I’m still relatively new to open water swimming. I can count the amount of times I’ve swam in open water (races and practice) on both hands. That said I have learnt a lot of things, often the hard way so I thought I’d share them!
Image courtesy of Flickr
Lube Up!
Not nearly as exciting as it sounds unfortunately. Using Bodyglide, Vaseline or something similar will help you get your wetsuit on and off. Putting it on you forearms and around your elbows, as well as lower legs will help your wetsuit ‘glide’ off when you’re rushing in transition. Also put it on your neck to stop wetsuit chafing. Believe me you can get some nasty sores from wetsuit chafe!
Use Mirrored Goggles
Swimming on a sunny day can often mean quite a nasty glare off the water, making it difficult to see where you’re going. Select goggles that are appropriate for the conditions.
Put Your Goggles on Under Your Swim Hat
If you find yourself surrounded by people in the swim, there’s a reasonable chance of getting a knock to the face. This can often move, or even remove your goggles. Reduce the chance of this happening by putting them on under your swim hat.
Acclimatise as Quickly as Possible
If you’re anything like me, jumping into a freezing cold lake / river / sea is a bit of a shock to the system. Try and get into the water as early as possible and concentrate on slow, relaxed breaths to control oxygen intake and avoid / stop hyperventilating. Submerge your head as much as possible before the start, and move around for a few minutes before you start swimming to get the blood flowing and avoid cramp. If you get brain-freeze, the more you can get your head in at the beginning, the less of an issue it’ll be once you start swimming. If you know the water is going to be very cold or you know you’re very susceptible to brain-freeze, consider wearing multiple swimming hats.
Breathe Bi-Laterally
If you’re used to breathing to only one side, practice the other side until you’re comfortable with it. There are a lot more unexpected things to deal with in open water than in a pool, and being able to adapt quickly to deal with them is crucial. You might find that there are waves on your normal breathing side causing you to get a mouthful of water every time you try and breathe. Or you might find that there is a fellow swimmer very close to you on your normal breathing side splashing water or their arm into your face!
Practice Sighting
One thing that I didn’t even think about before my first open water swim, having only done pool swims previously, was the fact that I wouldn’t be able to see anything downwards or sideways. Its only at that point do you realise how important the pool floor markers are. If you’re in a pool try swimming with your eyes closed when you would normally look down. Control your direction by looking straight ahead when you come up for breath. Sighting is quite a skill in itself, so here’s a handy video that explains it a lot better than me!
Whatever you do don’t just follow other swimmers!
Prepare Your Legs For The Exit
The buoyancy of the wetsuit, combined with the fact that during the swim you’re probably going to be saving your legs for the bike and run likely means that your legs won’t have been particularly active during the swim. This often means that all your blood is in your upper body. Moving from horizontal to vertical when you get out of the water can cause a blood rush from the upper to lower body, meaning light headedness – not what you need for your transition! To help avoid, when you have 1-200m of the swim left to go, start to increase the amount of kicking you’re doing to get the blood flowing to your legs.
Don’t Trip Over Your Wetsuit!
When you’re out of the water and running to T1, first unzip your wetsuit, and then take your arms out so the whole top half is off. Then take your hat and goggles off. When you get to transition, pull your wetsuit legs down to below your knees. Ideally, try and get your legs out by standing with one leg on the other leg of the wetsuit and pull the leg you’re trying to remove out of the suit. The more you can use your feet rather than your hands, the less chance you have of tripping yourself up – less hopping around! Also, if you end up using your hands to get your legs out, you’ll normally find yourself bending over to do so. That can cause an almighty blood rush and leave you feeling rather faint – not ideal!
Relax and enjoy!
If you’ve prepped with all of the above all that’s left to do is concentrate on getting to the end of the swim as fast and efficiently as possible. Enjoy yourself – after all that’s why you’re doing all of this in the first place right?!
I’d love to hear any additional thoughts, tips, advice etc
