psycofish

Well this weekend I did my 1st lake swim. All my training and first tri was in a pool. My 2nd tri is in 2 weeks and the swim is in a lake. I finally had the chance to do a Lake swim and wow is that hard..... I never new I couldn't swim a straight line. Also tough to keep a rhythm going when you have to keep lifting your head to make sure your not heading to Canada... I breath out of right side only ( yea I will work on it but not in the 2 weeks I have). Any suggestion? how many strokes should I go before taking a pee... I mean peek

MHR

There is nothing with breathing only to the right...I do and it has never stopped me yet. A few techniques that may help you.

1. At your swim start choose a position where you will have several swimmers to your right. Let them do the work of nagivation. Just focus on swimming, looking up maybe every 20 strokes if you feel you must. In Hawaii at Ironman I lost sight of the marks due to all the white water in the air and general thrashing. I just focused on swimmers to my right and they guided me all the way to the turn around, after that it was easy to target the shoreline.

2. In most lakes you can see ahead a few feet. Follow the feet of other swimmers while you draft off them - very easy to do. Look for bubbles ahead and and just keep your head down (swimming downhill keeping your head low with an efficient stroke). If you can't see the feet - you can feel the movement of feet ahead of you.

3. You may feel some bump and grind - it will happen, just don't let it shake you from the task at hand. Soon as you gain experience and speed you will be dishing it out too. For now just focus on getting to T1.

ZackJones

Just to answer the question that MHR didn't: It's better to pee before the swim start instead of during. The swimmers behind you will appreciate your bladder control

MHR

Excellent point Zack

^*^BATMAN^*^

HAHAHA

I usually take a look every 4-5 breaths. And ya, most peopel dont realize how hard it is to swim a straight line with nothing on the bottom to take reference off of.

outdoorboy

I highly recommend being able to breath from both sides. I have done tri's where the markers were on the right and some on the left. It also gives you a more balanced stroke.

sestivers

Additionally, it will help if the wave chop is coming from your right to breathe on your left. I agree with MHR that it isn't essential, but outdoorboy is right about balancing your stroke.

bluehorizons

i too had my 1st open water swim this weekend - i started out good, but then really started to get thrashed around. ended up taking a foot or arm to the face and my goggles got knocked off -- this totally through off my rhythm and i couldn't get back into the groove for the rest of the swim -- ended up doing breastroke most of the way. i only lost a handful of minutes since it was a short swim, but my arms, shoulders & back are paying the price today!

any suggestions for keeping composure / not getting freaked out in the beginning of the swims? and is there any way to either keep goggles on better or minimise the chance of them getting knocked off? if they do get bounced from your eye sockets, you pretty much have to stop to get them back on - but then what about the folks coming up behind you?

thanks in advance.

matt

ZackJones

One thing you can do is start at the back of the pack if it's a massive start or start at the back of your wave if the triathlon is having multiple waves. This keeps you out of the way of the fast folks and should keep you out of the confusion that goes on at the start.

As far as goggles go you can put them on under your swim cap to get a little more protection from getting knocked off. I've seen several swimmers wear their goggles this way. If your goggles do get knocked off try swimming either left or right to get out of the path that everyone is following, adjust them as needed and then get back to swimming. Don't fret over the time you lost adjusting your goggles, it's gone, just get back to swimming and you'll be OK.

SnowyL

I use a Seal Mask on my open water swims when I know there is a chance of losing my goggles. In lakes it doesn't help with visability, but I don't have to worry about losing my eyes.

One other suggestion I have is a lot of people will go out hard on the first half of the swim, then putter out. I suggest starting in the back 3rd of the group & just cruise the first half. You'll pass by many at the half way point, then turn it up.

H2OChick

Practice doing some head up swimming in the pool so you can keep your stroke rhythm when you sight your target. I breathe both sides, but adapt if necessary. Typically I breathe every 3 strokes and pick my head up on the 4th breath, but this varies. If you do it right, it shouldn't change your rhythm at all.

I use "swedes" or the foamless goggles that fit right into your eye sockets. They're tough to knock off and they (practically) never leak. Not to mention they're only $4. TYR makes them now, too.

wannaride

I did my first tri last Sunday and the swim pretty much told me that I should stick to duathlons. I got kicked hard enough to have to stop and get my bearings. Then once I got going again I was way behind in my wave. I may tri (intended) one more but getting thrashed incidentally just is not a lot of fun.