Swimming in Lake - Triathlon Week

04-17-2005, 02:11 PM

I attended my first triathlon today. Actually won my division but there were
only 4 total people.

My question is related to the swim. I actually trained most for the swim
and thought I would kick tail. But what happened was a shock. when I swam in
the lake I could not keep my head under water. I don't know if was they bad
lake water, clastrophia or what. But I just couldn't do what I could easily
do in a pool and that is keep my head under water and come up for air ever 4
to 6 stroks. It probably added 2:00 to my time for a 1/4 mile. I ended up
with a 9:00.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this. The problem is I live in Florida
and I don't know about lake swimming. With gators and all I don't know if
it's safe. Maybe praciting in the ocean would be the same affect? how do
you all train to handle these conditions?

Thanks

Chris

04-17-2005, 05:20 PM

Chris wrote:
> Any suggestions on how to deal with this. The problem is I live in Florida
> and I don't know about lake swimming. With gators and all I don't know if
> it's safe. Maybe praciting in the ocean would be the same affect? how do
> you all train to handle these conditions?
>
> Thanks
>
> Chris
>
>

I'd say you need to get into the habit of not using the lines in the
pool to see where you are going. Not sure about the claustrophobic
sensation but that may have just been a side effect of not knowing where
you were. Swimming in the ocean would be good, but if you can't get
there practice raising your head every few breaths in the pool and
sighting something down the other end to swim towards. That will give
you practice for doing the same thing in the open water. The one thing
to look out for is that this can be hard on your back if it is weak. I
usually only work on this as I'm coming up to events rather than year
round and I use flippers for the first couple of sessions.

DaveB

04-19-2005, 05:33 PM

I totally feel for you: the exact same thing happened to me during my first
triathlon. I couldn't understand it: I'd been able to swim so well in the
pool, and then during my first open-water swim - bam! - total freak-out!

So being an Internet and research geek, I checked it out. Physiologically,
what's happening is that your body's temperature gauge, which is located
behind the bridge of your nose (close to your brain), is going from nice
warm air to very cold water within the space of a few seconds. Your brain
decides that this drastic temperature change is a really bad thing: if it
gets too cold too fast, then the brain itself may be damaged. So the part
of your brain responsible for things like heartrate and breathing kicks in
and orders your head out of the water. This is called - you'll never
guess - the gasping reflex.

There's no one perfect solution to this. Among the more reliable things
I've tried are getting into the water at the start of my triathlon long
before the start in order to get the water in my wetsuit warm (keeping the
kidneys warm has supposedly helped some elite triathletes get over this),
and to swim increasingly longer lengths with my head underwater to get it
used to the temperature change. Frankly, the biggest help came from
visualisation: the more I EXPECTED to panic in the water, the more I got
ready for it and dealt with it. Starting calmly when the gun went off
instead of joining the mass thrashing was also helpful.

Hope this helps,
Helen

"Chris" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:niA8e.4779$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].com...
>I attended my first triathlon today. Actually won my division but there
>were only 4 total people.
>
> My question is related to the swim. I actually trained most for the swim
> and thought I would kick tail. But what happened was a shock. when I swam
> in the lake I could not keep my head under water. I don't know if was they
> bad lake water, clastrophia or what. But I just couldn't do what I could
> easily do in a pool and that is keep my head under water and come up for
> air ever 4 to 6 stroks. It probably added 2:00 to my time for a 1/4 mile.
> I ended up with a 9:00.
>
> Any suggestions on how to deal with this. The problem is I live in
> Florida and I don't know about lake swimming. With gators and all I don't
> know if it's safe. Maybe praciting in the ocean would be the same affect?
> how do you all train to handle these conditions?
>
> Thanks
>
> Chris
>

04-29-2005, 07:35 PM

"Chris" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in
news:niA8e.4779$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].com:

> I attended my first triathlon today. Actually won my division but
> there were only 4 total people.
>
> My question is related to the swim. I actually trained most for the
> swim and thought I would kick tail. But what happened was a shock.
> when I swam in the lake I could not keep my head under water. I don't
> know if was they bad lake water, clastrophia or what. But I just
> couldn't do what I could easily do in a pool and that is keep my head
> under water and come up for air ever 4 to 6 stroks. It probably added
> 2:00 to my time for a 1/4 mile. I ended up with a 9:00.
>
> Any suggestions on how to deal with this. The problem is I live in
> Florida and I don't know about lake swimming. With gators and all I
> don't know if it's safe. Maybe praciting in the ocean would be the
> same affect? how do you all train to handle these conditions?
>
> Thanks
>
> Chris
>
>

And in addition to the above, you probably won't be able to, and probably
shouldn't try to breath every 4 to 6 strokes in a tri swim. When you get
in more normal (crowded) triathlon you'll find that it's sometimes very
physical, crowded, lots of bumping etc. Easy to get your heart rate way
up and get out of breath. I think breathing every stroke or every other
you'll find will work better.
vv

04-30-2005, 05:55 AM

epson <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in
news:Xns9647E5D8D56vanlew@216.196.97.131:

> "Chris" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in
> news:niA8e.4779$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].com:
>
>> I attended my first triathlon today. Actually won my division but
>> there were only 4 total people.
>>
>> My question is related to the swim. I actually trained most for the
>> swim and thought I would kick tail. But what happened was a shock.
>> when I swam in the lake I could not keep my head under water. I don't
>> know if was they bad lake water, clastrophia or what. But I just
>> couldn't do what I could easily do in a pool and that is keep my head
>> under water and come up for air ever 4 to 6 stroks. It probably added
>> 2:00 to my time for a 1/4 mile. I ended up with a 9:00.
>>
>> Any suggestions on how to deal with this. The problem is I live in
>> Florida and I don't know about lake swimming. With gators and all I
>> don't know if it's safe. Maybe praciting in the ocean would be the
>> same affect? how do you all train to handle these conditions?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Chris
>>
>>
>
> And in addition to the above, you probably won't be able to, and
> probably shouldn't try to breath every 4 to 6 strokes in a tri swim.
> When you get in more normal (crowded) triathlon you'll find that it's
> sometimes very physical, crowded, lots of bumping etc. Easy to get
> your heart rate way up and get out of breath. I think breathing every
> stroke or every other you'll find will work better.
> vv
>

Even better over the long term would be to learn to breath every 3/5.
Being comfortable breathing on either side is a huge benefit in open
water.