim in the ocean, waves current, chop etc bu swimming in the pool.Very informative and thanks for.posting but it seems a little like a backdoor advertisement for.your business. Sorry but if I answered every physical problem on his board with a statment that they could.come.to.my office etc, the administrators would wipe out my post and potentially ban me.But maybe I am the only one that feels.that way when I got.to the end. The OP knows it too, he made the effort to post his email address in a way that wouldn't flag the admins and has a whopping 13 posts on the board. Classy. Edited by mehaner 2013-09-11 10:46 AM |
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2013-09-11 10:46 AM in reply to: FELTGood |
Member 5452 NC | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Originally posted by FELTGood It actually took me some time on his web page to even figure out where this Masters program was located. I had to zoom out repeated on a map to figure out that it was located near Houston. If he is trying to drum up business for a Masters program in Houston, he is doing a horrible job. To the OP, good post. |
2013-09-11 10:53 AM in reply to: mehaner |
Member 5452 NC | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Originally posted by mehaner The OP knows it too, he made the effort to post his email address in a way that wouldn't flag the admins ... . Unrelated to this, but do the admins get notified every time a poster puts up an email in normal form? And why? I always thought people wrote emails like this because they were trying to avoid having them picked up by one of those email-findy-bot things. |
2013-09-11 10:55 AM in reply to: FELTGood |
111 | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Swimming in the ocean is a very specific skill set, especially if you are talking about learning to swim through waves at the start of the race. Once you get past the beach break it's fairly easy. And again, if you've develop a lot of strength, conditioning and efficiency from the pool it becomes a lot easier to deal with ocean swimming conditions. I'm not hiding the fact that I am a swim coach. Part of the reason that I am posting the article here is that I hope it would be helpful and to let as many people know that after 20+ years of coaching both pool swimming and open water swimming that I have something of value to offer. |
2013-09-11 10:59 AM in reply to: Goosedog |
111 | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming I'm just putting information out on open water swimming because it is what I coach. The team I coach is in Magnolia, Texas. I put my email address in that form so I wouldn't get a spam bot that would pick it up. If that is against the posting rules of this forum I won't do it anymore. I'm just trying to be helpful. |
2013-09-11 10:59 AM in reply to: Goosedog |
1300 | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming I thought a little of the same between this post and the one with the link to his workouts. The more I thought about it I figured maybe he's trying to build a rep as a coach by posting stuff on here and I've seen it on that "other" website. Either way he's putting some info out and I really like the rules (if that was what it was called) on his website for his practices. My favorite was "leave the watch at home". |
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2013-09-11 11:00 AM in reply to: snappingt |
Elite 3140 | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Originally posted by snappingtSwimming in the ocean is a very specific skill set, especially if you are talking about learning to swim through waves at the start of the race. Once you get past the beach break it's fairly easy. And again, if you've develop a lot of strength, conditioning and efficiency from the pool it becomes a lot easier to deal with ocean swimming conditions. I'm not hiding the fact that I am a swim coach. Part of the reason that I am posting the article here is that I hope it would be helpful and to let as many people know that after 20+ years of coaching both pool swimming and open water swimming that I have something of value to offer. Don't get me.wrong, I appreciate your insight and I will be he first to admit I could be better. But I have seen many others get flagged for this, and even when I exchanged emails with owners of the board when I was going to.run a paid ad they are not happy with ads like this.......so if they are ok.with it , I am fine, we could use your input |
2013-09-11 11:02 AM in reply to: snappingt |
Expert 2192 Greenville, SC | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming good tips and observations here. |
2013-09-11 11:05 AM in reply to: mehaner |
111 | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Marilyn, Sorry if I ran afoul of any of the rules of this forum. I joined this forum recently, but having been coaching swimming for over 20 years. I swam competitively at the collegiate/national level and did my first open water swim 25 years ago. I'm just trying to put some helpful information out to triathletes based on my experience as a competitor and coach. Best regards, Tim Floyd Head Coach/Founder Magnolia Masters |
2013-09-11 11:09 AM in reply to: snappingt |
Expert 2192 Greenville, SC | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Originally posted by snappingt Swimming in the ocean is a very specific skill set, especially if you are talking about learning to swim through waves at the start of the race. Once you get past the beach break it's fairly easy. And again, if you've develop a lot of strength, conditioning and efficiency from the pool it becomes a lot easier to deal with ocean swimming conditions. I'm not hiding the fact that I am a swim coach. Part of the reason that I am posting the article here is that I hope it would be helpful and to let as many people know that after 20+ years of coaching both pool swimming and open water swimming that I have something of value to offer. any tips for learning to swim through continual jellyfish attacks during a race? |
2013-09-11 11:11 AM in reply to: snappingt |
1300 | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming A little off topic but I recognize some names from the thread. Don't want to highjack just curious. Did the one started by I think Mav about hitting someone during her swim get pulled? |
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2013-09-11 11:12 AM in reply to: Clempson |
111 | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming There is a spray on jelly fish sting repellant that a lot of marathon swimmers are using now. I know Diana Nyad and the Night Train Swimmers were both talking about using it. |
2013-09-11 11:14 AM in reply to: Goosedog |
2013-09-11 11:45 AM in reply to: mehaner |
Expert 1416 San Luis Obispo, CA | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Originally posted by mehaner Originally posted by FELTGood Yes I agree with most things but you cannot.learn to swim in the ocean, waves current, chop etc bu swimming in the pool.Very informative and thanks for.posting but it seems a little like a backdoor advertisement for.your business. Sorry but if I answered every physical problem on his board with a statment that they could.come.to.my office etc, the administrators would wipe out my post and potentially ban me.But maybe I am the only one that feels.that way when I got.to the end. The OP knows it too, he made the effort to post his email address in a way that wouldn't flag the admins and has a whopping 13 posts on the board. Classy. Curious, are you attempting to scare off a knowledgeable coach so we can have the continual regurgitation of anecdotal accounts from 2:00/100 swimmers? |
2013-09-11 11:45 AM in reply to: MLPFS |
Expert 1416 San Luis Obispo, CA | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Originally posted by MLPFS A little off topic but I recognize some names from the thread. Don't want to highjack just curious. Did the one started by I think Mav about hitting someone during her swim get pulled? Yes |
2013-09-11 12:16 PM in reply to: blbriley |
Elite 3140 | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Originally posted by blbriley Originally posted by mehaner Originally posted by FELTGood Yes I agree with most things but you cannot.learn to swim in the ocean, waves current, chop etc bu swimming in the pool.Very informative and thanks for.posting but it seems a little like a backdoor advertisement for.your business. Sorry but if I answered every physical problem on his board with a statment that they could.come.to.my office etc, the administrators would wipe out my post and potentially ban me.But maybe I am the only one that feels.that way when I got.to the end. The OP knows it too, he made the effort to post his email address in a way that wouldn't flag the admins and has a whopping 13 posts on the board. Classy. Curious, are you attempting to scare off a knowledgeable coach so we can have the continual regurgitation of anecdotal accounts from 2:00/100 swimmers?
um...NO...actually you will see I am informing him so he can stay on these boards, and I actually thanked him for his info.....rule 7 and 12 http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=2192#7 |
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2013-09-11 12:26 PM in reply to: snappingt |
Veteran 360 Waukegan, IL | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Good tips. Thanks. I appreciate you sharing that. I liked the one about 2000 yds or 10000 yds a week being long/impossible. I'm breaking through that hurdle now. My biggest hurdle in OWS was sighting. I did do more OWS than normal to practice that and it helped. But I'm not a swim coach (far from it), so I'm sure there's a better way to learn effective sighting. |
2013-09-11 12:36 PM in reply to: snappingt |
Iron Donkey 38643 , Wisconsin | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming You are so targeting me, aren't you?? |
2013-09-11 3:28 PM in reply to: The Chupacabra |
111 | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming I'm putting together a video on how "sighting" has very little to do with navigation in open water swimming. I should have it done in the next couple of days and posted with some drills you can do in the pool that will help. |
2013-09-11 3:36 PM in reply to: The Chupacabra |
Regular 866 Central Coast, CA | Subject: RE: New Triathletes and Open Water Swimming Originally posted by The Chupacabra I liked the one about 2000 yds or 10000 yds a week being long/impossible. I'm breaking through that hurdle now. If I had followed that tip (and a bunch of the other ones as well) I never would have started weekly open water swims. It felt to me like a lot of the tips were a bit elitist. The sprint triathlons I've done have ranged from 400-800 yard OWS, expecting a newcomer to be able to handle a 2000 yard swim before attempting an OWS seems extreme. While I agree that most of my gains come from pool swimming, I see the results of the pool swimming while open water swimming. |
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