I'm doing a group freeze-fest on Sunday @ 7:30 AM at a nearby park (Idylwood, for those in the area). Anybody else doing this yet? I've got a new Desoto T1 First Wave 2 piece wetsuit to try out, with a neoprene cap and booties to go with it. Current lake temperatures are in the low to mid 50s, which is probably just balmy for H2OChick and her ocean swimmming ways :)

After the swim is a 2 hour ride, followed by a 1/2 hour run. Then it's home to unpack more boxes, as we are finally in the new house.

I have never done an open water swim before. There is a tri that I am signed up for that includes a 500y OW swim. I have rented a wetsuit for the weekend. I don't really have an opportunity to try open water swimming before the event. Any tips or suggestions with the wetsuit and OW swim? How did yours go?

Actually it wound up not happening. I went to get the wetsuit out of the box it came in only to discover that instead of a pullover and a bibjohn, I had been shipped 2 pullovers. One of them was in a bag labelled bibjohn, and the order clearly showed what I ordered, so I'll call them tomorrow to clear up the accidental mistake.

As for your advice, if you have never done an open water swim before, is it also the case that you have never worn a wetsuit either? Can you get the wetsuit far enough ahead of the race for a bit of practice getting in and out of it? Maybe even a pool swim in it, so long as you rinse it thoroughly with fresh water after getting out.

One of the nice things about living in Hawaii is open water swimming year round. The ocean water around here rarely gets cooler than 70 degrees or so. Of course, since the sewage spill that occurred in East Oahu about 1 1/2 months ago, I've been spending a lot more of my time at the pool. . .

One of the nice things about living in Hawaii is open water swimming year round. The ocean water around here rarely gets cooler than 70 degrees or so. Of course, since the sewage spill that occurred in East Oahu about 1 1/2 months ago, I've been spending a lot more of my time at the pool. . .

I hate you......

With the swim. DEFINATLY wait for a few seconds at the start. Like when your wave goes, start at the back, getting into the front can be a little crazy ESPECIALLY if it will be your first time in open water.

The 50-m pool I use sure feels like open water. I still can't kick a full length!

My wife, I and friend are doing a relay this coming weekend as our first tri. Then the wife and I are doing our first tri ourselves in June. The swim is open water and only 500m. My wife is doing that part. We are going to swim on Wednesday too in open water to get the wife used to it a little so she won't be too freaked this weekend.

No wetsuits either. But we are in Dallas and the water is expected to be in the high 60s to low 70s. Shouldn't be a problem for a 500m swim.

I have never done an open water swim before. There is a tri that I am signed up for that includes a 500y OW swim. I have rented a wetsuit for the weekend. I don't really have an opportunity to try open water swimming before the event. Any tips or suggestions with the wetsuit and OW swim? How did yours go?

I would highly recommend trying to find any opportunity to practice your open water swim. It's a different animal than swimming in a pool, with issues like sighting, waves, getting clobbered in the pack. My first triathlon, was 400 yard swim. I was doing 1000 meters in the pool comfortably, and practiced in open water briefly twice before the event, so I thought I was ready.
My swim in the event was a disaster, goggles fogged, couldn't see, swam z's, nearly panicked, and ended up swimming on my back a good portion. Got out of the water tied for last, and glad just to be alive. (fortunately I'm fairly fast on the bike and finished 3rd in my age group).

Don't mean to freak you, and you are likely a better swimmer than I am, but I think it really helps to be comfortable in open water. At least try to practice your sighting.

It is difficult for me to find a place to practice open-water swimming so I was forced to rely heavily on the pool. If you are in a similar situation, here are my 2 cents: first, use your wetsuit in a pool first (the suit can be quite constricting and you may feel out of breath so it is better to get used to it in a comfortable environment); second, practice sighting in the pool (try to pick an object 3 lanes away from you and look once per length to practice).

Especially for the newbie, the goal of the swim is to remain calm and swim as efficiently as possible (even if your time sucks). Losing a couple minutes on the swim is better than panicking or redlining. Now that I have been racing for a few years, I am a middle of the packer in the swim but I no longer get freaked out when someone tries to swim over me or if my goggles get a bit jostled. I am slowly improving my swim times and I can start out the bike leg feeling strong.

definitely practice sighting. of all the things that bothered me in my first open water swim, that was the worst. i had no idea how hard it was to swim a straight line if you don't have the pool lanes to guide you. plus, lifting your head up constently causes you to use up so much more energy b/c you have to kick twice as hard to keep your legs up.

What color should the lense be on my goggles for me to see the best in open water? Or does it matter? I would think the more clear the better, but I don't know with the sun position and how it hits the water? Is this an important factor in sighting? Are most open water swims point to point or out and back?

Edit: Thanks for your help and tips. I am going to go Thursday to a lake that is about 20 miles away and try out some of them. Thanks!

For my open water swims, I have a dark black tinted. If I could find them, I have a pair of mirrored goggles I used to use when I competed in outdoor pools. The sun can be a problem with sighting the bouyes.

Off to brave the balmy British waters in a couple of hours for my first open-water swim... ever. Well, the sprint in June's OW so I better get started. If I never post again, you'll know why: Greepeace thought I was a stranded whale and returned me to the sea.

Finally got one in, and like other things the anticipation was worse than the event itself. 1/2 hour swim in Lake Sammamish (where my next race will be in 3 weeks), followed by a 40K bike and a 5K run.

Wore a full wetsuit + neoprene cap, booties, and gloves. The temperature was in the low to mid 50s somewhere and while cold, I've been far colder and more uncomfortable on some XC ski outings than this.

The real problem was fits of hyperventilation that I could only occasionally manage by trying to physically and mentally relax. Anybody have a clue what causes this?

The real problem was fits of hyperventilation that I could only occasionally manage by trying to physically and mentally relax. Anybody have a clue what causes this?You overcome this with practice relaxing. That's all there is too it.

I'm doing a group freeze-fest on Sunday @ 7:30 AM at a nearby park (Idylwood, for those in the area). Anybody else doing this yet? I've got a new Desoto T1 First Wave 2 piece wetsuit to try out, with a neoprene cap and booties to go with it. Current lake temperatures are in the low to mid 50s, which is probably just balmy for H2OChick and her ocean swimmming ways :)

After the swim is a 2 hour ride, followed by a 1/2 hour run. Then it's home to unpack more boxes, as we are finally in the new house.

Honey, I don't get in until it hits the low 60s! I'm not into that whole polar bear club thing. Guess this girl will just have to wait til late summer. Or else fold and buy a wetsuit.... nah!

Been swimming for months here in CA. Actually the water is up to a balmy 64 now.

jerk...I might venture into the water this weekend, might be a tad over 50 by now....

I called the local state park that has an open beach on it to find out when it opens. The ranger said that the water was reading 66F. It opens on Memorial day weekend so I still have a little more than a week until I can get in. You guys seem to be talking about some much lower temperatures. At what point am I going to want a wetsuit? What is the usual cut off for temperatures at Tris where they won't allow wetsuits? For a sprint Tri I have heard that some people opt out of using a wetsuit because they won't be in the water that long anyway.

From fishing reports here in MN, it looks like the 58-62 degree range. The beaches don't open for a couple weeks, but I'm going to give it a whirl today I think. Sleeveless wetsuit should be all right in shallow water if it is indeed over 60 degrees, especially if we get to mid 70s today.

Well was planning on getting into the water this past weekend. I threw a thermomater in the water first....it was 51...so I decided swimming outside wasnt going to happen just yet.

I did a trial open water swim last week. 20 minutes with a sleeveless wetsuit and normal swim cap and I felt fine. So fine that I tried a sans-wet suit swim today and failed miserably. Couldn't breath normal enough to put together a stroke so I called it quits after 20 yards. But it sure felt good to jump in after a run! Man, how I love summer in Minnesota.

I called the local state park that has an open beach on it to find out when it opens. The ranger said that the water was reading 66F. It opens on Memorial day weekend so I still have a little more than a week until I can get in. You guys seem to be talking about some much lower temperatures. At what point am I going to want a wetsuit? What is the usual cut off for temperatures at Tris where they won't allow wetsuits? For a sprint Tri I have heard that some people opt out of using a wetsuit because they won't be in the water that long anyway.

66 seems just fine to me. A bit on the cool side, maybe, but not bad. The lowest I'll go is about 63 (I don't have a wetsuit), and it depends how long I'll be in. I much prefer it in the high 60s. If it gets above 70 I feel like I'm in Hawaii...

For those of us in the Seattle area, the web page with regional lake water temperatures is now online: http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/waterres/swimbeach/default.aspx

been swimming OW since April, got another nice one in this Wed. gloat gloat. heading out to the bay this Sunday.

Finally got my wetsuit and will be hopping in the lake tomorrow morning. I'm excited. FYI, I bought the Blue Seventy Reaction...free shipping and came with a free transition bag. I'll post how it goes.

you go with the john? I am still looking.

No, I got the full. Swam on Sat and it felt great. The water at this lake was around 55-60, i'm guessing. I swam around 1/2 mile. Weird how buoyant I was and my head, hands, feet warmed up pretty quick. Almost lost my wedding ring! Gotta remember to take it off next time!!!

psyco, check out Nytro.com. Cheap shipping and great prices.

I went out today for my first OW swim ever. I don't know what the temp of the lake was. Last week when I called they said it was mid 60's. It was what I expected so, I was not uncomfortable at all.

They had some bouys setup on the beach so you couldn't swim all the way out. I wouldn't have wanted to anyway because there were some boats. I was surprised at how 'un-straight' I swam. I swam along the perimeter of the bouys and practiced siting. Any tips for this? About every other stroke/breath I would look forward instead of to the side to make sure I was on the right path. Is that all there is to it, or am I missing something?

I went out today for my first OW swim ever. I don't know what the temp of the lake was. Last week when I called they said it was mid 60's. It was what I expected so, I was not uncomfortable at all.

They had some bouys setup on the beach so you couldn't swim all the way out. I wouldn't have wanted to anyway because there were some boats. I was surprised at how 'un-straight' I swam. I swam along the perimeter of the bouys and practiced siting. Any tips for this? About every other stroke/breath I would look forward instead of to the side to make sure I was on the right path. Is that all there is to it, or am I missing something?

Every other stroke/breath is too much. You don't need to do it that often. You'll wind up doing too much head-up swimming which is a) tiring and b) slow. If you can see the buoy, great. If you can't (which is often the case in the ocean, with swells and whatnot) pick something on the shore that is the direction you want to go. When you pick up your head to look, make sure you're sighting that object and that your position is where you want it to be relative to your object. And that's all there is to it. :)

Sorry to drag up an old post.

I grew up on the beaches of Sydney, and although i never swam along the beach past the break, i did spend alot of time in the water. Is it reasonable to say that if i can swim 2km comfortably in the pool, and dont mind being in open water ill be ok for a 1.5 OW swim? As far as sighting goes, can't you just follow the wash of the pack or whatever if you're having trouble spotting your bouys?

Also, my big fear is being kicked in the face hard, busting my nose or something...if that happens and you start to flail like a fish out of water, will you be rescued? If you are, can you continue after you get yourself sorted out?

So long as the people your are following are on course, you should be fine :)

As far as in-race injuries go, every race I've done has had several people in kayaks watching out for folks visibly in distress.

But if you're rescued, or need time to recover from an incident by leaning on the kayak, can you continue? Or will you be DQed?

I think that would be considered outside assistance. Which is not allowed through USAT rules. If the race is USAT sanctioned, you can pretty much count yourself out. Last year some lady got confused at the first bouy and she got pulled. Probably not even 25M. I drove 4.5 hours to the race, got a hotel, paid for entry, took a day off work, etc. Think about your costs too before you give up! I'm sure you will be fine being able to swim 2K in the pool. Just practice an OW swim a couple times before the race to get comforatable. Follow the feet in front of you.

Thanks for the reply. The tri isnt until August, so ill have plenty of time to do a few OW swims before race day.

What color should the lense be on my goggles for me to see the best in open water? Or does it matter? I would think the more clear the better, but I don't know with the sun position and how it hits the water? Is this an important factor in sighting? Are most open water swims point to point or out and back?

The clearer the better is best for open water swimming. Typically Tris are done in the morning, where the sun doesn't shine as intensely on the water as late afternoon, so your eyes will be fine. Darker goggles dim the bright orange color of the buoys often times. If you have orange of red goggles they can also make spotting buoys a little harder. The open water swims here for beginners are typically out and back.

But if you're rescued, or need time to recover from an incident by leaning on the kayak, can you continue? Or will you be DQed?

Most tri's around here will allow you to stop and rest on a boat, buoy, jetski, kayak, etc. and continue on without being DQ'd. The only stipulation is you are provided no forward movement from the help. People all the time are stopping and resting holding onto a kayak and as long as the kayak does not pull them a few 100m, they can continue the race.

You may email the race director and see what his/her own rules are. And like rplong said, just keep up your pool swimming and try to get at least a few OW swims in before your tri. You don't want the tri to be your first one.