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Open Water Swimming

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LindsD Sep 2018 12:52pm, 6 Sep 2018 24,443 posts	Quote Pin LindsD I was told at first to sight every three, and I did, until I felt like I could relax a bit, and now I do it every six or so, I guess. I also zig-zag
KatieB Sep 2018 12:56pm, 6 Sep 2018 7,297 posts	Quote Pin KatieB Depends where i’m swimming but every 6 or every 12, when I breath to the left I do a quick crocodile eyes look ahead.
Oranj Sep 2018 1:36pm, 6 Sep 2018 1,078 posts	Quote Pin Oranj Swimming with a bank on one side (say, a lap of a lake or along a canal) means you don't need to sight so much. If you've ever swum at Dorney Lake the bottom has tether lines along it (for the rowing lane buoys), you can just follow those! I did my fastest ever standalone 3.8km swim there, two minutes quicker than anywhere else which shows how looking ahead interrupts my stroke.
beebop Sep 2018 2:23pm, 6 Sep 2018 1,181 posts	Quote Pin beebop Interesting, I’ll try with three as a start (won’t work with back crawl, though, which feels really comfortable). Need to work on swimming evenly. I knew that water in the wetsuit was the idea, but the initial cold trickle down the spine was an avoidable user error!
LazyDaisy Sep 2018 2:38pm, 6 Sep 2018 23,819 posts	Quote Pin LazyDaisy I think you'll get that trickle whatever you do beebop - the water is bound to come in where there's an edge or a permeable join! I sight every 6 or so but on Tuesday I kept forgetting and went way off course For some reason I find it easier to sight on a left stroke than on a right.
beebop Sep 2018 2:53pm, 6 Sep 2018 1,182 posts	Quote Pin beebop Ah well, I’ll expect it next time, then! I’ll still make sure the zip guard is in place, because I think it was digging into the back of the neck. Am hoping it feels a bit more natural next time. I’ve always looked behind when breathing, so trying to get my head out of the water enough to look forwards sounds, um, interesting.
LindsD Sep 2018 3:07pm, 6 Sep 2018 24,445 posts	Quote Pin LindsD KatieB's tip of several pages back to think of 'crocodile eyes' is really useful, I find.
beebop Sep 2018 8:38pm, 6 Sep 2018 1,183 posts	Quote Pin beebop I saw that, and it sounds good, but I’m not sure i can make it work for me unless I can stop looking backwards when breathing: the front eye doesn’t get above the water, and any time I was breathing to the right side it wouldn’t work anyway - very limited vision in left eye. Some practice required! Thanks everyone for all the helpful suggestions.
Luiz Sep 2018 11:03am, 10 Sep 2018 836 posts	Quote Pin Luiz I've been absent from this thread for ages due to a lack of open water swimming. I just popped in to say I swam in Swimathon yesterday. The cold water was a bit of a shock after such a warm summer, I have only swum outdoors once this year and I appear to have gone soft. I was a bit worried before the swim because it was wetsuit only and I haven't swum in a wetsuit since 2013. My suit is only a 1mm thickness shorty (in a size too small so not a pretty sight), but I was glad of the little bit of warmth from it. 5km took me 1:50, so 5 minutes quicker than in the pool earlier this year but still a fair bit slower than I've covered the distance before.
LazyDaisy Sep 2018 1:32pm, 11 Sep 2018 23,877 posts	Quote Pin LazyDaisy Much better swim in the lake this morning, in that I swam a bit harder and further - still not quite brave enough to go out to the furthest buoy though My sighting was better too, didn't wobble around as much. The water temp has gone down 1.5* since last week - 17.5* today - and it's gone from 'still quite warm' to 'a bit on the fresh side' I'm hoping to get round the full course - out to that furthest buoy, and do the big triangle - before it gets too cold!