My teammates and I were discussing the following apparently inane topic, and I thought it would make a good poll question. To wit, during practices, which of the following apply to you:
1) I swim with my eyes open pretty much all the time, except for regular blinks.
2) I close my eyes when my head is underwater, but open them during breaths.
3) I close my eyes during breaths, but open them when my head is under water to make sure I am not wandering off track.
4) I close my eyes much of the time on each length, and try to remember to open them before crashing into the wall.
Note: just realized I don't exactly know how to format this as a poll. If anyone else does, please feel free to do so--or send me a note about how to do it myself.
BTW, I often swim with my eyes shut; not quite sure why, other than swimming practice seems to induce a mild level of narcolepsy in me. Or perhaps it is a reflex action from the pre-goggle days when closing your eyes during practice was necessary to keep your corneas from being eroded by chlorine.
Tom and Jim, you guys are making me realize how eccentric I must be. Maybe I should cut back on the drinking a little. I find I just get so sleepy during workouts, I can't keep my eyes open continuously. Interestingly, when we do backstroke, I have no trouble keeping my eyes open. But freestyle just lulls me...
So far it looks like only two other swimming somnambulists share this peculiarity. Jim and Tom make interesting points for the majority "open eyes" philosophy.
Jim, you no doubt live in the land of the callypgean swimming nymphs, probably wearing the latest in California skin tight female swimming apparel; Tom, you, being from Texas, no doubt live in the land of the interesting pool tile. Our pool here near Pittsburgh, on the other hand, tends to have A) not that many nymphets, at least during masters practice (the ones on our team go too fast to see anyhow) and B) more discarded bandaids and hairballs on the bottom than interesting tiles to gander at.
Maybe that's the answer: swim in our pool, and perhaps you'd close your eyes too.
#1 one....I count the tiles on the bottom of the pool….it helps to make sure I am still sane.......Am To, Am not, Am to, Am not...Shut up Tom...ok but I still know how many tiles their are...Do not....Do to, do not, do to...
I was doing a little thinking about this last night and realized that probably one of the most important reasons I keep my eyes open (besides the babes) is to keep track of the clock. I watch on all swims where I am in relation to the interval. Constantly. It helps for counting laps on longer swims.
I used to swim with my eyes mostly closed, but one of the guys who used to be in our lane had a habit of crowding in toward on-coming traffic. Several collisions later I found that my eyes were almost always open. Absolute paranoia is absolute awareness. If I am in lactic acid agony, I do tend to close my eyes and grit my teeth.
My issue is that when I am working on technique, I forget to breathe. I just get so relaxed and focused that I forget everything else and suddenly snap to while inhaling a mouthful of water. In line with that, when I was a kid my mother used to make me carry a card with my address and phone number on it so I could get home if I got on my bike, forgot what I was doing and ended up a long way from home. We lived in north/central NJ and she once had to retrieve me from PA. She still chews my ear off about it.
Hi Jim -
A couple of years ago this topic came up at one of our open water swims because I wondered if I was the only one who kept their eyes closed much of the time. Maybe my way of visualizing the race.
Seriously, the reason I began closing my eyes dates back to my 1st year of high school swimming when my coach would walk along the side of the pool encouraging (yelling) me to go faster. I was not sloughing off, it was his way to try to keep me going.
Well, I learned very quickly to breathe to the other side and close my eyes when I breathed.
Paul Windrath
ps - If I want to people watch, I go to the bottom of the pool and sit there for 10-15 seconds.
My wife says its obsessive compulsive but I keep my eyes closed when breathing, open when underwater, count strokes, count lengths, calculate yards, sing songs, think about the days events, think about future to do's and maintain interval pacing (all while swimming). Maybe it's not the physical activity that makes me tired? Hmmmmm........
Reading this thread has been therapeutic! I thought I was nuts because I swim mostly with my eyes closed (except for backstroke). I say mostly - I have them closed and blink them open frequently to do a spot check and then close them again.
I've been doing it for so long I can't remember when I picked up the habit. I'm thinking it is either from swimming in the mornings or swimming in warm pools (or both). I find it difficult to force them open for a whole length. In a race I have no idea what I do but I think they are wide open.
Jeff Roddin
Open all the time! Hay-Zues! Where are you going if you are not watching??? Nose-dive into wall 1 during the 200m fly! Keep 'em open, that's why we wear goggles. The greatest, I stress GREATEST invention as far as swim training and racing is concerned in the 20th century!
Keep it real.
Regards,
RM
Jim C,
Appreciate the reminder on why to keep one’s eyes open all the time. At my age you need to be constantly reminded of the reasons for the finer points of technique or else you fall into sloppy habits ;-)
I’ve always kept my eyes open even in the pre-goggles era. I don’t know why – you couldn’t see very clearly although there would have been more to look at than today. (of course, I’m not saying the talent at our pool is totally unworthy of observation – may not be up to California standards but sounds better than Pittsburgh)
The only time I might close my eyes is near the end of a 100m when I’m praying I’ll finish.
Jim T,
You might also ask ‘who swims in dark tinted goggles indoors?’ Does this improve performance?
Ian.
