I did the mini-tri at Brighton today, my first one.

I think I nearly drowned and had a terrible swim leg which completely buggered me for the other two legs.

My two questions are;

1. For anyone that competed today, how bad were the conditions compared to "usual" - is it usually a lot easier than that ?

2. Any good references / tips for ocean swimming - no amount of swimming in a pool will prepare you for what I went thru today.

Thanks

hi andrew
did go so cant comment on the conditions however our tri club has open water swim training monday nights at frankston and the peninsula pirates a swim club do sessions on wednesday nights probabaly worth looking into if your a local

hi andrew,
nope it's generally nothing like that.

i'm probably not someone to seek much advice from re swimming as i am not a strong swimmer. (my swim time didn't look too bad today, but that's because there's some sand and stair running in the time, which helps me.)

but it probably also helped that i didn't freak in the conditions because i swim in the bay 2x per week at the moment, whatever the conditions, so long as it hasn't rained much in the preceding couple of days.
this gets you a bit used to the idea of erratic, wind driven chop.
(for interstaters, the bay doesn't have the more predictable wave patterns that swell produces. )

because of this it means that if you fail to get a breath due to the chop, you need to be able to go a couple more strokes without a breath until you get one.
if you only have access to a pool then all i can suggest is you do some laps breathing every 4th, 5th, 7th, even 9th stroke on occasion.

it's useful in tris even in flat water as you often don't get proper breathing around the cans due to congestion, getting whacked, pushed down, swum over, or whatever.

Hey Andrew,

First, can you breathe on both sides when you swim? if not, try and practice that in the pool to adapt on race day. if the chop comes from the right, breathe on the left, and if the chop comes from the left, breathe on the right.

And that's obvious but practise makes better. I don't know how it is in VIC, but here in NSW, there are ocean swim races on every weekend. Try and enter as many as you can whatever the conditions. They are really fun and they'll make you much stronger and more confident.

Good luck!

I did the Brooks mini tri last weekend at Sandringham, and although I didn't the conditions at Brighton, it sounds as though they were similar. I struggled also, and paddled water alot of the way as I gulped so much water instead of breathing. I was in awe of those doing the longer distance ones on the day. I have only started doing this sport, and love it. I would say keep practising in pool and open water. Me for instance would choose a club and I would never venture in conditions which are choppy without people around, just so I can get experience. I have been thinking of joinging a swimming club to help me with this. Otherwise, don't do it alone.

TBS

I did the Oly Dist at Sandringham and the Sprint event at Brighton yesterday. Over 5 seasons of tri's in the bay, Sandringham was the worst swim conditions I've had. That was until yesterday, Brighton was much worse. That 150m swim took as much out of me as the 1500m the week before. I only headed out because I figured if I got into trouble the waves would just send me back in.

AJH there is not much that could prepare you for that, other than spending time at surf beaches and being used to waves crashing over you. Even then, I reckon yesterday was worse than a surf beach, because at a surf beach there is some rhythm to the waves.

Thanks, your responses, especially yours Slowdave, have made me feel much better about my struggle yesterday. Hopefully the next two will be a bit easier conditions.

Hey Andrew,
If you are in the area, there is an open water swim every wed night from the cerberus in sandi. Check out john van wisse website; its a really great session with at least 30 people. we practice heaps of race starts and turning around buoys (prepare to get bruised!) certainly builds the confidence for racing

So you are the group I crash into every week out around the yellow pole!!