Does anybody have any drills they like to do in the pool to practice land spotting?Is your goal to develop a more efficient stroke while sighting, become better at landmark/buoy recognition or something else? We have different drills for different skills.
As I train in the pool, there are none that even remotely compare to actual sighting in open water. I will before early in the season races pick a small and not very noticeable object towards the end of the lane and practice sighting it each length from both left and right breathing sides just to get used to the physical part of sighting. I used to just sight something like the starting blocks, but that is nothing compared to being in open water when waves can block sight or a landmark on a shore can be obscured by its surroundings.
I've worked with some friends on their sighting by using the diving tank (no lane lines) at our pool. We'll get in and use a small object (3-6" tall) to sight off of on the side of the pool. Once everyone hits that point, they turn their backs to the guy on deck and the object gets moved to a different place on deck and start again. You can also try spotting the object, then closing your eyes for several strokes, then popping back up for another sighting. This one is good for really getting a feel for how balanced your stroke is.
Does anybody have any drills they like to do in the pool to practice land spotting?
Thank you for starting this thread! I opened the OW Swimming forum to start just such a thread!
Rob, don't know about others, but I would love to see drills on all of the skills you mentioned!
My coach keeps reminding me not to cross my arms, which despite my efforts to the contrary I seem to get into the habit of doing, and thus not swimming in a straight line--so I sight more than I'd like, which in turn makes my stroke less efficient--and as often as I've done open water swimming, I always feel a bit disconcerted swimming essentially "blind" in open water, except when I lift my head to sight. If I try to keep swimming, I tend to veer off. So all of the above would be great!
Rob, don't know about others, but I would love to see drills on all of the skills you mentioned!Some drills for sighting and seeing I use in open water clinics and practices are:
Speed Reading - Basically it is training you to take a quick peek to see landmarks. In the drill I have the swimmers face me, then close their eyes and turn 180 degrees. Next, I have them do a reverse blink (quickly open then close their eyes)then with their eyes still closed I have them point to the lifeguard stand (or some other object). This is to get swimmers comfortable with sighting quickly within stroke tempo and letting the brain process what they saw when their heads are back in the water. Note - you can practice this drill anywhere.
Sharks and alligators - This drill helps the swimmers determine their most comfortable method of forward sighting. For alligator eyes sighting, while swimming, you raise your head from its neutral position so that just your eyes are out of the water looking forward, take your speed reading, then return your head to the neutral position. Shark eye sighting, is incorporated at the end of a breath, where instead of dropping your chin and rotating you head, you rotate your chin forward, eyes out of the water, and them drop your chin and head. It typically takes 4-8 50's of each drill with the swimmers sighting every 3 to 4 strokes for them to figure out which is most comfortable and which maintains their swimming tempo and technique.
Left and right - In this drill I have the swimmer sight every cycle while I'm at the opposite end of the pool with a kickboard in each hand. When I hold out right arm and kickboard the swimmers slide over to the left side of the lane and when I hold out my left arm the swimmers slide over to the right.
What I don't do for sighting drill is Tarzan swimming. A lot of swimmers already keep their heads too high and their hips too low. I want my swimmers to maintain good body position while sighting.
If you forward sight quickly and efficiently you can sight more often without slowing your swim.
Thanks for these, Rob! And that speed reading drill will especially come in handy during this busy week!
Some drills for sighting and seeing I use in open water clinics and practices are:
Speed Reading - Basically it is training you to take a quick peek to see landmarks. In the drill I have the swimmers face me, then close their eyes and turn 180 degrees. Next, I have them do a reverse blink (quickly open then close their eyes)then with their eyes still closed I have them point to the lifeguard stand (or some other object). This is to get swimmers comfortable with sighting quickly within stroke tempo and letting the brain process what they saw when their heads are back in the water. Note - you can practice this drill anywhere.
Sharks and alligators - This drill helps the swimmers determine their most comfortable method of forward sighting. For alligator eyes sighting, while swimming, you raise your head from its neutral position so that just your eyes are out of the water looking forward, take your speed reading, then return your head to the neutral position. Shark eye sighting, is incorporated at the end of a breath, where instead of dropping your chin and rotating you head, you rotate your chin forward, eyes out of the water, and them drop your chin and head. It typically takes 4-8 50's of each drill with the swimmers sighting every 3 to 4 strokes for them to figure out which is most comfortable and which maintains their swimming tempo and technique.
Left and right - In this drill I have the swimmer sight every cycle while I'm at the opposite end of the pool with a kickboard in each hand. When I hold out right arm and kickboard the swimmers slide over to the left side of the lane and when I hold out my left arm the swimmers slide over to the right.
What I don't do for sighting drill is Tarzan swimming. A lot of swimmers already keep their heads too high and their hips too low. I want my swimmers to maintain good body position while sighting.
If you forward sight quickly and efficiently you can sight more often without slowing your swim.
Came across this article today written by a coach I worked with a bit last year, Bryan Mineo. Great guy who has a lot of OW talents. While it doesn't specifically address much about sighting, it may help with some ideas to play with in the ceee-ment pond.
www.active.com/.../how-to-train-for-an-open-water-race-in-the-pool
