Open-water Training

[Admin]

Will you open-water train during 2007?

Let us know your views...

[Samutri]

There has been some discussion regarding open water swimming on other threads - personally I would love to get out there and do some but I would really prefer to have a training partner for safety.
If any of you are near Aberdeen and know of some good locations (North Sea is always open !!) give me a shout.

[Tiring Tri ing]

Yes, but only when I'm near the sea. I 've always meant to go to Heron lake and the other places that offer open water swimming but the times are so anti-social that I never actually turn up (a 7.30am start at heron lake means I have to be up before 6am at the weekend....perhaps I'm just not devoted enough). Contrast that to the sea where you can go swimming any time you like between about April and October as long as you have a wetsuit and there is someone else in the water or on the beach. Last year I did 10 practice open water swims - 7 in the sea in south Wales and the other 3 were abroad. Unfortunately triathlon is still a minority sport, meaning that the inland lakes all prioritise sailing, angling, waterskiing and powerboating/jetskiing during the normal weekend hours (i.e. 9am to 6pm). Until triathlon has a professional profile to match the numbers of amateur participants, it will never get the access it requires (i.e. sensible television slots, open water swim times, cycle routes etc.). Painful though it might sound (because there is a certain enjoyment in belonging to a 'fringe' or 'elite' sport) we need to have a canny television/press spin doctor to remodel triathlon as the 'sport of the future'. Given that the average earnings of triathletes are probably amongst the highest of any sport, I would hope that there would/should be a strong advertising market waiting in the wings to fund it.

[JulieMac]

YES YES YES [:D] as you might guess I love to swim open water but would agree with Samutri saftey in numbers

[Setanta]

I'm quite fortunate in that I live right beside Lough Erne in Co. Fermanagh, Ireland. It is ideal for open water swimming. We have areas cordoned off solely for swimming, and there are also plenty of secluded areas well away from jetski's and co. I don't normally venture in to train there until the start of April, so not long now, and yes, bring a partner.

[piglet]

I am lucky that there are some nice little lochs near where I live in Ayr so am hoping to get some swimming there over summer. These are restricted to fishing and small row boats so I won't have to worry about being run over. I also thought I may try the sea as our coastline can be very calm at times. The main problem will be the jellyfish- past summers have seen the sea chocka with them- and they are huge!!

On the cold aspect- what thickness wetsuit do most of you use?
Cheers[:D]

[hound dog]

Great point tiring tri ing made ( Id say "elite") I have only used my wet suit a couple of times last year near Inverness. The biggest problem is finding people to swim with. Small hill lochs are still baltic.

[rpopper65]

I have signe dup for the open water training at Roydon in Essex with Swim for Tri (http://www.swimfortri.com/open-east-loc.asp) on Saturday mornings, and I'm looking forward to 8 weeks of that (although not the 7am start that will have me getting up at 5:30, but whaddayagonnado?). They do "Technique" sessions with coaching and "Fitness" sessions where you just get out and do what you need to do. And, every 4th week, they do a time trial for everyone so you can guage your progress, and then have a group breakfast afterwards (to allow everyone to apologise for that simply uncivilised behaviour we all just witnessed out there, in the name of shaving an extra few minutes, but wasn't it good fun?).

Last year, I did open water training with RG Active ([link=http://www.triandrun.com/page.php?id=6]http://www.triandrun.com/page.php?id=6[/link]), also at Roydon in Essex, but on Tuesday evenings (I think they will be starting that again pretty soon) and, if not for time conflicts, I'd be out there again with them in a NY mniute. Good bunch of people, and it helped my technique, confidence and racing performance tremendously. There's just no substitute for learning how to flounder around and get smacked by total strangers in wet suits, but, y'know, properly.

So, two good options for East Londoners and Essexuals.

[tri harder]

I carn't wait to get back in the lakes. Living near Keswick means i have lots of open water to choose from. But i will mainly swim in bassenthwate lake because it's closest. the hardest thing is finding a partner or somone at least prepared to watch from the side.

[dumb blonde]

Hi
I swim every wednesday with mersey tri in the albert dock. OK apart from the jelly fish

Jane