Here are some tips from Cutrell to overcome unexpected conditions from Mother Nature:
• Relax. Panicking is only going to make your stroke short and choppy (think long and smooth).
• Think black line. We take the line at the bottom of the pool for granted. In open/rough water, there’s no clear line to follow. You can create your own black line by lining up a landmark beyond the buoy you’re aiming for (trees, mountain peaks, skyscraper). When swimming, aim for the landmark and you should be pretty close to the buoy.
• Breathe. Which way are the waves breaking? To the right? Left? Mentally prepare yourself to breathe to the opposite side of where the waves break. Can’t bilateral breathe? That’s why you spend so many hours in the pool doing drills! Note to future self.
• Did I mention relax? Just being able to stay calm in rough water gives you a competitive advantage.
Wetsuit too tight
This is a tough one. If you’re already racing and just discovered your wetsuit feels too tight, it means you didn’t test it. Swimming wetsuits are designed to be snug throughout the torso and legs, with flexible shoulders and back paneling to allow freedom of movement in the upper body. If you start the swim and feel that your suit is restricting your ability to breathe or limiting your movement, ease off the effort and focus on taking deeper breaths. Breathing more than normal will help. Take shorter strokes if that’s what the suit demands. Basically, just chill out and deal as well as possible. Don’t stop and unzip the suit as this will create a huge parachute effect that will make this particular swim even more miserable.
After the race, get a suit that fits correctly. Don’t swim in a surfing or diving wetsuit, these are not designed for long distance swimming.
Lots of contact
Fleischmann: This seems to be the case for both professional and the age group fields. Most of the contact that I experience in the swim happens in the first 300 meters at and around the first buoy. The race to the first buoy and the bottleneck phenomenon around the first buoy is the main concern. I like to leave myself a bail out by lining up on the far left or far right of the swim start so that when I encounter turbulence with other athletes, I am able to free myself by swimming right or left away from the madness. As the swim progresses, the field becomes a bit more spread out and single file, so getting through the first quarter of the swim is the hardest part.
Brian Fleischmann is a professional triathlete who resides in Colorado Springs, Colo. Erin Cutrell is a former distance swimmer at the University of North Carolina and amateur triathlete. Coach Marty Gaal is a former distance swimmer at the Florida State University and full-time triathlon and swim coach. Visit
www.osbmultisport.com to learn more.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144