Any advice for a novice open water swimmer? I am "pool" distance trained for the race and very comfortable in open water but, never have swum in a critical mass. I am a right breather, mostly.
Warm up in the course (if possible) as closely as possible to how you'd warm up for a pool mile
Try to get a sense of how fast the field is going to be (e.g., last year's results) so you can pick an appropriate place to line up for the start
However the start is -- in-water or from the shore -- line up on one side, not in the middle and preferably make you the outermost person. This notably reduces your chances for getting too beaten up on the start.
Try to find a pack after the initial flurry of sprinting (2 to 3 minutes into the race) that is slightly faster than you and then draft.
Trust the pack to do most of the sighting for you so you can keep your head down.
Focus on your stroke and breathing pattern ... define what you want to do and then keep your mind ... well mindful of doing that over and over again
If you've drafted well and have the energy, blow by your pack to the finish ... no taunting, though, as you race past them:)
I like to wear my goggles under my cap as there's less chance a random hand my drag them off me, but that's a personal preference.
HAVE FUN!
Trust the pack to do most of the sighting for you so you can keep your head down.
Yes and no. If you are starting and trying to hang with elite swimmers and maybe you even know them, yes.
If You don't know these people, YOU HAVE TO RELY ON YOURSELF AND SIGHT EVEN WHEN DRAFTING. At least in the initial stages of the race. If they are doing a good job you can start progressively relying on them a bit more during the race.
Believe it or not, sighting can be especially important when you are a fast pool swimmer. If you are going out and holding 1:10's or less, it doesn't take long to get off course.
Here are my thoughts on my first open water swim. You will be fine. Do not lose any sleep over this swim, and do not stress out about it. Enjoy it. It certainly is fun and rewarding. Good luck!
By the way, I breathe to my right as well. In fact, I only tried to breathe once to my left during this swim.
"Lessons learned: learn to breath comfortably to both sides, work on sighting during practice prior to swimming, swim further in practice than the distance of the swim by 20-40%. My shoulders and back were really sore after the swim. I believe this must be from lifting my head for sighting. I swim this distance frequently and never feel sore in a pool."
My first OW swim - sorry for the lengthy post - U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums
I'm guessing you did the Ohio River Swim yesterday?
If you breathe to the right, you might have enjoyed the clockwise course set up then. I was all over the place on the 2.4 mile.
Did you go in the USMS wave or the USAT wave?
I was on my way to Prospect but was involved in an auto accident. No one was hurt but it would have made me to late for even the new tri group start. How did you do David?
Wow! I'm sorry to hear about your accident. Glad to hear your OK.
My swim went OK. I did the 2.4 mile and was happy with a not so good time based on swimming in the current. I couldn't feel it as much as I could really tell the difference in the time it took to go upstream vs. downstream. I'm also much much better at sighting when I breathe to my left. As we were going clockwise, I had to sight the smaller than usual buoys to the right. I was all over the course.
But then no open water swim is a bad experience for me. Hope to see you in some swims next season.
