Open Water Swimming

On May 19, 2012 I attended the open water swimming class at Marsh Creek Lake.  The class was held under the guidance of the coaches from Mid-Atlantic multisport.  There were about 50 people in the class and we broke into 2 groups for the swim.  One of the drills was learning to draft off the swimmer ahead of you.  I'm not real good at drafting because I tend to back off on my swim speed as soon as I touch the person ahead of me.  Then I look up to get my bearings and swim around the person.  It's very difficult to find a swimmer that holds the same pace as I.

 

Another drill was learning to swim in a group or wave at a mass start.  In the drill we were all trying to swim in a straight line out to the buoy.  The amount of hitting and kicking was minimal.  The next drill had the "A" group and "B" group start in a long line but we had to cross paths as we swam out to the buoy.  I went out strong and avoided the big mash up of swimmers as they crossed paths.  On the way back we were all treading water at the buoy and there wasn't a clear path back to shore.  I think I swam over 5 people on the way back which is much better then having people swim over me.  I hope I never experience this swimming over / under in a triathlon.

 

The last swim session was the open water swim around the buoys which were laid out in a triangle.  If you swam around all three buoys you completed a 1/4 mile swim.

 

After lunch we had a lecture on transition setup.  Then we did brick sessions of a 5 mile bike ride followed by a 1 mile run.  You could repeat the set as many times as you wanted.  I did two sets and was surprised how well my leg felt but I didn't want to push the issue with a third set.  This was the first real test since my injury.