So I'm going to be doing the swim leg of a relay tri this September. I'm hoping to also do an OW swim event that is about 1 month before said tri. This will be the third year for the August event, so I think I can look at the past two years and find out what the weather/water temps were like. The triathlon has been going on many years - I'm hoping there will be info on the website about conditions.
I know I need to get some good OW goggles. I swim mostly indoor right now (aside from my 7 weeks of Masters swimming in summer in a LCM outdoor pool). So I have a pair of clear goggles that I use almost exclusively and a pair of blue tinted goggles that I use occasionally. I'm very lucky to have the lovely OW goggle review in our latest issue of Swimmer. :applaud:
What about suits? Should I find out about conditions before deciding what to get? Should I go ahead and get a wetsuit so that I also have it for training? If there are no wetsuits, should I just go with my usual racing suit? I'm very new to this and would love any tips or advice. Thanks! :)
I use the same suit and goggles in open water that I use in the pool. Use the same suit you race in in the pool to race in open water; unless it is a wet-suit legal race, then you might consider one.
The most important thing you need is open water training, not open water gear. Work on open water acclimation, sighting, navigation, pacing, endurance and race tactics. You can pick up a lot of these from other posts on the forum or I recommend Open Water Swimming, by Steve Munatones (available at most on-line book stores)
I use the same suit and goggles in open water that I use in the pool. Use the same suit you race in in the pool to race in open water; unless it is a wet-suit legal race, then you might consider one.
The most important thing you need is open water training, not open water gear. Work on open water acclimation, sighting, navigation, pacing, endurance and race tactics. You can pick up a lot of these from other posts on the forum or I recommend Open Water Swimming, by Steve Munatones (available at most on-line book stores)
