Once I complained to a much older swimmer that my skin would smell of chlorine for a full day after swimming and he said a fatty cream works wonders: "at least that's what me and my friends do".
Nowadays I swim in very low chlorine pools so I don't have the problem anymore. Maybe it's worth a try. Don't think you'll have much of a chance to substitute pool time entirely and still be anywhere near competitive.

I've been a Vasa user and advocate for 12(?) years; triathlete for 22 years. (So there was a long time I trained in a pool.) Search for old threads; you'll find that many of us are faster after having used the Vasa. (Mainly because you can get more training time as a result of not having to travel to the pool.)

So I think the Vasa is "worth it". I cost about the same as 2 years membership to the gym with a pool, which I no longer need.

That said, I've also used stretch cords for up to 3 weeks at a time when traveling. I've not noticed strength loss during these periods of using the cords. You could take a conservative approach: test your speed in the water (say a 1000m TT), buy stretch cords, use them for say 2 months, test your speed in the water, then decide if you want the Vasa. I did this when buying the Vasa, and found I was faster in the water after the period of Vasa training.

Training: Train like you would in the pool. I use 2 sets of cords; low resistance and medium resistance (Finnis brand) and alternate between low/med/both depending on whether I am doing sustained/long intervals/short intervals. You're significantly faster than I am (I'm a 35 minute HIM swimmer), so you might want higher resistance. Cords are cheap, so just buy low, medium, and high resistance, and figure out what works.

---

2015 USAT Long Course National Champion (M50-54)

Thank you.

So sounds like you've been basically doing your swim workouts on Vasa exclusively? Have you noticed direct correlation between more Vasa/less pool and outcome as far as race splits? Just curious about the ratio.

I found that consistent pool sessions 4-5 times a week have resulted in faster average times in the pool, improved level of comfort during the swim (not being particularly tired, short of breath or worried) as well as faster bike-run splits (causality is hard to tell here since I've also been focused on training bike-run). But my actual race swim splits have either stayed the same or got a tiny bit worse... Tons of factors here I'm sure, and overall, I think it's still the right direction ("losing" 1 minute during the swim and gaining 5+ in the rest of the race is more than worth it), but I'm curious about others' experiences.

So this is going to sound really weird, but I did this in high school when I was in a high chlorine pool 2-3 times a day. It worked for me. Every day in my evening shower,I would let the water get nice and warm to let my pores open up. Then I would get some Barbasol with aloe and coat my entire body with it. Then just let it sit for 10-15 minutes - you can feel it after awhile. Then some good lotion afterwards. My skin felt way better afterwards. This might help you handle the pool more often. Worth a shot. Hope this helps.

Not sure I follow, but my problem is mainly this time of the year: Jan-March. I can't be sure the chemical composition of the pools I swim in is the same throughout the year, but I'm guessing its roughly the same. And yet, during these winter months, my skin gets significantly worse. I have prescriptions for several different topical steroid creams (otc moisturizers don't help and often make things worse), but I refuse to use them on a regular basis. I acknowledge I have a diagnosed condition (atopic dermatitis per latest doctor, it's all the same thing, just different names), but I don't want to lather myself with steroids twice a day every day. Now that it gets bad, I reduce my swimming to twice a week.

Thanks for the tip, worth a try!

haven't read the thread. Have you tried showering or taking a bath for a bit BEFORE you get in the pool? If your skin has already absorbed a bunch of water it can't take much more)

rinsing with a vitamin C spray is supposed to help, and there are some body washes made for this

just some other ideas

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

The pre soak has been mentioned often and I think it is very helpful. Another thing we used to do is have a bottle of baby oil in the shower and rub it in while wet. The only issue is the mess for the cleaning staff at the facility. I thought that was the best as one can get those spots in the back that are hard to reach. Use a towel that has absorbed some oil to place it on your back. Just a thought, as nothing beats actual swimming....

Yes. Since I switched to the ergometer, I only get wet when I race. (I have had sporadic episodes of trying the pool, but generally I just use the erg.) The erg does have a distance estimate on the display, and I find it correlates OK with my actual open water times. (Within reason given all the other variables.) Most users I've spoken with feel the same.

There is certainly direct correlation between my Vasa splits and pool times. And because I will spend the same time on the Vasa versus pool "total time" (travel to/from, shower, etc.), I'm always faster when training on the Vasa.

---

2015 USAT Long Course National Champion (M50-54)

Thank you, I did try the vitamin C spray. I had thought it worked ok for a while, and then it started to irritate my skin on its own:(

Air tends to be less humid in the winter. I also have skin issues when swimming in the winter vs swimm8ng in the summer. I use a Dr Bronners soap with oil in it and then apply more baby oil after the shower, before I dry off. It has really helped me.

Megathread I started when I bought a Vasa a few years ago.



http://forum.slowtwitch.com/..._reply;so=ASC;mh=25;


To this day, it's my 'secret weapon' of triathlon. Swimming has always and will likely always be my achilles heel, but pre-Vasa I was finishing worse than 50% of the entire field, and post-Vasa, I'm finishing in the top 25-30% in national-class races, and <20% in local races . But you're still a good deal faster than me though - best HIM was high 34s (compare to 38-42 pre-Vasa), so take it with a grain of salt!


I have found without doubt that I swim faster overall when using the Vasa (hard) in conjunction with swimming. For me, it works even better than just going to the pool all the time, as the Vasa really hammers my weak link muscular endurance.


I would be confident in matching or even exceeding my swim performance with only one hourlong pool session per week and 5x/wk Vasa workouts - I actually happen to swim in the pool during lunch for 30-45 mins M-F just because it's more convenient than run/bike so I do get pool time during the week (or else I'd only swim pool 1x/wk!)


One caveat, most folks will notice that the Vasa is a lot less hard on your cardio than pool swimming, something I def notice as well. But for adding oomph to the pull, if you train hard on the Vasa, it def works, and for me works better than doing those same pulls in the pool (I'm guessing the O2 limiter slightly limits my pull compared to the Vasa where I can just let it all hang out.)


Good on you for being a AOS 30-31 min HIM swimmer. In most races, that would probably put you in the top 5% or higher, I'm guessing, which is good stuff. I can't even place that high in WTC races even in my strongest discipline (running)!

I know you got a lot of great responses below regarding the Vasa SwimErg. I wanted to weight in as well because honest to goodness, the SwimErg was the best investment I've ever made for my triathlon training. The strength and technique improvements were phenomenal and I've really found a love for swimming now that I've never had before. I even wrote a blog on it! I think you'll find this interesting https://www.shannoncoates.com/...ovement-as-a-swimmer :)
Happy to help!

Investment? Aren't they a sponsor of yours?

I do have quite a few tubs of fatty creams, and they get me through non-winter months. It's just these few months, seemingly every year when things get seriously bad. I'm happy to say my "last resort" public salt water pool is working out surprisingly well. It's annoying to get to, and an additional expense, but not close to Vasa expense:)

Speaking of Vasa - I see quite a few sponsored/semi-sponsored (they sound like maybe they had a discount of some sort? Idk) people tout it. I'm yet to see someone with a <60min IM swim split among them. I'm sure there's a bunch, and I don't doubt the product, just find it odd.

And lately there has been one or two people going a bit extreme on the shill scale of pushing the product here, almost copying and pasting the same info. It's at the very least, annoying and might backfire on an otherwise good product (probably, never tried it myself).

What’s your run and bike like? Adding another pool session might not be needed.

Wash yourself with soap before going into the water (if you're dirty, more chlorine will stick to your body).

Wash yourself after with a soap that contains oil, and also use a moistering creme.

Just my two cents, apply vaseline over your body *before* your swim workout. No need to go crazy, just a nice thin layer. It's also cheap. I typically also apply some moisturizer post swim. Nowadays I actually skip the vaseline pre-swim and just moisturize it after.

Another thing you can try is to hit the sauna for 15 mins after the swim and "sweat the chlorine out". Don't know if it's bullshit science but it seems to help me.

Thanks, I used to do sauna when I have time. But as you can imagine, adding it on after every swim isn't going to work.

Re: moisturizer after - definitely, I do that year round. I've never done vaseline before swimming in a pool. Maybe it's no big deal, I just assumed anything I put on my body has a good chance of washing off. I hate it when you can smell the perfume or see oily spots around people. I do apply vaseline/Aquaphor before open water swims though and I'm not sure how much of it washes off because some of it is definitely staying post swim.