I'm in the process of trying to figure out why I've been underperforming more often than not in my OWS race swims. I'm not comparing OWS to pool times - it's the placements.
I've been as high as top 12% in a pretty standard field but it's not unusual to for me to drop down to 25-30%, which I know is quite underperforming for me as if I'm in that range, I come out with a buddy of mine who isn't a great swimmer, and I see all his workouts on Strava, and he's averaging about 1:50/100yds in the pool, compared to my 1:30-1:35.
Most of the races I do here in Norcal are cold-water, sometimes very cold. I always manage to get in the water on the early side, to get myself used to the shock of the cold, but I'm wondering if that might not be the greatest idea, as I do feel that once I get going when the horn goes off, I just don't have the ''oomph" that I normally get when I'm swimming normally. Everything just feels slower, and I can't push as hard as I'd like - my arm turnover gets really slow, and I feel like I'm just swimming too easy - but I can't go any faster!
The races where I'm top 12-15% swim on race day, I DO feel like I'm cranking it, turnover is good, and I'm working hard in the water. It's not a surprise I do a lot better on the swim on those days, I definitely expect it based on my effort. I've had this with sligthly warmer but still cold water, so not sure its the temp.
(To be fair, once I'm out of the water slower than usual, I tend to put up PR bike-run splits, so I'm not sure it's a total loss.)
Wondering what the advice is regarding to cold OWS on race day? Get in just for a little bit before the gun goes off? Get in for a long time like I do to get comfy? Or stay out completely (plenty of people doing just this who are a lot faster than me) and even do some beach runs to get warmed up and almost hot so you have some heat buildup for the race swim?
I've been as high as top 12% in a pretty standard field but it's not unusual to for me to drop down to 25-30%, which I know is quite underperforming for me as if I'm in that range, I come out with a buddy of mine who isn't a great swimmer, and I see all his workouts on Strava, and he's averaging about 1:50/100yds in the pool, compared to my 1:30-1:35.
Most of the races I do here in Norcal are cold-water, sometimes very cold. I always manage to get in the water on the early side, to get myself used to the shock of the cold, but I'm wondering if that might not be the greatest idea, as I do feel that once I get going when the horn goes off, I just don't have the ''oomph" that I normally get when I'm swimming normally. Everything just feels slower, and I can't push as hard as I'd like - my arm turnover gets really slow, and I feel like I'm just swimming too easy - but I can't go any faster!
The races where I'm top 12-15% swim on race day, I DO feel like I'm cranking it, turnover is good, and I'm working hard in the water. It's not a surprise I do a lot better on the swim on those days, I definitely expect it based on my effort. I've had this with sligthly warmer but still cold water, so not sure its the temp.
(To be fair, once I'm out of the water slower than usual, I tend to put up PR bike-run splits, so I'm not sure it's a total loss.)
Wondering what the advice is regarding to cold OWS on race day? Get in just for a little bit before the gun goes off? Get in for a long time like I do to get comfy? Or stay out completely (plenty of people doing just this who are a lot faster than me) and even do some beach runs to get warmed up and almost hot so you have some heat buildup for the race swim?