1st Tri, and a hellish swim...
477
Member
1255 days
geochuck posted 3 years ago.
Great to get the first swim portion out of the way. Breathe in through the mouth, out of the nose and mouth. If you exhale through the mouth tooooo hard the water syphons up the nose. When you use nose plugs and lose them it is worse than loosing your goggles for sure. If someone in a race sees you wearing nose plugs, they will knock them off. If you are nose plug reliant always have an extra pair around your neck., or learn to swim without.
477
Member
1255 days
geochuck posted 3 years ago.
If you get in the shallow end hold onto the ladder and bob up and down, breathe out under water (make bubbles not to vigorously) through your mouth and nose, come up slowly let the water drain down your face then breath in gently through the mouth only, you will soon be able to control the breathing sequence. Do ten bobs then ten more etc etc etc.
21
Member
1145 days
george27 posted 3 years ago.
Thanks for sharing your experience, gmarch. Sounds similar to my first sprint triathlon in Catalina in 2000. Got about 50m and panicked, hyperventilated, thought for a brief moment about groping for the guy floating in the kyack but came to my senses enough to roll over on my back and catch my breath. You may never feel totally comfortable at the swim start but I guarantee you will never go through that traumatic experience again. Now you'll have the pleasure of detroying your best sprint times over your next few races. BTW you seem in too good a condition to be conserving over such a short distance. HAMMER!
151
Member
1185 days
jsoder posted 3 years ago.
The swim IS brutal, isn't it? Sounds like you did great though. The first time is always a shock for most people. One of my friends did his first tri three weeks ago and was down-right cocky about the open-water swim and his swimming ability. He kept saying how he was a swimmer in high school and it was his best event. He wouldn't shut up. Me and my girlfried both tried to warn him and get him mentally prepared, but he would have nothing of it.
"You know what?...you're probably right. You are young and in great shape. This will easy for you."
Because he is a great friend I took great pride in watching him turn into a whimpering mess after the swim. :p On the outside I pretended to have complete empathy ("it IS hard, isn't it"..."you did really great though"..."oh, it was harder than you thought it would be???"..."well, you made it look easy"...etc...), but on the inside I was beaming from ear-to-ear.
I believe he has a different perspective now. :cool:
Anyhow, it is easy to forget how tough the swim is until you get out there and do it in a race. It's downright hard to find training partners who will grab your ankles, swim on top of you, push off you, elbow you, and knock your goggles and/or nose plugs off.
I wish I could tell you the first one is the toughest, but I would be lying. They are all tough. I suppose it is the same for everyone. Unless of course, you happen to be that one guy/gal who is body lengths ahead of everyone. (there always seems to be one superman/superwoman at every race I've been to)
Congratulations on your first race!!!
Jeremy
23
Member
1165 days
gmarch posted 3 years ago.
I just got in from a 5 mile run and 30 minutes in the pool. No panic this time!
I started really slooooow at first to get into my rhythm, then increased speed. I was breathing in through my mouth, hold for the next stroke, out through my nose and start the cycle again.
Oh man, I feel a lot better now. I was actually using the side of my kidney shaped pool as other "people" - swimming really close to it, forcing breathing right up next to is so I was getting splashed and following the contour. I survived!! It felt so great that the last 10 minutes were all-out as hard as I could go.
That felt great. Thanks all for the tips! I'm still not expecting miracles for my next tri, but I am hopeful that if I keep at it, it will be a lot better!
/greg
Well, I completed my first sprint tri this Sunday. It was a bittersweet experience. I bettered the time that I had set for myself, but I had an absolutely horrendous swim.
This was a .5/16/3 sprint. I finished in 1:50:54 with 24:15 for the swim, 58:03 bike and 28:35 run.
I hit the water and about 10 strokes in, someone knocked off my nose plug. As I found out, I guess I had become too dependent on the nose plug - something that came from my initial water sucking experience when I first started swimming in April.
It came off, and I thought to myself, I can do this anyway. I took a breath and whammo, water up my nose, in my mouth and down my throat. Choking, coughing, and generally having a bad time, I tried to breath again. Not as bad, but still water all over the place.
At this point, I really needed air, and had to flip to my back. I was beginning to hyperventilate, and could not catch my breath. If you had asked me before the tri if I was afraid of the water / open water, the answer was a definite "no". Heck - if you ask me now, it's still "no" - I can swim for an hour straight without any problems! I'm really shocked I experienced this feeling.
I did the elementary backstroke for a while, and never really calmed down. Trying the crawl again, and similar results. I thought, do I give up? At which point I got really mad at myself, and made the decision that I was going to get to the beach even if they had to drag my damn dead body out of the water.
I stayed with the back stroke, and still couldn't calm down until about 300 yards from shore when my brain started to function again, and I forced myself to just glide and float. I was able to do the crawl intermittently for about the last 100-200 yards or so - although I still had to breath every stoke.
Major disappointment, but I did learn a lot.
The bike and the run were excellent for me though. In fact, I could have pushed harder, but I didn't really know how to pace myself. The hills were tough, but I was learning to pace the recovery (after not doing it properly on one hill and paying the price on the next!). I really enjoyed the bike leg and look forward to improving that time for the next one.
The run was good, but uneventful. The heat was starting to get to me at that point (it was nearly 100 degrees here in the Northeast). There was no shade, and the sun was just beating down on us. But... it was only a 3 mile run, so I knew I could push myself a little.
All in all, it was a great experience even with the terrible swim.
Last night, I forced myself to get in the pool and start practicing without the damn nose plug. :-) I only have access to the pool in by backyard (about 30' long). I modified my workout to really force myself not to rely on holding anything (I had done this somewhat before, but not as strictly). I was able to reproduce the panic, and had to stop after about 15 minutes. I think that the combination of not stopping / holding on, and the contortions I have to do to "simulate" keeping my head in the water while I turn caused some O2 depravation and hence the panic.
Anyway, I tried to regroup, and started again. Another 15 minutes, and I had to stop. Time for a break... I'll go clean off the steps.
I started another session, but I modified how I was breathing. I think with the nose plug on, I was holding my breath somewhat prior to letting it out, and turning my head. With the nose plug off, I was blowing air out my nose right after it enters the water. I tried holding my breath a little, and it seemed to help. I think it helped for two reasons. First, it kept me a little more boyant. Second, I think I had more O2 in my lungs for a longer period. What is the common practice for this?
Anyway, I've read some great posts here (like http://www.trifuel.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1391), but I would be more than appreciative for any additional pointers, mantras, etc. to think about as I train for my next sprint on 9/11.
Thanks...
/greg