Hello,
I am a new USMS member. I joined because I signed up for an upcoming 5 mile race in the open water in Maryland. Does anyone have tips for a newbie to open water races? My endurance is pretty good, but I hired a personal trainer to try and lose some pounds doing dryland workouts, as well as running, even though I hate running with a passion.
Thanks for any help/advice!
As srcoyote advised, if you can get into open water, it definitely helps your prep. I do 1-2 open water swims per week. Even better, tho not always feasible depending on where you live... swim in a similar environment to the one you're racing in. If your race is in salt water,it's a good idea to do some swimming in salt water and vice versa. My race is held in the same body of water where I learned to swim, so I had the benefit of knowing what it was like to swim there.
I should note that I did my 1st 5 mile race on exclusively pool training and finished better than I expected....though w some seasickness. Since then I learned to feed more frequently. Also I put a few drops of ginger extract in my water. But really crucial were the more frequent feedings.
You might want to check out also the Marathon Swimmers Forum:
marathonswimmers.org/.../ Lots of great tips, as well as fabulous stories! Also, good stuff on open water swimming Facebook groups.
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
As srcoyote advised, if you can get into open water, it definitely helps your prep. I do 1-2 open water swims per week. Even better, tho not always feasible depending on where you live... swim in a similar environment to the one you're racing in. If your race is in salt water,it's a good idea to do some swimming in salt water and vice versa. My race is held in the same body of water where I learned to swim, so I had the benefit of knowing what it was like to swim there.
I should note that I did my 1st 5 mile race on exclusively pool training and finished better than I expected....though w some seasickness. Since then I learned to feed more frequently. Also I put a few drops of ginger extract in my water. But really crucial were the more frequent feedings.
You might want to check out also the Marathon Swimmers Forum:
marathonswimmers.org/.../ Lots of great tips, as well as fabulous stories! Also, good stuff on open water swimming Facebook groups.
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
