I've noticed that pretty much zero coaches seem to take triathlon sighting practice seriously. Even the best of them get as close as either "do some OWS in the weeks before race day" or 'include some sighting in your swims before race day."
But just on reflection, think about how fast you go in the pool for average pace:
6 x 100yds, 20sec rest, no sighting, hard effort
vs
6 x 100 yds, 20 sec rest, sighting on every 3rd stroke cycle, same hard effort
vs
6 x 100 yds, 20sec rest, BLIND swimming (eyes closed) except for sighting on every 3rd stroke cycle, same hard effort.
I haven't done this exact test, but just from doing like 3 x 100s, I was absolutely slower on sighting (like 2-3sec/100) and significantly slower on blind swimming (I didn't time it because it was so much depressingly slower, but I plan to next time!)
In addition, there are so many technical aspects of sighting that can be improved, I've found. Things like: Low head sighting (most efficient but doesn't work with choppy conditions), fast sighting (efficient but harder to get a visual lock on target), high head sighting (popping the head higher out of water costs energy and time, but is sometimes required in chop and heavy traffic), frequent sighting (if there's a current, you have to sight a lot), sighting with off-side breathing, it goes on and on - and all of these things could arguably have just as much impact on a intermediate+ swimmer's swim speed than compared to focusing on minute pure stroke technical gains.
Is this a neglected area in the repertoire of AG swimmers? And for all you swim coaches or strong swimmers out there, what would you recommend best to approach this?
But just on reflection, think about how fast you go in the pool for average pace:
6 x 100yds, 20sec rest, no sighting, hard effort
vs
6 x 100 yds, 20 sec rest, sighting on every 3rd stroke cycle, same hard effort
vs
6 x 100 yds, 20sec rest, BLIND swimming (eyes closed) except for sighting on every 3rd stroke cycle, same hard effort.
I haven't done this exact test, but just from doing like 3 x 100s, I was absolutely slower on sighting (like 2-3sec/100) and significantly slower on blind swimming (I didn't time it because it was so much depressingly slower, but I plan to next time!)
In addition, there are so many technical aspects of sighting that can be improved, I've found. Things like: Low head sighting (most efficient but doesn't work with choppy conditions), fast sighting (efficient but harder to get a visual lock on target), high head sighting (popping the head higher out of water costs energy and time, but is sometimes required in chop and heavy traffic), frequent sighting (if there's a current, you have to sight a lot), sighting with off-side breathing, it goes on and on - and all of these things could arguably have just as much impact on a intermediate+ swimmer's swim speed than compared to focusing on minute pure stroke technical gains.
Is this a neglected area in the repertoire of AG swimmers? And for all you swim coaches or strong swimmers out there, what would you recommend best to approach this?