Help me swim straight
Turns out my 1:18 swim at IMCDA was used to cover 2.68 miles! Would love to see a GPS map of that... a preamble to 12 steps, I am sure. I am happy with the 1:40/100 yds pace though.
I do poorly with complex drills like the one I just read online: "Position yourself with hips 90 degrees to the bottom of the pool, look down, left arm on side, and focus on right middle finger while kicking with fins. This will help you determine your swim trajectory" and the earth's geomagnetic field. No. I can't.
I like the idea of bilateral breathing. Currently I breath to the right exclusively, but have read over and over the value of breathing more (more O2, go faster) and so breathing every 3rd stroke seems to go counter current to that.
Tips? Thank you,
DS
0
Comments
This is the article I used: http://www.swimsmooth.com/finis_freestyler.html
just bought a pair and have used them a couple of times. Very cool stuff.
yes, they are legal
Doug, I don't breathe bilaterally because my neck doesn't like going to the left much, but I swim pretty straight in OWS. Do you do much sighting by lifting your head up and looking forward in your OWS races? If you get that far off course, perhaps you need to work on that. You can look for the buoys, or some predetermined landmark, like a big tree or building. When you practice in a pool, you can try to close your eyes for 6-10 strokes and see where you end up in your lane. Be careful if there are others in your lane!
This may help teach you to swim a bit straighter. Good luck.
I believe in the last week or two before a race, you can figure out whether you are consistently trending left or right through practice at the pool. (Or, if you are so lucky, at an open water site.) If you have to do it in the pool, simply swim with your eyes closed for 10 yards or so starting somewhere in the middle of the pool. Which way are you drifting? Not having the visual cue of the black line is almost the same as the open water effect. Of course, you'll need a very open lane to do this.
Most of the battle is just knowing which way you trend, and adjusting the number of strokes between sightings while you race. If you are drifgint a lot, sight more. If you're going very straight, then you can avoid sighting more. Yes, sighting slows you down...but not that much in a wet suit, and certainly a lot less than swimming off course does.
Finally, a "hint" that's been repeated to me several times...I don't find it that useful, but YMMV. This is that, if you are drifting right, imagine your center point where your arms enter the water has to adjust just a bit to the left. In other words, just slightly "steer" away from the side you drift to by entering the water slightly on the opposite side of that with your hands. (Obviously, I"m not saying you should have a bad crossover...just adjust each entry hand point a little bit in that direction.)
Good luck!
I breathe 5-10 times on one side and then switch to the other side. I stay on one side if the sun or waves dictate.
about five years ago I just started forcing myself to breathe on the uncomfortable side. now i don't even remember which side was the preferred side.
yes work on the sighting. quick looks without dropping hips or bringing head out of water too much.
I drift right.
@Robin/Bob: I do sight, but admit it is poorly executed in part because I am trying to minimize head lift (and so far that has minimized forward visibility), and in part cause I have not successfully identified a target in a race to date. Between the fogging goggles and scrum, I have basically began following the herd.
@Jenks: I did try the "correction" method at IMCDA (for the first time). The result was, I think, overcorrection. I sense the angles of change were close to 10-15 degrees, so in essence I became the "perp" that caused many collisions.
I bought the paddles, and will do the drills. I have access to both pool and OW. Thanks so much,
DS
I swim pretty straight, I only breathe right...if I drift, it's to the right.. I adjust by taking several stronger strokes with my left arm and that usually straightens me out. I use some stuff called "Spit" and that keeps my lenses clear. Otherwise I fog like crazy. If it's a really important race, I'll get new goggles. Whatever fog-free properties they have, seem to last about 10 swims, then it's back to the "Spit". I look around a lot. I follow feet, I try to keep up with several people's feet if I can. I sight when I find myself alone.
only antifog method i have found that works:::::
take dry googles. spit a lot in each. rub around with finger. carefully wash out with water WITHOUT touching with finger.
While I'm no where near a FOPer yet, thus hesitate to give advise, I have improved my IM swim from 1:10 at IMCDA to 1:03 at IMAT in the last 12 months. Still a lot of work to do to go sub-60. But here are a few things that helped me swim straighter:
1) Googles no longer fog. Like @Stephanie, I use to buy new googles for each race. After a few months the goggles would start to fog and then spit would not last for an entire 1 mile open water swim (OWS) session let alone 2.4 miles. Then I read an article about baby shampoo. Apply to inside of lenses while dry. Wait 15 min and rinse without (like @Robin stated) touching the lenses with anything but water. The shampoo leaves a thin film on the lenses that prevents fogging. If you rinse using your finger, your finger will wipe away the film. (Which also happens to new lenses when wiping/cleaning with your finger.) You can use any shampoo but baby shampoo doesn't burn your eyes if you don't get it all out. I get about 10-15 uses before having to re-apply. I now carry a little travel bottle of baby shampoo in my swim bag in case googles fog during a wko. If I apply the shampoo during a wko, when the lenses are already wet, it seems to not last as many workouts. The night before a race, I re-apply the baby shampoo--it's on my checklist so I don't forget! Since doing ^^that^^, I've (thankfully!) not had a single issue of fogging during a race or long swim.
2) Like @Tom, I also bought a pair of Iolite and have used them during my OWS wko sessions over the last 3 months. What I learned is that I too, like you, was WAY OVER compensating causing me to zig-zag down the lake. After using them for a few sessions, I was much more aware of how little I needed to adjust. (I adjust by entering and extending my hand a little wider than usual to the side I need to go. But I now only do it for 1 stroke, instead of 2 or 3, and sight again to confirm.) I now zigzag A LOT less during OWS even when not wearing the Iolites. I did wear them at Austria, which was a wave start. But due to the congestion, especially at the start and the turn buoys, they were not helpful and I ended up not looking at the lights. Can't see using them at IMAZ's mass open water start unless you are in the lead--which I am confident I will not be! Might be helpful after the turn around buoy, but last year there were still bodies all around.
3) Breath bilaterally. When I always breath to one side, I tend to drift in that direction due to my opposite arm not being as wide as it should be--I'm still working on that. Also, there will be times when it is difficult to breath to the right. Like at IMCDA after the turn around buoy and the sun is on rising on your right. You get blinded then can't sight because your pupils are constricted. Or like CDA last year, when the wind caused a chop which made breathing to the right on the way out difficult unless you like a mouthful of lake. Let me tell you that coughing makes it difficult to swim straight
4) I now sight more frequently. At the start of the swim, I sight every 4-5 strokes to make sure I'm not veering or when I find feet that I want to draft off but want to make sure he/she is going straight. No sense both of us swimming 2.68 miles! Once I get in a rhythm, I usually sight every 6-8 strokes instead of 12-15 like last year--I'm just not good enough for that yet. But if I find I'm veering, I go back to sighting every 4-5. When I sight, I lift my eyes (but not my mouth) out of the water before my breath then turn my head to breathe before putting my head back down. At the same time, I give a quick extra 2-3 kicks to help prevent my hips from dropping which, as we know, happens when we lift our head. If while lifting my eyes out of the water I don't see anything to help me sight, too bad. I turn my head, take my breath, put my head down and look again during my next stroke with that arm. Don't slow your stroke rate to lift your head higher or longer. Your hips will fall (even with a wetsuit), increase your drag, and slow you down. If I have to sight 3 times in a row in order to see the buoy or other swim caps, so be it.
5) OWS, OWS, OWS. I've spent more time open water swimming. And I use my GPS watch. Afterwards, I go back to the computer to assess how much zig-zagging I did. I also wear my watch under my wetsuit during the race. I don't look at it at all while swimming, but use it for post-race analysis.
6) I too, like @Atilla, use a snorkel in the pool during wko. I use it A LOT in the pool to help me focus on my stroke and my head control during the stroke cycle. If your head is not stable, it's likely to affect your hand entry or reach, thus affecting how straight you swim. A swim video analysis can also help with hand entry/reach.
I can feel your pain. It's frustrating to spend all the time training in the pool to end up swimming a slower race time because you swam 2.68 miles or longer zig-zagging all over. Good luck.