I'm signed up for the Swim Across America event at Nantasket Beach, MA next week. For those not familiar, it's a 1-mile OWS to raise money for cancer victims. Since I lost my mom to cancer last year, I'm excited to use my one athletic talent (swimming) to raise money for this worthy cause.
So I went swimming in the ocean with others from my master's swim group this weekend. It wasn't what I hoped. :(
I hated the taste of salt water in my mouth. I just spent the whole time wishing I could drink some water to get that nasty salty taste out of my mouth. I hated that when I turned to breathe, a wave would often smack me in the face. I hated feeling like I was swimming as hard as I could but I was going nowhere (not true, I know, but that's how it seemed). It didn't help that I was with two very nice but very good swimmers who had to wait for me to catch up every few minutes.
Don't get me wrong - I'm still doing the SAA event next week. But I'm wondering if, after this event, I should keep trying to swim in the ocean in the hopes that I'll get used to it, or should I just accept that I'm more of a freshwater kind of gal?
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Former Member
Interesting. I've done numerous triathlons over the last 5 years with ocean swims of distances from 1500 M to 1.2 miles, followed by either Gatorade or my Infinit custom mix (which has a good amount of sodium) on the bike and run, and never had ill effects, nor have I read this viewpoint on any other triathlon based web board. In fact, the sodium mix is an integral part of my nutrition planning.
Sea water has about 35 grams of salt per liter. Full-strength Gatorade has about 1 gram of salt per liter.
An ounce of seawater contains as much salt as a liter of Gatorade.
Chances are you don't imbibe all that much saltwater in your swims and you would want to use Gatorade for most of your running/biking hydration.
I imagine that for the first half-liter or liter you drink after the swim, though, you would be better off with water, juice, or maybe some other sugared/non-salt drink.
I'm just speculating here and can't provide a cite or anything.
I'd be interested in hearing the results if you experiment with a little water on emergence, though. I rarely swim in salt water.
Interesting. I've done numerous triathlons over the last 5 years with ocean swims of distances from 1500 M to 1.2 miles, followed by either Gatorade or my Infinit custom mix (which has a good amount of sodium) on the bike and run, and never had ill effects, nor have I read this viewpoint on any other triathlon based web board. In fact, the sodium mix is an integral part of my nutrition planning.
Sea water has about 35 grams of salt per liter. Full-strength Gatorade has about 1 gram of salt per liter.
An ounce of seawater contains as much salt as a liter of Gatorade.
Chances are you don't imbibe all that much saltwater in your swims and you would want to use Gatorade for most of your running/biking hydration.
I imagine that for the first half-liter or liter you drink after the swim, though, you would be better off with water, juice, or maybe some other sugared/non-salt drink.
I'm just speculating here and can't provide a cite or anything.
I'd be interested in hearing the results if you experiment with a little water on emergence, though. I rarely swim in salt water.
