Just curious - For those that don't OWS before race - how much do you train in wetsuit and practice sighting?
I'm not a beginner, have been doing tri for 10 years now, but OWS access is definitely still a major problem for me, mainly due to scheduling but also because it's annoyingly far/trafficky for me to drive to.
I've found for myself that it's absolutely crucial for me to swim in my full sleeved wetsuit at least 3x prior to race day - the first sessions is always terrible due to early arm fatigue, but it goes away completely by the 3rd. (My wetsuit fits totally fine as well, I've tried a few, and the one I'm using definitely is not problematic for fit.)
I also have found that deliberate practicing of sighting in the pool (both with and without wetsuit) is really important for me to keep a good rhythm with swimming on race day. I don't do much sighting if practice if I'm 2 months+ out from race day, but I'm doing it every session, for a lot of the session the closer I get to race day and it also seems to make a huge difference.
Just kinda surprised it never gets discussed here, although I guess you don't have to worry about this type of prep much if you have regular access to OWS prior to race day which is obviously recommended over no-OWS.
I'm not a beginner, have been doing tri for 10 years now, but OWS access is definitely still a major problem for me, mainly due to scheduling but also because it's annoyingly far/trafficky for me to drive to.
I've found for myself that it's absolutely crucial for me to swim in my full sleeved wetsuit at least 3x prior to race day - the first sessions is always terrible due to early arm fatigue, but it goes away completely by the 3rd. (My wetsuit fits totally fine as well, I've tried a few, and the one I'm using definitely is not problematic for fit.)
I also have found that deliberate practicing of sighting in the pool (both with and without wetsuit) is really important for me to keep a good rhythm with swimming on race day. I don't do much sighting if practice if I'm 2 months+ out from race day, but I'm doing it every session, for a lot of the session the closer I get to race day and it also seems to make a huge difference.
Just kinda surprised it never gets discussed here, although I guess you don't have to worry about this type of prep much if you have regular access to OWS prior to race day which is obviously recommended over no-OWS.