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! :)
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I have done a couple of ow events in a lake, which is more like a large pond really. Just wore my previous year's race suit and in fact I wore clear goggles IIRC. The water temp was 75 ish both years, and so most others, being triathletes wore wetsuits, but you didn't need one. I warmed up in the lake on race day, but had never swum open water before that first time. The only practice I had was swimming eyes closed down a 25 yd length and sighting my water-bottle on the pool deck. Once I got going I was fine though, and I think it helped that the first year the water was virtually flat!
I have done a couple of ow events in a lake, which is more like a large pond really. Just wore my previous year's race suit and in fact I wore clear goggles IIRC. The water temp was 75 ish both years, and so most others, being triathletes wore wetsuits, but you didn't need one. I warmed up in the lake on race day, but had never swum open water before that first time. The only practice I had was swimming eyes closed down a 25 yd length and sighting my water-bottle on the pool deck. Once I got going I was fine though, and I think it helped that the first year the water was virtually flat!
