Just did an Oly race, and for the first time I managed to cut the gap between my pool swim paces and OWS paces to essentially zero, meaning for the first time in my tri career I didn't swim slower by 7-10 (or more) sec/100 in OWS compared to what I'd expect in the pool. Finally dropped under 1:30/100yds for the Oly OWS, compared to my normal 1:40-1:52/100yd paces in all my other races.
Note I'm comparing times using my self-recorded Garmin recording of the swim leg where I manually start/stop the swim segment, as I've found that races can vary quite a lot with their so-called 1500m race distance. (I can confirm that the GPS trace isn't totally wacky on the map.)
This and my other races were also loop courses that start/stop in the identical spot so you can't get much of an unfair one-way current advantage.
While I definitely felt stronger and far more confident during the entirety of this race swim, I was definitely NOT in my top swim form compared to my prior self. The one thing that I did do differently though, is that I took pool sighting practice very seriously in the 4-5 wks prior to race day, with increasing sighting added in until I was doing entire workouts sighting every 3rd-5th cycle 2 wks out from race day. Was annoying for sure at first, but got used to it quick.
I can't help but feel that sighting practice made a big difference for me - it really FELT that way on the swim, with a lot of confidence for once even with a ton of bodies in the start. I didn't have the luxury of doing true OWS practice at all before race day, but I felt that pool sighting was a pretty good simulation of it, and might even be better if you have better pool than OWS access.
Any reason why sighting practice is rarely mentioned as a key piece of OWS performance for the big pack of AGers that are constantly bemoaning their status in the MOP or BOP on the swim?
Note I'm comparing times using my self-recorded Garmin recording of the swim leg where I manually start/stop the swim segment, as I've found that races can vary quite a lot with their so-called 1500m race distance. (I can confirm that the GPS trace isn't totally wacky on the map.)
This and my other races were also loop courses that start/stop in the identical spot so you can't get much of an unfair one-way current advantage.
While I definitely felt stronger and far more confident during the entirety of this race swim, I was definitely NOT in my top swim form compared to my prior self. The one thing that I did do differently though, is that I took pool sighting practice very seriously in the 4-5 wks prior to race day, with increasing sighting added in until I was doing entire workouts sighting every 3rd-5th cycle 2 wks out from race day. Was annoying for sure at first, but got used to it quick.
I can't help but feel that sighting practice made a big difference for me - it really FELT that way on the swim, with a lot of confidence for once even with a ton of bodies in the start. I didn't have the luxury of doing true OWS practice at all before race day, but I felt that pool sighting was a pretty good simulation of it, and might even be better if you have better pool than OWS access.
Any reason why sighting practice is rarely mentioned as a key piece of OWS performance for the big pack of AGers that are constantly bemoaning their status in the MOP or BOP on the swim?