Training for Cold Water Swims – 9 Tips You Need to Know | The FINIS Blog

Follow the link above to see the article on the FINIS Blog.

http://www.active.com/swimming/Articles/Survive_the_Surf__Entrances_and_Exits_in_Open_Water_Swims.htm

In my race schedule for this season, I had picked to do the Oxnard Splash-n-Dash on Sept. 13th. But I didn’t realize when I picked that (which I have not yet registered for) that it is a 1 hr 45 min drive from my house. Yikes. Such a long drive for a relatively short race. I was going to do the long course (1000 meter swim followed by the 4 mile run).

I looked for alternate events that have an ocean swim on a weekend between now and November when I’m not working or already doing another race. Kinda tough. Iron Man & Half Iron Man distances are too much for me right now!

But look at this: Mermaid Tri in Santa Cruz on Sept. 27th. Instead of Oxnard Splash-N-Dash Sept. 13th. Is it crazy to drive 5-6 hours on Saturday for a Sunday race? And then pretty much drive right back home? And if I drive that far, I’d want to do their Olympic Distance course, not the Sprint distance. Am I up for an Olympic Distance for my 3rd triathlon? What if we stay overnight on Sunday and drive back at the crack of dawn on Monday. My 7th grade daughter would miss school. That is wrong and bad. I shouldn’t take her out of a day of school for my race. Sigh. But I want to. Don’t want to drive right back on Sunday.

Also, my older daughter goes to UC Santa Cruz, so we would get to see her (if briefly) that weekend if we drive up. Hmmmmm.

So…

1. Which event? Oxnard Splash-n-Dash Sept 13th (“local” but pretty far) or Santa Cruz all women Mermaid Tri Sept 27th?
2. Am I nuts to do Olympic? I can already swim 1.5km and running a 10K is nothing. Just have to up my bike mileage which is pretty low right now (max dist of 15 miles).
3. Take my daughter out of school Monday or drive our butts right back on Sunday?

I should be able to make these kind of decisions myself… I guess I really just want to do Santa Cruz but driving 5.5 hours up and back Sat/Sun just seems like such a drag. Boo!

Me on the left & Nina (Twitter friend) on the right at Santa Monica Ocean Swim.

So I bought an xTerra Vortex 3 last Friday, June 26, 2009. And I was eager to try it out. Wanted to make sure it fit properly and was easy to move around and swim in it. So I planned to go to Huntington State Beach on Monday and get in a short ocean swim.

The original plan was to hit the beach before noon, short swim, picnic lunch with Jenny on the beach, play and relaxation time before heading home. Unfortunately, due to a comedy of errors, we didn’t actually get to Huntington until 3 PM. I talked to the Life Guard briefly, put my wetsuit on, and ventured out.

In watching the surf before I suited up, the breakers hadn’t looked too large to me. So about 20 minutes later I was wading into the surf. Life guard had said water temp was 62˚. It didn’t feel cold to me at all, especially with the suit on. Waves still looked ok, and I proceeded out to my chest. I felt the cold water coming through the suit at the zipper on the back. Just interesting, not a problem. Kept going and got out past most of the breakers. But there was one row left to get past, and they seemed pretty big. I was not comfy with it. I decided to go back in and try ocean swimming in my suit another day.

I did feel good about the suit, though. It fit nicely and I was able to move easily in the water. Arms didn’t feel restricted. In fact, while I was trying to get out past the waves, I didn’t even think about the suit at all. I wasn’t even aware of it or that I was wearing it. The waves had my full attention. The suit does feel a bit loose around the lower legs when the water comes in, but I think that is OK. It’s kind of interesting how the suit expands/stretches and adjust on you when it gets wet.

Jenny and I did stay at the beach for another hour just relaxing and playing in the sand, but it was getting cold and windy and unpleasant. So we left a bit after 5 pm and met up with the hubby for dinner. I considered the ocean experience a success, even though I didn’t actually swim. Baby steps. I will just keep at this until I’m comfortable and good at it.

Well, through the magic of Twitter I found a friend who lives in the L.A. area and belongs to the L.A. Tri Club. She convinced me to come out on Wed. morning July 1st for an open water swim at Santa Monica Beach. Wow. I had to get there at 6 am. Left my house just after 5 am for the drive. Was worried about traffic, but I think I got lucky and made it in only 45 minutes. This swim is attended by over 100 members & guests of the L.A. Tri Club. It is a regular weekly event. The surf conditions were pretty decent that morning. Not as calm as ideal, but not too bad.

I really liked being with a group. I stayed towards the back and entered the water after most other people. But it was good to be going in with others. The waves weren’t too high, but still…it gave me confidence to see other people successfully going through the waves. Made me say to myself, “If they can do this, so can I.” So I dove right in, jumped through the waves, and headed out.

The swim we were doing is described as a triangle. There is a buoy 250 meters from the shore which is one point of the triangle. Two cones are placed on the beach about 100 yards apart for the other two points. Start at one cone, swim out on a slant to the buoy, swim from the buoy in to shore to the other cone, then run to the first cone. This completes the circuit. Do one circuit or more.

Well, I was swimming out there, and most of the other swimmers were faster. I was getting left behind. And my goggles were letting water in. So I was fidgeting with them. It seemed like I still had breakers to get over, but I guess not. It was just a decent sized rolling swell. And I couldn’t see the buoy any more. I could follow the other swimmers. But I couldn’t see how far I needed to go…my goal. It seemed so far away. I thought, “Maybe this is enough for today. I can just turn around now and get out.” But when I looked behind me I saw that I was quite far from shore. At least halfway to the buoy for sure. Oh, what the heck. I might as well just finish and swim to the buoy.

So I kept going. Mind you, I hadn’t even really broken in to freestyle yet. I wasn’t very big on putting my face in the water. The goggles weren’t working very well and I was afraid of losing a contact lens. And the water is very salty. Tastes bad. I was dog paddling, breast stroking, side stroking, back stroking. And mostly keeping the head up. I guess I put it down 2 or 3 times on the way out to the buoy, but not for long.

Eventually I saw the buoy and the current had pushed me past it. I thought, “Gosh, I’m not even going to go around the buoy. Bummer.” Then I decided the heck with that, I certainly WAS going to go around the buoy. So I had to swim back and around it. There was a club member treading water out there with a waterproof camera. He said some encouraging things to me and I told him this was my first time swimming out to an ocean buoy. He said it was too bad the conditions weren’t very good. I was kind of surprised. I didn’t think it was that bad.

And around the buoy and back towards shore. I did try freestyle a couple of times, and put my face down in the water briefly. But again, the goggles just weren’t working right for me. I decided backstroke was OK and mostly backstroked it in. Getting in past the breakers wasn’t too hard. Overall a success. I wasn’t panicked during this swim like during my triathlon and I felt like I could possibly do another circuit. But I decided not to. I decided to stop at one this time. Next time I’ll do two.

Afterwards I waited and said good-bye to Nina (my Twitter friend) and her husband and then I did a five mile run along the shore. I went up past the Santa Monica Pier. Last time I was there was when I did the Santa Monica 10K Classic in April 2006.

Anyhow, this whole experience was so positive, and I want to do it again. So I joined the L.A. Tri Club that afternoon. I am planning to attend a number of their training events. I’ve RSVP’d for next Wednesday’s “Ocean 101” and I hope that this Sunday I will go out and do their “Chicken of the Sea” swim. I figure I gotta just keep doing this and the more I do it the more comfortable I’ll become and I’ll get pretty good at it.

Vortex 3 Fullsuit $199 (Reg. $400)

I’m so nervous about choosing the wrong size or something that doesn’t fit me right. I’ve never tried on ANY wetsuit before, nor obviously swum in one. What should I do? Buy this one? Or give it a miss and go to a local tri shop and get fitted for one there? Help? Advice?

These are other swimmers (faster ones) in my same swim wave.

Eventually I signed up for a small local tri that fit into my schedule. Sunday June 7, 2009. The L.A. Triathlon Series which is hosted in San Dimas, California at Frank G. Bonelli Park, only about a 15 minute drive from my house. This must be the closest race to my house that I’ve ever done. I was doing the Express course, which is billed as a 300m swim, 8.5 mile bike, 5K run.

I didn’t train hard for this race. I ran the Boston Marathon on April 20th and have races planned for July (a 5K and half-marathon) that are the real focus of my training. So I just added two swims and two bike rides per week to my run training schedule. My swims were usually about 30 minutes, 1200 yards or so, sometimes as much as 1500 yards. Bike rides varied from 6 miles to 12 miles, averaging around 45 minutes. I trained on a mountain bike and just bought my road bike a week before this race. The race was only my fourth time riding my new bike.

Two weeks before the race I went on Sunday to Bonelli Park to do a practice run of the race. I wanted to do a little swimming in the lake and check the water temperature, as I was planning to do this race with no wetsuit. Also, I wanted to practice the bike course. Well, the lake wasn’t open for swimming at the time we arrived, so we did the bike first, then most of the run, and then I tried a few minutes of swimming in the lake. The water temperature was OK, probably mid-60s (Fahrenheit), but being unable to see through the water really gave me a feeling of claustrophobia, and a mild sense of panic. I was expecting to come down to the lake on a couple more weekdays before the race and practice more swimming. Unfortunately, the lake was not open for swimming on any weekdays so I couldn’t. Wish I had known, I would have spent more time in the water that Sunday.

I also did another bike ride a week before my race on my new bike. These two bike rides of the course really helped me mentally. I knew all the turns, I knew what to expect. I felt confident about the bike, which turned out to be the easiest and most fun part of the race for me.

I made myself a checklist for the race by Googling on the phrase “triathlon checklist”. You will find lots of results for that search. I wrote down the things I wanted to make sure I brought and put all my stuff together the night before. I didn’t do any kind of taper for this race, because of the other events I’m training for. I had a long run on Friday of 10 miles and Saturday was a crazy, hectic family-event related schedule. So not much rest.

We couldn't get a marked stall, so went up the curb & parked on the median strip dirt. Lots of others did too.

Last summer I had planned to do a triathlon, so I had gone to watch this event, and it really helped having seen already how the event was run. I knew the parking was going to be chaotic, crazy, packed. The lot nearest the start area was going to fill up FAST. The park opened at 6 am and registration at 6:30 am. We planned to leave our house at 6 am. However, we were running late. I got up a 5 am and had breakfast including coffee, which I usually avoid. Coffee on race mornings is allowed. Got dressed and put my stuff in bags. Went over the checklist. But we still got out the door closer to 6:20 am. Uggg. Arrived at the race site about 6:40 am and already all of the regular parking slots were full. We parked up on the dirt of the median strip. We were only the 2nd car to try this, but I’d seen them doing it last year, so I encouraged my hubby to do so. Turned out to be fine and many people also did this.

I went to check in at registration while my hubby took the bike off the van. It was pretty quick, since I inadvertently took a cut in line and the guy behind me was really nice about it. They gave me everything I needed there…cap, ankle strap with timing chip, race bib, goodie bag…all of it. This was a bit confusing, though, since the process didn’t agree with the posted race instructions. I wasn’t sure if there was going to be a pre-race meeting with directions or if they were going to write our numbers on our bodies. So I asked the guy with the microphone making announcements. He said no body markings. Race instructions given at the starting line. Turns out we weren’t even required to wear our bibs at all, although they encouraged it for the run.

Partial view of the transition area, looking towards the run start end.

We went to set up my transition area next. Only racers were allowed in the transition area, so Jenny & Chris had to wait outside of that area for me. I had brought an old pink bathmat, a pink hand towel and an orange/red plaid beach towel that I hoped would be eye-catching. I found a rack where someone else had brought a cute flower decoration to put next to their bike, so I put mine next to that. I rehearsed running into the transition area from both directions (it served for both T1 and T2) and during the actual race I had no trouble finding my bike. Granted, this was a small race with just over 500 entrants total.

After I set everything up, I looked over my transition area.

When I was setting up my transition area, there were three guys at the bike rack next to mine who were talking to each other. One of them reminded the others to put the bike in lowest gear because our transition to the bike had a steep uphill immediately after the timing mat. I knew that because of my practice rides and watching this race last year, and had told myself I needed to do that. But somehow I forgot. I was so glad these guys reminded me!

Next a visit to the ladies room. Then sit down relax for 10 or 15 minutes. Bathroom again (sheesh?). Then it was now or never for the swim warmup, or no time in the water before the race, as they were calling for people to leave the warmup swim area so that the life guards could monitor the race course. I had waited until the last minute to do the swim warmup because my swim wave was last and I didn’t want to be standing around cold and wet for any longer than necessary.

I desperately needed to get in the water and reassure myself that the temp and conditions were going to be OK for me, so I quickly jumped in for short swim. Temp was supposedly around 70 degrees, and felt a bit cool, but mostly OK. Wet suit definitely not necessary, and quite a few people were not wearing them. But for some reason the lack of visibility in the water just kind of panics me. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I told myself, “This is ridiculous…in a few minutes you will be swimming. You have to do it now. Just do it.” So I did make myself swim a few dozen yards and kind of felt OK with it.

My ankle strap with the timing chip didn’t feel very secure. I was afraid it was going to come off my ankle during the swim. I fidgeted with it a bit, but in the end just trusted it would all work out, and it did. Strap stayed on my ankle for the whole race. Air temp was in the mid-60s and getting warmer, so it wasn’t too bad standing around after the warmup swim, although I kept shivering, but that was probably from nerves.

Standing in ankle-deep water waiting for the swim start. I am in the purple tank top.

The race didn’t start on time. For some reason they had about a 15 minute delay. They told us this early, around 7:30 or so. After everyone exited the warmup swim area, we were standing around waiting for the other waves to start. One lady who had done this race before said the distances they report are not accurate, which I agree with. Course distances are listed as 300m swim, 8.5mile bike, 5k run. But according to my Garmin and Google Earth measurements, I think the distances are really closer to 250m swim, 8.88 mile bike, and probably more than a 5K run.

Go! I am on the left side in the purple racer-back tank

So after the other waves had gone (the longer course men and women and short course men), it was finally going to be our turn. The last start wave. We got into the ankle-deep water and waited for the start. I felt very positive at this point. And when the start sounded I rushed into the water with the rest, although I was staying to the back of the group and on the outside left. All turns on the course would be right turns.

So I started to swim, although at first I was holding my head up. Which I know is wrong. In the pool I have no trouble keeping my head down. But the dark water is scary or something. Maybe I just have to get used to it. But the first few strokes my head was up. And then I put my face down in it and tried to swim. And was OK for a few strokes, but I ran into someone. And came up sputtering and started dog-paddling or breast-stroking. I don’t remember. Floundering, really.

From this point I don’t have a clear recollection, except that I was kind of panicked. I did spend some time just floating on my back trying to pull it together. I did some backstroke. I was irritated with myself that I wasn’t just SWIMMING and turned over and tried again. I did actually pull it together again at one point and get some rhythm going and some confidence, only to run into someone doing breaststroke who was blocking my way. Back to floating on the back again. Grrr.

I thought about how I was ever going to finish this and get back to shore again. I thought, well, I certainly don’t need the lifeguards to come and get me. I KNOW how to swim. Then I turned over and tried some more. I took a lot more breaths than I do in the pool though, where I usually alternate sides every 3 strokes. Here I was breathing every 2 strokes and only on the right. I also noticed my legs were starting to feel tired and said, “Crap!” to myself. I know better than to use my legs too much when swimming, but in this panic I totally forgot and was kicking and struggling in the water way too much. At least at this point I tried to think about letting the legs rest and using mostly just my arms to save up something for the bike and run.

When I saw I had turned the last corner with the big orange bouy and was ready to start swimming to shore I was SO relieved! Almost back to shore. I swam towards it hoping to feel the sand under my feet soon. The sooner the better. Then running up to the transition area.

I'm running to the transition area to get on the bike.

I was one of the last swimmers out of the water. I was so irritated with myself for floundering, flailing, panicking. I know I can do much better, and I guess I will have a chance to do just that in the future.

I have my swim cap and goggles off as I run to Transition 1 for the bike.

I had been given advice to go slow on the transitions and that will make me fast. Well, I really WAS slow at T1. It took me 4:20 total. I sat down and spent time cleaning off my feet because I didn’t want any sand in my shoes for the run. I had a water bottle for squirting my feet clean, but this seemed anything but fast. Put the socks and shoes on. I didn’t have any of those fancy quick-ties for my shoes. Took a drink of water, donned my helmet, almost forgot my sunglasses and did forget to put on my Garmin 305. Bummer. I really wanted to time the last two legs of the race, with all the GPS data and so on.

Putting on my shoes and socks in T1.

Thank goodness I had put my bike in lowest gear in transition setup. I was able to easily ride the bike up the hill that is immediately after the transition area. Some people were really struggling with it, and even walking their bikes up.

Got my gear on and getting ready to bike it!

I had been worried about being cold and wet for the bike ride coming out of the water, but in truth I didn’t even notice it at all during the ride. I was very confident on the bike, because I had done a number of rides that were longer than this race, plus I had ridden my new bike 3 times, and done the bike course twice. I was actually passing some people during the bike. This part was a lot of fun for me and I felt good and strong. I did take two drinks from my bike water bottle, during downhill parts where I was just cruising. I did feel some burning in my quads and so I tried not to pedal too hard, because I knew I had to save something for the run that was still coming.

Just passed the uphill after T1 on the start of the bike.

Coming in from the bike, we had to be careful to slow down upon re-entering. We had to go back down the same hill we’d come up to re-enter the transition area for T2. Dismounting at the mat and trying to run with my bike to my rack. At least I had running shoes on. Legs didn’t feel too weird or wobbly. But I was tired and still had 5K to run.

End of the bike ride, approaching the transition area for T2. Feeling good.

In the transition area, I didn’t have too many changes to make. Took off my helmet and donned a cap. Put on my race number. Took a big swig of water.

In T2 almost ready to go, taking a drink before I run.

And then I was off on my reluctant legs. Well, they sort of remembered how to run. They were just a bit tired at this point. And I was running without my usual tool, my Garmin 305 that shows me my current pace. So I was trying to feel if I was going at a good clip that I could maintain throughout the entire 5K. I think I did a pretty good job on that, although I can’t be positive since I don’t have the data. They offered a water stop shortly after T2, but I’d just had a drink during transition, so I passed that by. I was running along and passing some people up. Actually, passing quite a few. It was tough, though. I did feel like I was slogging along and not really running my normal type of race. Trying hard to keep my pace up. Got to the turn around and was wishing for another water stop, but didn’t see any coming up. On the way back I passed a bathroom with drinking fountain, and stopped to use that, but the drinking fountain didn’t work. Darn. Running again, and a short bit later came to the last water stop, about a mile away from the finish. Took a cup and slowed a bit to drink. And then picked it up and started running again.

Leaving T2 and staring the run.

As I was coming around the last turn in the course and approaching the finish, I caught up to a couple of guys. But they saw me coming and sprinted away, unwilling to let me pass them. I wish I’d had enough left in my legs to go after them, but I was just all pooped out. Still, I finished pretty strong.

Here's my finish sprint...amost done!

My official time:  1:12:24
Swim: 7:23 (way too slow, whether it was really 300m or more like the 250m I believe)
T1: 4:20 (way too slow!)
Bike: 34:04 (pretty good for nearly 9 miles..works out to about 15.6 mph on a moderately hilly course. Happy with this)
T2: 1:29 (I’m happy with this but I didn’t change shoes, which would have slowed me down further)
Run: 25:08 (slow for me for a 5K. I’m usually well under 24. But I think this was more like 5.3K & I was tired)

I came out third in my age group, which was kind of cool, although there were only 4 competitors in my division (so I beat one person). The first two placers got 1:09 and change. The fourth place was almost an hour slower than I. Although it’s kind of interesting…the lady who won our age group wasn’t much faster than me on the swim (a bit under a minute) and both of her transitions were slower, and her run was slower. But her bike was LOTS faster. Almost 7 minutes faster. That’s where she won.

Hey, watch out, I will own your ass, and I have this medal to prove it.

Overall, I enjoyed this race immensely and will try to do more of this series in the future. 

What was good about this race? Small size. Friendly community. Lake swim as opposed to ocean. Short distance race. Lots of freebies/goodies handed out at the end (they had a raffle drawing based on bib numbers). I think this might be because of it is the 3rd and final race in the series.

Anyhow, things didn’t work out on Sunday, and I wasn’t able to go for an open water training swim. I did some web searching, though, and found that the Orange County Tri Club and also the Inland Infernos club, both do open water swim training at Corona del Mar, which is much closer, so I will consider that as well.

So, I guess we will try to do that again in another couple of weeks. In the meantime, I will go swimming a few times at the 24-hour fitness club, which I have not been doing regularly for quite a while now. Gotta get back into the swim of things. :p