Saturday, I attended an Open Water Swim clinic in Fremont, CA (about 45 minutes south of San Francisco in the East Bay). The same location as my triathlon in June. It's sponsored by the same coach that held a Triathlon transition clinic last September to prepare for my first Mermaid Triathlon (Santa Cruz). I arrived 30 minutes early and immediately noticed that the weather is 10-15 degrees warmer and sunnier than drafty San Francisco. The swim portion of the race will be held in a lake which had many perks: no ocean waves and currents to battle, no animals with dorsal fins larger than my hand, no other mammals but us humans, fresh water, and water temp of 70 degrees!!!!
About 30 women attended, for most, this would be their first triathlon. The Mermaid Triathlon is a GREAT first race for a beginner triathlete. Highly supportive staff, great atmosphere and their main goal is for everyone to have fun and finish their race. No cut-off times, no course closures, no one will pack up and leave until the last finisher crosses the finish line.
We started the clinic with some background information about nutrition, what to eat pre/post race, what to wear, training recommendations and the importance of getting in some core strength exercises...which led to a warm up run, a set of push-ups, sit-ups and squats. We then got into our wetsuits and broke up into (3) groups depending on skill level and open water comfort level. I started out in the intermediate group and as soon as we did one lap (1/8 mile), I realized I could push myself longer and joined the Advanced group. I truly enjoy swimming in open water as a opposed to pool swimming. Your not limited to a lane that stops at 25m, you don't smell like chlorine and metallic scented hair, and it just feels more "FREE". I've always loved the ocean and felt very comfortable with larger bodies of water. On the 2nd lap we had to swim 80% race speed, which I took full advantage of and tried to swim as consistent as possible, taking note on my form, my arm extensions, my pull in the water, rotating my hips and breathing as smooth and rhythmic as possible. I would use the other swimmers as guides and if I was approaching one, I would pull through the water with a little more effort to get past them. The area that were were swimming in is actually roped off with buoys in the shape of a half octagon. TWICE, at the corners, I ran into the rope because I wasn't looking up and would go off course. One skill I still need work at is sighting. Sighting is when you lift your head just above the water line and look forward to see where you are going. If you lift your head too high, your butt and legs drop lower, which increases drag and you slow down, thus losing your momentum. There is so much to think about while swimming (form, breathe, sight, staying calm).
I ended up finishing the 2nd lap with a faster stroke the last 200 yds. When I finally got a back to the start, my breathing was super fast. It felt like I really ran hard!
The third time around, was for any pace, fast or slow. I decided to pick one consistent speed, concentrate on sighting better, but using the other swimmers ahead of me to help guide. Sometimes this doesn't work because you might be following swimmer that is going off course. I learned that if you swim right behind another swimmer, there is a sweet spot that is behind their wake (similar to wakes created by boats). If you swim within their wake you save about 25% of your energy because the effort is lessoned. By the time I was done, I was stopped and floated on my back to try and relax and get my fast breathing back to normal.
I sat back up and was so happy. I looked at the others and said, "Good job everyone!! That was fun!". We were all pretty happy. We did one more sighting drill, where we started about 50m out and were told to head to shore towards a particular lifeguard chair. Every 4th stroke look up to make sure your headed in the right direction. We were not allowed to stand up until our hand hit the sand. I started it off and tried to swim this pretty fast. Made sure my strokes were elongated and fast, I had my target in sight and dashed for shore. I hit the sand stood up and looked over to my right to see I went to the OTHER lifeguard chair to the left of the target spot. I laughed, cussed a little as usual, and swam to the other location. Boy, did I fail that miserably. Nonetheless, I was done, took off that wetsuit immediately, while walking back to my gear on the sand where I dried off, sun-bathed and snacked. We finished off with more tips on transitioning from swim-bike-run.
Job well done. Let's just see if I can make all my swim workouts this week (I missed two last week). Again, commitment to consistency has been my beast.
No comments:
Post a Comment