Hands quickly become worthless in cold water. Help!
998
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1191 days
cayman posted 1 year ago.
Sorry to say, but not much to do except hope for warm weather the week before the race. I'd stay away from petroleum products, even anhydros lanolin will wreck your neoprene and no matter how careful you are--you would probably be wearing it all day.
The wetsuit will keep your core warm and if it's really cold wear an extra cap under the race cap will help keep the heat from escaping thru the top of your head. Get in the water before the race to get acclimated if you can. The increased stroke intenisity on race day will get the blood flowing nicely and should help to keep the hands a bit warmer.
In the end, nothing to do, but to do it.
2766
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1444 days
tri-ac posted 1 year ago.
maybe like the other thread suggested, vaseline might help...although you'd want to make sure you toweled it OFF your hands BEFORE peeling your wetsuit off
2255
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701 days
TriSooner posted 1 year ago.
GGehrke wrote:
Duh. Not swim in cold water? Just kidding. I'd give up the sport if water that cold was even splashed in my general direction. As a Texan, I have to get in the hot tub before I get in the 80degree pool water. That air conditioning in the gym pool area is just so cold. (On the flip side, I pray for triple-digit heat index and air temps during races. Come to Lubbock's Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3 Ironman if that sounds fun.)
The water was thoroughly frigid (53 F), so I'm sure that's the culprit, but what can I do to combat it?
477
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1697 days
geochuck posted 1 year ago.
Cold water is cold water. Just put up with it. They will thaw out after you get out of the water.
444
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793 days
Sully800 posted 1 year ago.
Practice fist drills when you're doing laps, then you will learn to swim efficiently without your hands. Any catching that your claw hands can do will simply be extra propulsion.
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704 days
GGehrke posted 1 year ago.
Well, in case anyone cares, my race on sunday was in very cold water, but it wasn't too much of a problem. Choking on choppy harbor water was, but that's another issue.
I just got back from another round of swimming in the bay by my house. I just tried to relax my hands as much as I could and focus on good form in general, which seemed to help. There is one spot where there's a cold current and as soon as I enter it I feel my pinky and ring fingers curling completely over. Oh well. A few more swims down there and I'm sure I'll just be used to it.
Unfortunately no laps for me for the next two months! My pool is closed for renovations, so it's all open water. Should be interesting.
49
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964 days
sourbubblegum1 posted 1 year ago.
omg!!!!!!!!!!! is there even a race in 53 F water!? What about hypothermia?!!?! I hope you are careful from now on. I would swim in the lap pool until april atleast. Dont risk it. :( Good luck
Did my first open water practice swim today. Went pretty well overall. Certainly not pleasant, but I'm glad I did it. Better to be uncomfortable in practice than in a race. And I definitely have room for improvement.
My big problem, though, was that it only took a few minutes before I completely lost control of my hands. My fingers curled up and wouldn't stay even remotely together. The water was thoroughly frigid (53 F), so I'm sure that's the culprit, but what can I do to combat it? I am probably going to pick up gloves with webbing to help in training, but I suspect I will need a race strategy as well. I'll claw my way though this weekend's sprint in the SF bay, but this is not gonna cut it for HIM.
Perhaps some sort of embrocation? But I'm concerned that will just make a mess of my hands, wetsuit, everything in transition.... Maybe embrocation PLUS a can of oven cleaner to spray them off with in T1. Okay that's probably a bad idea.