Open Water Race Tips: Racing With Others

Racing with Others
Racing in open water is not quite the same as just swimming in open water. There are lots of other people around. Do you feel comfortable swimming in the midst of 400 flailing arms and legs? Do you prefer having a little space around you? Keep this in mind during the swim. You almost always have the ability to control how large of a pack you are swimming in. If there are too many arms and legs, move to the outside of the course. I recommend the outside of the course over the inside of the course because of turns. At turns, everybody bunches up as close to the buoy as they can. If you are on the inside, you must work your way into that group in order to swim around the buoy (rules generally frown upon swimming to the inside of the turn buoy). If you are on the outside, you can remain just to the outside as everybody else fights to get within touching distance of the buoy.
Although there are advantages to be gained from drafting other swimmers, you have to be careful in doing so - there are some pitfalls also. When I am drafting someone else, I often notice that my stroke is much choppier as I am struggling to stay in the proper position. If the swimmer is the same speed as me, I find this choppiness just makes me more tired without any additional speed. Occasionally, I will find a swimmer or group of swimmers who I can draft, but I probably spend most of my time in open water races looking for open water where I can stretch out my stroke and cruise. Don't convince yourself that you have to draft just because it is faster; it may not be worth it, so examine each situation.

Race Start (finding/creating space)
If you don't want to be a part of all those flying arms and legs, then plan your escape route before the race starts. Don't start in the middle of the front. Start in the the back, where nobody else will really want your space in the water. The only trouble is that as people get tired after the initial sprint, you will have to navigate through them (or over them, but I don't think Miss Manners would approve). Another option is to start near one side or the other. You can always just swim a little further to the outside to get away from the elbows, yet there aren't as many people to swim through after they tire from their sprint. If you want to mix it up with the other swimmers, then be prepared to do a little fighting to maintain your space. A bigger, more forceful kick is one method of getting a little more room. The splash acts as discouragement for those around you. Even if they are not afraid of getting kicked, I don't know of many swimmers who like to take a breath while getting splashed in the face. Another trick that is not too obnoxious is simply to make your pull a little wider and hold your forearm close to vertical. This allows you to use your forearm to keep other swimmers a slight distance to your side.

Open Water Swimming Tips

Get Comfortable
Admittedly, it is important to feel comfortable in open water before you can really enjoy it. And to feel comfortable, you have to understand what the water can do, what you can do, and have some confidence that you can handle whatever it throws at you. Don't go into the water with the attitude that you can depend upon someone else to bail you out. Lifeguards, and other people, will do what they can to help you, but if seven other people also go in with the same attitude and have trouble at the same time you do....
Maintaining Your Composure
Swimming alone or with a small group, there is often nothing right next to you to hang onto. At least in races, there are usually lifeguards on rescue boards or kayaks nearby to quickly lend assistance. How far do you feel comfortable swimming without hanging onto something?
Think carefully about that question, because the answer is very important. In the pool, do you grab the wall at each turn in order to get a little rest or a little more breath? Can you swim longer distances without grabbing a wall? Can you stay afloat while coughing from getting a mouthful of water, or do you hang onto the lane rope? Can you keep swimming when you get a side stitch, calf cramp, or foot cramp? Can you swim underwater for a few seconds without feeling claustrophobic?
Although it is not uncommon for even very experienced swimmers to occasionally feel a little panicky in open water, panicking is about the worst thing you can do in open water (it isn't recommended in many other situations either). The biggest mental challenge to open water swimming is to maintain composure no matter what happens. This may require doing some breaststroke, or even treading water or floating for a little while. Find some way to keep afloat and to regain your composure. With this mental security, you will at least enable yourself to enter another event at a later date. With that in mind, I am not aware of any open water races that require you to swim any particular stroke, so do whatever stroke you feel most comfortable with.
Don't Swim Alone
Even if you have tried to prepare for every possible problem, it is always possible that something unexpected will happen and you find yourself needing help. That is not the time to be alone. If there are lifeguards, let them know your plans before you start swimming. If there are no lifeguards, then swim with someone else (keeping an eye on each other and knowing lifesaving will both help). Even if there are lifeguards, a partner will be able to get to you a lot sooner than a lifeguard.
Make Yourself Visible
Along those same lines, make yourself easy to see. Not only will it help people find you if you need help, but it may also help boats see you and only come close instead of running over you. Those bright swim caps they make you wear at races aren't just for decoration! The only times I ever wear a swim cap are in open water and cold water (like when the heater goes out in the pool).
Navigation
Can you swim in the right direction when there is no line painted on the bottom? Most of the articles I have read on open water swimming deal with this issue by telling you to look up every few strokes. Practice in a pool. Try lifting your head up and looking at the end of your lane. Lift your head at different times during your stroke and see what feels most comfortable. With that accomplished, you have tackled the most important part of navigation in open water. That is really all you need to be able to do, although there are refinements to help you speed up and make it easier.
Refinements:
- Looking up slows you down and tires you out. If you can stay on course, you will be much better off looking up every 20 strokes as opposed to every 6 strokes. But that is a big "if." Not looking up may speed you up, but that doesn't do much good if you start swimming in circles. The classic solution to this is to practice swimming a length of the pool with your eyes closed. The lane ropes will quickly make it apparent in which direction you naturally veer. Work to straighten out your stroke.
- Know where to expect the buoy when you look. It is a whole lot easier to find the North Star if you start by looking generally north. Likewise, it is a whole lot easier to spot a buoy or some other target if you generally look in the right direction and know where to expect it. During swim practices in the pool, I look at the pace clock in the middle of swims. Because I am too far down the pool by my second breath off the wall, I get only one chance to read it. In order to get a good reading, I need to know where I expect to see the second hand.
- Don't look for too long. If you don't spot your marker (buoy) quickly, take another stroke and look again then. Or you may have only gotten a glimpse of the buoy before you had to put your face back in the water. But this should help you spot it more quickly the next time you look. In choppy or rough water, you may be in the trough of a wave in one stroke, making a buoy impossible to see. But two strokes later, you may be on the crest and able to see for hundreds of yards. Note also that even though you may be on the crest of the wave, the buoy may be in a trough. Oh well, it is better to keep swimming in the direction where you think the buoy is located than to stop until you sight it. Although lifeguards swim with their heads up, we don't have to. A lifeguard's target is much more likely to disappear under the water than a big orange buoy (and have greater consequences, too).
- Follow others. If you are swimming with others, and they appear to be swimming in a straight line, just follow them. But even though they will probably not intentionally veer off course, you should still check periodically.
- Find things to the side that you can use as markers. Although at 4.4 miles, the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim is one of the longer popular open water swims, it is quite easy navigationally. The swim goes from the western shore of the bay to the eastern shore between the two spans of the bridge. I rarely had to look forward in this swim. I saw the south span whenever I breathed on my right and the north span when I breathed on my left. Likewise, you can use the shore to keep you on target.
- Use your imagination. There are lots of things around that can help you stay in a straight line without looking up too often. I have used the direction that the rays of sunlight are entering the water to help me stay in a straight line. It certainly isn't perfect, but if it allows me to look up only every 20 strokes instead of 6, it is worth it.
- Don't make big adjustments to your position. If you find yourself quite a ways to the side of the course, change your direction to slowly move back. Remember that the shortest distance from your current position to the next turn is a straight line, no matter where you are. Don't bother swimming straight back to the other swimmers before heading for the next turn; just go for the next turn. You really do not swim much further if you gradually move away from the shortest path and then gradually move back. On an out and back 1.5K swim, you can swim over 40 meters to the side on each leg of the swim, and still swim only an additional 10 meters for the entire swim.

Keep it Cool While Running this Summer

Tips for running in the heat:

This advice comes from Dr. Lewis G. Maharam, the world’s premier running physician. He is medical director of the New York Road Runners, ING New York City Marathon, all of Elite Racing’s Musical Marathons, and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program. We found these tips from him at www.runnersworld.com

- Run within your capability. Do not push yourself in the heat. The greatest cause for heat illness is running too hard in hot conditions.

- Eat a good pre-race meal a few hours before the run. Try an “Elvis bagel” (peanut butter and banana) during your training: it has protein and carbs.

- Do the salt! (See my previous post on this subject.) Eat salted foods all week prior to the event. On race day, consume one fast-food salt packet at the start line. Have another salt packet halfway through the race.

- Start your run well hydrated. Check your urine. If it is light yellow, like lemonade, you are drinking perfectly. If it is is clear, you are drinking too much. If your urine looks like iced tea, you are not drinking enough!

- Do NOT over-drink. Drinking too much is as bad as not drinking enough. The best way to drink healthy is to drink only when you're thirsty. Nevertheless, drink no more than one cup (8 oz) every 20 minutes while running or walking.

- Choose sports drinks over water. Practice in training to do this. If you are exercising 30 minutes or more, research shows that sports drink are the healthiest way to go: not diluted or alternated with water or a combo of a gel and water. Sports drinks are expertly prepared with energy sugar and salt.

- Spray yourself during your run. Run through a sprinkler on someone’s lawn if you’re running in a neighborhood, or carry a bottle of water with you to squirt on yourself and take a few sips mid-run.

- Check your meds. Do not consume products like cold medicines, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or anti-diarrhea medicines with dehydrating agents in them. They may increase your risk for heat illness. Caffeine products are only OK in doses you are used to taking on training day. Do not start taking a caffeine product on race day.

- Find some ice. Iced towels or ice bags behind your neck after you finish will help you feel cooler quicker.