Hi all,
I just joined USMS and have committed to doing my first open water swim (1 mile) in two weeks! I'm way out of practice and have just recently gotten back into it. I've been swimming just about every day, but it takes me nearly an hour to swim a mile at the pool.
Am I in over my head?!??! Should I be this nervous and scared? I've been told I can do it, but I worry that I can't!? Right now, my goal is to finish...? Haha. Is that reasonable?
Any tips from you seasoned (or not!) open water swimmers would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you thank you and happy swimming!
How do you OW psychos evaluate your times?
I don't. Time for the "same" race from one year to the next can vary a lot for reasons having nothing to do with me (temp, wind, course layout). I evaluate my performance based on how I swim relative to others. My best performance in one local swim that I have done many times was also my slowest by several minutes, because the course was comparatively long and the lake comparatively choppy.
We have a lot of races in my area every summer and after years of seeing the same people over and over I have a pretty good sense of who will always beat me, who will never beat me, and who I will be racing against.
How do you OW psychos evaluate your times?
I don't. Time for the "same" race from one year to the next can vary a lot for reasons having nothing to do with me (temp, wind, course layout). I evaluate my performance based on how I swim relative to others. My best performance in one local swim that I have done many times was also my slowest by several minutes, because the course was comparatively long and the lake comparatively choppy.
We have a lot of races in my area every summer and after years of seeing the same people over and over I have a pretty good sense of who will always beat me, who will never beat me, and who I will be racing against.
