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First Open Water Swim Advice
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 2007-05-17 8:06 PM |
Extreme Veteran  326  |  Subject: First Open Water Swim AdviceSo I did my first OWS today. This was done in prepartion of my first Sprint Triathlon this Saturday. Here is what I learned! 1. Don't forget your goggles! 2. Staying on course is harder than you think it would be. 3. Now the most important lesson learned. Always swim with a companion. NO I DIDN'T ALMOST DROWN! Here is what happened. I thought it would be wise to tie floating seat cussion to a rope, and then tie the rope around my waist. This was done in anticipation of a cramp, or other problem which one might encounter in the open water. Here is where the problem arose. The float acted like a parachute tied behind a runner. On top of that the float took on water and weighed close to 15 pounds when I lugged it out of the water. The good news is that I did finish the swim (with the float-weight-parachute behind me). This might be a good training aid to strengthen ones swim time, but for a first OWS it was kind of scary. Hope that helps some other newbies out there. |
| 2007-05-18 8:56 AM in reply to: #805763 |
Extreme Veteran 522  MN | Subject: RE: First Open Water Swim Advice I had a pretty hard time getting used to OW. I used to be a HS swimmer in a pool and thought that would translate. Wrong. A few pointers on sighting. When swimming look up for a quick peak, then put your head back down, then roll into a breath. Use the sun. This works well at the beginning or end of the day. When you are swimming at an angle the sun, note where the sun's angle is to where you want to go. Then when you put your head back in the water you will see the sun through the water and by keeping it at the right spot/angle, you will go straight. Stay on the outside of the pack. Aim wide of turns for a while. When someone passes you, if you can, stay on their feet. First you get to draft, second they do the sighting. I would rather swim all over the place but not have to sight. Sounds like you dont have a wetsuit. Get one. I dont think it is possible to drown in one plus you will be faster and more confident. Warm up at least 300 yards before the race. Do long swims in practice too. |
| 2007-05-18 9:11 AM in reply to: #806173 |
Extreme Veteran 326 | Subject: RE: First Open Water Swim Advice Great advice....I actually picked up on the sun angle thing yesterday. I used the eves of the marina and sun angle of them to guide me home the last 300M. This is my first Tri and if the race is enjoyable as the training, I do plan on getting a wetsuit....any recomendations? |
| 2007-05-18 9:42 AM in reply to: #805763 |
| Regular 54 | Subject: RE: First Open Water Swim Advice i don't know about you, but i tend to drift to one side(right side) more than the other, so i purposely started left of the first buoy where we had to turn. so by the time i go to the buoy, i made a nice tight turn around it. not a lot of people chose the line i did, so it was bad for drafting but good clean open water where i could just get into my cadence and relax. good luck with your race! |
| 2007-05-18 10:45 AM in reply to: #806173 |
Master 1668 Cinnaminson, NJ | Subject: RE: First Open Water Swim Advice bikingbruise - 2007-05-18 9:56 AM I had a pretty hard time getting used to OW. I used to be a HS swimmer in a pool and thought that would translate. Wrong. A few pointers on sighting. When swimming look up for a quick peak, then put your head back down, then roll into a breath. Use the sun. This works well at the beginning or end of the day. When you are swimming at an angle the sun, note where the sun's angle is to where you want to go. Then when you put your head back in the water you will see the sun through the water and by keeping it at the right spot/angle, you will go straight. i never thought of this... this is a GREAT idea.... i can never swim a straight... thank you so much for this great idea... |
| 2007-05-18 11:24 AM in reply to: #805763 |
Expert 783 Spokane, Washington | Subject: RE: First Open Water Swim Advice This is probably a no-brainer, but if the sun doesn't work, pick something BIG to sight. Looking for the next buoy is surprisingly difficult, so try to pick something in line with the buoys - like a big tree or house or peak outside of the lake. It'll be easier to spot during your quick peeks out of the water. |
| 2007-05-18 12:24 PM in reply to: #805763 |
Master 1790 | Subject: RE: First Open Water Swim Advice Not having a companion is what is stopping me from really doing some OWS. My BF has promised to follow in a canoe, though, this summer.  |
| 2007-05-18 12:40 PM in reply to: #805763 |
Veteran 168 Brighton, MI | Subject: RE: First Open Water Swim Advice I forced myself to learn to breath from both sides. That helps, 1) sighting objects and other swimmers for bearings, and 2) keeping straight, since I'm not favoring one side or the other. Also, every 10th stroke I do a forward peek, as mentioned above. |
| 2007-05-18 1:11 PM in reply to: #805763 |
Extreme Veteran 514 Perkasie, PA | Subject: RE: First Open Water Swim Advice Oooh! Offthegrid in Allentown -- You MUST come to the OWS at Lake Nockamixon off Route 313 (309 South to 313 in Quakertown). There are two more left -- June 17 and July 8. They are fantastically run and taught by some pro triathletes. Lots of safety precautions on hand as well. 3/4 down the page are the details on the clinic: http://www.lin-mark.com/steelman.htm You probably already know about Dutch Springs? They allow triathletes to train there but I haven't gone there yet. I think you would still need a buddy out there. |
| 2007-05-18 3:58 PM in reply to: #806721 |
| 24 | Subject: RE: First Open Water Swim Advice Offthegrid - 2007-05-18 10:24 AM Not having a companion is what is stopping me from really doing some OWS. My BF has promised to follow in a canoe, though, this summer. Ooh, I will have to ask my boyfriend to do this in the fall when I move and live near him. That's a really good idea |
| 2007-05-18 4:15 PM in reply to: #805763 |
Regular 408 Rhode Island | Subject: RE: First Open Water Swim Advice I like the sun idea too, but so far in both tris I've done, it was cloudy. Also, I learned the hard way to not race with blue lenses in my goggles. It turned the orange buoys into almost the same color as the water and made them nearly invisible. Now I only get clear lenses. |
| 2007-05-18 9:26 PM in reply to: #805763 |
Champion 9430  No excuses! | Subject: RE: First Open Water Swim Advice I did my first OWS today also. 1. More trouble sighting than i thought I would 2. Kept going left, need to figure out why I overcompensate 3. Was definatly not use to swimming not stop for that long, usually I hit cement every 25 yards 4. I absolutely loved it though. I am so excited to keep going OW and not at all looking to go back to the Y |
| 2007-05-18 9:41 PM in reply to: #805763 |
Champion 5575 Butler | Subject: RE: First Open Water Swim Advice I learned quickly to site off the land and not the buoy. I did my first swim a week ago and it was miserable (the first half at least). They put out 2 buoys 400 meters apart and they were both pretty small. No way I could have see it (and I had lasik done). |
| 2007-05-18 9:46 PM in reply to: #805763 |
Pro 4675 Wisconsin near the Twin Cities metro | Subject: RE: First Open Water Swim Advice jamesehatcher - 2007-05-17 8:06 PM I thought it would be wise to tie floating seat cussion to a rope, and then tie the rope around my waist. This was done in anticipation of a cramp, or other problem which one might encounter in the open water. I have no idea if this product works, but it is advertised in the BT sponsor section of this site |
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