For me, it's now going on four weeks since my last swim. We were in Turks and Caicos March 7-14 for spring break where I was doing daily open-water swims along the beach. My last swim was a 3-miler on March 13. When we got back to the U.S., we had to go into mandated 14-day quarantine so I wasn't able to get out to go to the pool before they all closed. Who knows when I'll swim again...either open-water warming up (I live in RI), or pools opening again. I am maintaining fitness with bike rides, and a run here and there. And I know I there is other 'dry land' training I could be doing. But my concern when returning to the water is injuring myself because of doing TMTS. I'm just that kind of athlete. Raise you're hand if you think you're a candidate for a TMTS injury too.
Dan
Trust me, while I'm not a complete Luddite, I go very light when it comes to technology, and extremely light for swim technology. Other than a suit, goggles and a pace clock, the only piece of swim tech I typically use in the pool is a snorkle; occasionally fins to work on my dolphin kick. No paddles, no buoy, no kickboard, no tether cords, nothing else.
Also, I really don't like watches at all. I don't even wear one on land. And, I have actively avoided them in the water for precisely your reason #2 ... but, when the pool closure thanks to COVID meant my only ability to swim was open water, I bit the bullet and bought the Garmin Swim 2. I've been singularly impressed with how much it does not bother me when I swim.
That is almost exactly my scenario. Since i don't have a pace clock, I have used a Timex Ironman to help with intervals, and a lap counter (finger attached thing). That's it. But when I had to switch to open water, and started thinking about a 10K in September, I thought it might be wise to eliminate any guessing. I'm so ingrained with what I do in the pool that I found it hard to resolve how much different, and how much SLOWER open water is. A mile in the pool? 1:22 100's. Open water? 1:40's are really fast. So yeah, the watch is helpful in making sure I don't underestimate what I'm doing.
Trust me, while I'm not a complete Luddite, I go very light when it comes to technology, and extremely light for swim technology. Other than a suit, goggles and a pace clock, the only piece of swim tech I typically use in the pool is a snorkle; occasionally fins to work on my dolphin kick. No paddles, no buoy, no kickboard, no tether cords, nothing else.
Also, I really don't like watches at all. I don't even wear one on land. And, I have actively avoided them in the water for precisely your reason #2 ... but, when the pool closure thanks to COVID meant my only ability to swim was open water, I bit the bullet and bought the Garmin Swim 2. I've been singularly impressed with how much it does not bother me when I swim.
That is almost exactly my scenario. Since i don't have a pace clock, I have used a Timex Ironman to help with intervals, and a lap counter (finger attached thing). That's it. But when I had to switch to open water, and started thinking about a 10K in September, I thought it might be wise to eliminate any guessing. I'm so ingrained with what I do in the pool that I found it hard to resolve how much different, and how much SLOWER open water is. A mile in the pool? 1:22 100's. Open water? 1:40's are really fast. So yeah, the watch is helpful in making sure I don't underestimate what I'm doing.
