I'll be in the 1.2 mile fat salmon open water race in Seattle tomorrow (7/14/07). Open water swimming is new for me, although I think this distance should be okay for a first time. As a USS swimmer 20 years ago I was mainly a mid-to-long distance swimmer. I have practiced swimming in lake washington a few times to get used to my wetsuit, and last weekend I swam the same distance as the race, in a different part of the lake. I've been pool swimming for the last 6 weeks since joining a masters team and seem to have gotten into okay shape, although I doubt I'll be very close to my times from 20 years ago, and of course pool times are not comparable to open water times.
Are there any guidelines for how how open water times would compare to pool times (i.e. 10, 20% slower, etc)?
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Former Member
Congrats to you both on your races! Sounds as if you both did well! Great job!
David, a friend who recently did a triathlon said he had trouble keeping water out of his goggles, although he usually didn't in the pool. I wonder if it was the same thing--that he normally doesn't wear a cap but had the event cap on for the race.
I think there's something to that. With a cap I think the flow of water across your goggles and face is faster or not turbulent, so I think the goggles might need to be adjusted a bit tighter when wearing a cap. I should have practiced with a cap and got the equipment adjustments figured out prior to the race. I plan to try out aqua sphere goggles because of their bigger field of view, which is valuable in open water swimmming. I'll get everything figured out in advance of the next race.
Congrats to you both on your races! Sounds as if you both did well! Great job!
David, a friend who recently did a triathlon said he had trouble keeping water out of his goggles, although he usually didn't in the pool. I wonder if it was the same thing--that he normally doesn't wear a cap but had the event cap on for the race.
I think there's something to that. With a cap I think the flow of water across your goggles and face is faster or not turbulent, so I think the goggles might need to be adjusted a bit tighter when wearing a cap. I should have practiced with a cap and got the equipment adjustments figured out prior to the race. I plan to try out aqua sphere goggles because of their bigger field of view, which is valuable in open water swimmming. I'll get everything figured out in advance of the next race.
