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
...just said to myself, "I'm going to swim to that point and see what happens" ... I finally just relaxed into the lake, into the scenery, into the flow.
That's what I like most about lake swimming. The lake where I'm swimming has buoys spread around (I'm sure they're a set distance apart but I haven't figured it out yet). I've done 2 rounds to, "the end," of the buoys, and usually the 3rd is some other place that I randomly pick; there's wires that cross over at one point and sometimes I'll pick that as a point, or the buoy just after the wires.
I registered for the virtual swim series, but after thinking about it I haven't submitted an entry. I was just enjoying the water too much to think of fast swims.
What other places have courses marked out?
Clipper Cove, on Treasure Island, has some buoys in a line to keep people with boats from getting stuck in the mud where the water is shallowest. They are in deep enough water to swim and are about 50m apart.
In the South Sailing Basin at the Berkeley Marina, west of the Cal Adventures dock, someone has placed a line of small round yellow buoys with red ones at each end. The red ones are also about 50m apart, with yellow ones at about 10m intervals between them.
Clipper Cove, on Treasure Island, has some buoys in a line to keep people with boats from getting stuck in the mud where the water is shallowest. They are in deep enough water to swim and are about 50m apart.
In the South Sailing Basin at the Berkeley Marina, west of the Cal Adventures dock, someone has placed a line of small round yellow buoys with red ones at each end. The red ones are also about 50m apart, with yellow ones at about 10m intervals between them.Very cool! Once I can actually get on a plane and fly again, I'll remember this.
I finally got in an open water swim yesterday evening. Water and air temp were both around 70. It was perfect while I was swimming, but since I tend to get chilled very easily, it was a couple of hours and a long hot shower before my goosebumps went away. Although it felt great to stretch my arms out and swim for longer than 13yds without a turn, I'm paying for it today with my sinuses. I don't know what it is about freshwater swims, but they really mess with me.
I'm paying for it today with my sinuses. I don't know what it is about freshwater swims, but they really mess with me.
I used to get a lot of congestion and drainage when I did open water. A couple shots of Flonase (over the counter now) in each nostril has really helped a great deal for me.
... I'm paying for it today with my sinuses. I don't know what it is about freshwater swims, but they really mess with me.
I have the same issues.....regardless if it's pool, fresh open water, or salt open water...I find that a sinus rinse with a saline solution post-swim gives me complete relief. This is the one I use... shop.neilmed.com/.../Sinus-Rinse-Regular-Kit
Dan
Our YMCA started Master's workouts Monday. We have a 25m 10 lane outdoor pool. We had about 25 people there and it was easy to maintain distancing. A couple of lanes had people from the same household so there was no need to distance within them.
It feels great to get back in the water! I hope you all get back in the water soon!
Our community outdoor pool opened up last Saturday, and I have been in every day. It has been great! The water temp has been a perfect 78 degrees when the pool opens at 8 am, and I haven't had a problem getting one of the 2 lanes. (They were going to let only one swimmer in the two lap lanes; however, they decided to open up both lanes.)
The nicest surprise was the validation that my Theraband and stretch chord work, push-ups, yoga, stretching, and other dryland really payed off while I was out of the water for eleven weeks. Although I am not doing any race-pace yet, I haven't had any muscle soreness, even after swimming 300 yards of fly (of the 1800 yards I swam) on my first day. Since then, I have been gradually increasing my yardage and intensity.
The best part? Just being in the water :ohyeah:, especially after all that has been going on. It has been great mental and emotional therapy, in addition to the physical benefits.
