The Return to Grafham Water
September 2013
September 2013
Some of you will remember that back in June I entered the standard distance triathlon at Grafham Water and had, to put it bluntly, a nightmare. The open water swim freaked me out, I drank too much of the lake, and that affected both the ride and, especially, the run. However, I AM A TRIATHLETE! I didn’t want to let that setback affect me as I knew most of my swim problems were mental, not physical. A few club members had sent me messages of support, a kind of ‘been there, done that, got the T shirt’ type of thing, which re-enforced my determination to return and to try again.
So on Sunday I returned to Grafham. Following my ‘oh my god’ note to the club coach Les had sent a mail with some open water advice, and I’d taken it on board. I’d swam at Lakeside a few times, got used to bodies swimming over me and not seeing my hands in the water. Special thanks to Liz R and Ricky who mentored me in my efforts (despite turning up with a white swim cap which denotes an expert!).
To cut a long story short, what happened this time? I swam the 1500m 10 minutes faster than in June. I left the water feeling good, and as a result was able to cycle quicker. And because my stomach was not full of Chateau Grafham Water I could run properly too.
In addition to the professional ones from Les may I offer my own tips for open water swimming, from a novice’s perspective?
- Get in the water as soon as the referee allows, to get used to the cold. When I first got in I still had the “I can’t breathe!” moment as the water hit me. So I just lay on my back and felt the water flow over me, and relaxed. It didn’t take long to get the breathing under control.
- Pull open your wetsuit from the neck and let the water get in, so the wetsuit can do its job to warm up the boundary layer. Very quickly the body stops feeling cold, and you can concentrate on your head. So…..
- Dunk your head ten times to get used to the cold. I wore 2 caps – I cared not a jot that I was in the minority. But after 10 relaxed dunkings I found that physically I was in tune with the water and I could now concentrate on swimming.
I will end by saying that overall I was 30 minutes faster than in June, finishing in 2h 46m, despite not being appreciably fitter. OK, I didn’t trouble the leaderboard but if I can improve my time by such an extent simply by following some very simple advice from the experts we have at the club, then that gives me extra motivation to work hard over winter to carry on my improvement.
When is the next race at Grafham?
