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
At the risk of sounding like a stubborn old luddite, I'm very happy with my counting breaths routine, and the assumption that every half-cycle is 1 meter. Maybe that assumption is off a little, but that's fine. I'm only interested in "exactness" when we get back to the pool, in 2024 apparently. :)
10th session in the lake this morning!!!
I think that will get you a reasonable estimate, but I'm amazed you don't lose count!
I only count the breaths on every....um....third half-cycle. So a "200m" is 67 breaths. I find it rather easy to remember the count. Also, google earth pedometer confirms that I am very close to 1m per half-cycle. I swim close to a shoreline and there are several markers that I can use to measure quite accurately.
At the risk of sounding like a stubborn old luddite, I'm very happy with my counting breaths routine, and the assumption that every half-cycle is 1 meter. Maybe that assumption is off a little, but that's fine. I'm only interested in "exactness" when we get back to the pool, in 2024 apparently. :)
10th session in the lake this morning!!!
At the risk of sounding like a jerk, you aren't off a little, you are off a LOT. You'd be more effective throwing darts. Blind folded. Seriously, open water is a TOTALLY different animal.
Short course pool - 1.9m/stroke (or half cycle)......falls to maybe 1.6 at the end of a hard mile.
100M pool - 43.8 cycles per lap, which amounts to 1.15m/stroke
Open water - 1.03m/stroke
It isn't just the wall. It is also the sighting, the chop, the current.
A note about current. My first swim, current was very strong. Only made it about 500 yards. Took 40 minutes. But under 8 minutes back (I"m going off of memory). That averages 4:48 per 100. Thursday, average current. Don't know what it was there and back, as I just swam around a bridge. But average was 1:36/100. FWIW, at those distances, I average about 1:22/100 in the pool.
I get teh dislike of the technology. I don't do Instagram, Twitter, or any of that other stuff (do have a FB account). My response last week when a guy mentioned using Strava for tracking stuff was "What's Strava?" Don't really care about a lot of that stuff, and I have been swimming without those tools for years. But don't kid yourself into swimming blind.
A note about current. My first swim, current was very strong. Only made it about 500 yards. Took 40 minutes. But under 8 minutes back (I"m going off of memory). That averages 4:48 per 100. Thursday, average current. Don't know what it was there and back, as I just swam around a bridge. But average was 1:36/100. FWIW, at those distances, I average about 1:22/100 in the pool.
If you are swimming in the Tennessee River through Knoxville, yes there can be quite a bit of current. I did the Bridges to Bluffs swim last year. We started a little north of town (we rode the Star of Knoxville ship and you 'walk the plank' to begin) and finished at Tennessee River Gardens, downstream a ways. My paddler had me going near the middle of the river quite a bit so I could take advantage of the current (she seemed like a semi-pro, had a really nice long boat).
The current did die down quite a bit toward the end; the last 1.5 to 2 miles everyone said the current was minimal.
That was my 4th 10k swim; I had done one about a month before in Michigan with a finish time around 3:16. This one was about 2:57.
I notice current when I swim in the lakes/river here too. It might just be a subtle difference that I feel in the water, but I really notice it when I look at my watch results after (I've been uploading my Apple Watch to Strava for the past 2-3 months).
At the risk of sounding like a jerk, you aren't off a little, you are off a LOT. You'd be more effective throwing darts. Blind folded. Seriously, open water is a TOTALLY different animal.
Short course pool - 1.9m/stroke (or half cycle)......falls to maybe 1.6 at the end of a hard mile.
100M pool - 43.8 cycles per lap, which amounts to 1.15m/stroke
Open water - 1.03m/stroke
It isn't just the wall. It is also the sighting, the chop, the current.
A note about current. My first swim, current was very strong. Only made it about 500 yards. Took 40 minutes. But under 8 minutes back (I"m going off of memory). That averages 4:48 per 100. Thursday, average current. Don't know what it was there and back, as I just swam around a bridge. But average was 1:36/100. FWIW, at those distances, I average about 1:22/100 in the pool.
I get teh dislike of the technology. I don't do Instagram, Twitter, or any of that other stuff (do have a FB account). My response last week when a guy mentioned using Strava for tracking stuff was "What's Strava?" Don't really care about a lot of that stuff, and I have been swimming without those tools for years. But don't kid yourself into swimming blind.
I understand where you are coming from. When there is a wind and waves, yes that makes a huge difference. But where I swim, most of the time the water is calm and glassy. It's a relatively sheltered area, with log booms surrounding it. I wish I knew how to post a google-earth image with the 200m line that I use. (See, I am a luddite!) Lo and behold, after 67 breaths (ie "200m"), I have indeed covered that 200m distance when wind/waves are not a factor.
5th session this week!! I feel like a "swimmer" again. There was a steady breeze this morning, with some waves. My "200m" going out was about 160m ground-distance, and my "200m" coming back was about 240m ground-distance.
If you're in Knoxville, I think Blaik has been holding o/w swims almost every day since pools shut down. And I don't think he owns a wetsuit ;)
Just want to give an update here. First, THANK YOU for mentioning this to me. I had no idea it was going on. But I started doing swims as soon as the group started up. Absolutely love the group of people I have met. Most are triathletes, and that's cool because I've opened up to doing that to work on my endurance. But again, just a great group of folks I've been getting to know. So anyway, just did the front half of Bridges to Bluffs this morning. I did very well, was with the lead group of 3 swimmers. New distance for me, 5400 yards, our (the 3 of us) average pace was 1:27/100, with virtually no current, and a strong headwind the last 2000 or so yards.
