The swimming part of a triathlon is usually the part triathletes dread the most. Not me. I love to swim, and even though I’ve never raced and am not in good swimming shape, I’m not afraid of the half-mile swim in my upcoming first ever triathlon. But maybe I should be.
I went to a Master’s swim class at my local gym to see if an instructor would check out my stroke and also to see if I could hang with the other swimmers. They had us do some timed 100s, and although I wasn’t as fast as the two men I swam with, I definitely had more endurance. This made me happy because I’m perfectly fine being the turtle in the race, as long as I can finish. And my stroke was good, with a little fine tuning. The real lesson of the day, which I didn’t expect, was listening to other swimmers tell me stories about their open water experiences.
I knew open water swimming would be different. No lane lines, no walls, no turnaround points to rest, but I hadn’t considered the things the other swimmers told me. One woman, who had been swimming competitively all her life in pools, panicked in her first triathlon a few years back during the swim. “I knew I could swim the distance easily,” she told me, “but there was something about the fact that the water was dark and I needed the walls psychologically.” She had to be pulled from the lake and brought back to shore by canoe. “I never would have expected that to happen to me,” she said. “I’m just now ready to face it again.”
Another person, who had been on her high school swim team told me that although she had extensive training in the pool, “The open water swim is a whole different animal.” She explained that people swim very close to you, sometimes over you, and it’s common to get kicked and maybe even get your goggles kicked off your face. “And you get splashed when you’re trying to breathe,” she said, “which completely throws off your rhythm.”
This made me nervous because I’ve developed a stroke/breath pattern that works well for me and I never deviate. It also occurred to me that in the the pictures I’d seen of open water swimming competitions, an awful lot of the competitors were swimming with their heads out of the water, more like a water polo swim. I asked one of the instructors if the freestyle stroke in open water is the same as what is used in the pool, and she said, “Oh, no, it’s different…” and then she got distracted and I never got the “because” part of the statement.
I decided a few things after this experience:
1. I would practice in open water before the triathlon.
I did my first open water practice in the ocean in Santa Barbara last week. I was in town to take care of my sister following a surgery, and when I got a break, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. It was only about 65 degrees outside but I had a short wet suit with me, so I figured I’d be all right. When I hit the water it was as if my breath were knocked out of me, it was so cold. I’ve been in cold water before, but this time I had to literally will my arms and legs to move. Must….lift….arm….
I only lasted a few minutes before I decided I’d better not let hypothermia set in. Something I learned: probably one of the reasons all those swimmers don’t have their faces in the water is because it’s not intuitive to stick your face down into freezing, dark, moving water. I must work on this.
I am terrifically discouraged by this experience, but I will try again in a less cold lake without crashing waves as soon as I can, hopefully erasing the frozen limbs memory.
2. I would be prepared for no walls and not being able to see.
Call me nuts, but I’ve been swimming laps with my eyes closed and not touching the walls at all. I do a silly little turnaround at the end of the lane without touching the wall. I’m sure I look like an idiot, but I am determined not to need the walls physically or psychologically. I need to know I can swim the entire length without any floor or walls.
3. I wouldn’t worry about changing my stroke.
Maybe if I ever do another triathlon or open water swim, I’ll look into this, but I’m sticking to my regular freestyle stroke for now. I need at least one thing to be familiar.
If any of you out there have open water swimming experience, please share it!