2 mile swim

**Sasaku** · August 20th, 2005, 01:28 PM

Just did a 2 mile swim and won it with 40.07. I had a terrible time going straight and swam more of the perimeter of the lake. I bet I at least did a 2 1/4 miles just because of this. Any tips on going straight?

**whatabetty** · August 20th, 2005, 07:49 PM

Great job on the two mile! You were going pretty fast. That's got to be some kind of record

**Old_Fart2** · August 22nd, 2005, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sasaku

Just did a 2 mile swim and won it with 40.07. I had a terrible time going straight and swam more of the perimeter of the lake. I bet I at least did a 2 1/4 miles just because of this. Any tips on going straight?

On-board GPS navigation system?

**FitnessPhotos** · August 23rd, 2005, 09:22 AM

Wow, that's an amazing time - are you sure of the distance? I'm not sure I've heard of even elite athletes doing a 2+ mile swin in 40 minutes.

flagman · August 23rd, 2005, 10:47 AM

That was an excellent swim. The first swimmer out of the water at Kona in 2004 finished the 2.4 mile swim in 47:04. As far as staying on a fairly straight course you might try raising your head every 3rd or 4th stroke to check your bearings.

MaxwellPower · August 24th, 2005, 11:31 AM

yeah, as flagman said, practice popping your head out of the water.

Before I did an IM, I practiced a drill indoors where I would set up a cone at the end of the pool (in my lane) and pop my head out 3 times on the way down and sight on it.

I found that if I needed to kick a little extra each time I popped my head up to keep my lower half from sinking.

Another indoor drill included swimming a 25 with my eyes CLOSED so I could get a sense on which way I typically pull my body.

Another tip is to bilateral breathe (breathe on both sides) so you can get your bearings if the course follows the shoreline.

The other thing that helped me a lot was 1x a week doing an open water swim.
Get out there and get used to not having a lane line to follow.

Congrats on the fine swim!!

**Sasaku** · August 28th, 2005, 03:13 PM

I swim the whole year so I could be considered elite, but that's in pools. As far as going straight goes I already bilateral breath and I was popping my head out on every third breath, I ussually take a breath every three strokes, I guess I could just use more practice, my neck was bothering me a little for a day after popping my head out so much though.