My open water swim clinic

I'm posting this hoping some of you can benefit from what I learned yesterday at my first (not last) open water swim clinic. It was put on by a local masters swim club here in Dallas. If you can find one it's easy to see how they would be a great benefit to your swimming. And there is one here focusing on Multisport. It's a little too expensive for me right now but I am still able to benefit from the clinics like they put on yesterday.

So what I learned (take what you like and leave the rest!):

Number one: never do an open water swim without anyone else around to keep an eye on you. I panicked for the first time in open water yesterday. I swam in school so I thought with all the hours i've been in the water there's no way I would panic. Well I was wrong. I started thinking about it and realized there was no bottom, no side just a very murky lake to swim in. I worked through my fear knowing that there was a kayak with lifeguard in the water, and many other very strong swimmers around. I also learned that if in a panic you can get a death grip on the kayak until you're ready and there is no DQ for it.

Number two: learn how to "site" as soon as you can. This new skill will change my stroke routine when I swim in the pool now. Siting is incorporating a quick look up in your stroke to make sure your headed in the right direction. They taught us to raise just the eyes (like a crocodile, nice visual at the lake ) up take a look, then turn your head and take your breath. I'm probably oversimplifying it a bit. If it's done correctly it's one very fluid motion with minimal to no impact on your stroke at all. They advised working a site in every four strokes.

Number three: get in the habit of counting your strokes. This something very new to me. I think it's part of TI (total immersion) but I had never been taught to do this. I can see how it helps though. It helps mainly with pacing and using it to know when to site. We practiced stroke counting using 10 hard strokes and 3 easy strokes. Something else to take back to the pool.

Number four: learn how to navigate that buoy! We learned a modifed crawl technique that helped to get around the buoy quickly. I'll try to explain it. Basically if the buoy is coming up on your right, then as you get to it you keep your right arm extended and then try to make two strong pulls with your left arm, and keep kicking. We also talked about positioning and how to deal with the pack as you come to the buoy. Basically they suggested that if you have the inside take it, if not get to the outside and avoid the churn. But by all means don't worry about being overly nice and slowing up to let other people around the buoy. Which leads me to number 4.

Number five: learn to swim in a pack. I think I got more out of swimming in a pack of people than anything. It's a new experience compared to the pool swim where you rarely run into or brush anyone else. I thought the siting helped me out with this as well because I was able to see who was around me and make a move or draft based on the situation. It was hard though and I found myself working to avoid the contact rather than fight through it and get my position. I think that has a lot to do with a lack of confidence in my swim conditioning more than anything. I was more concerned about drowning than anything.

Number six: Fartlek (there's a post somewhere talking about how hilarious this word is and I had to have the instructor repeat it because I couldn't believe what she had just said) Any way it's going out hard on the first lap, going pace in the second and third laps and then coming in hard on the last lap. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.) This is another one I'll have to work into my swim workouts.

Anyway, I'm sure there is more I could say but that's the gist of what I remember from yesterday. And now for the funny story of yesterday.

I brought my bike to the clinic thinking, "maybe I could squeeze in an hour ride after". Well that was no problem. Many of other folks in attendance had the same idea. We all talked about where to go and how hard we might ride. We got our gear on and started to get ready to go. I rolled up along side someone and was slowing quickly and struggling to get my foot out of my clips. Well of course I fell over right there in front of everyone on my first big group ride. Everyone turned to see the comotion as I sprawled on the ground with my feet firmly clipped into my pedals. I skinned my knee and blood was streaming down my leg. But most of all I was laughing so hard at myself over what had just happened. It's nice to get humbled once in a while. Good training to everyone!
Skeedawg