New to tris last year. First race was sprint - in T1 I noticed just a little bit of problem with my balance, but not enough to make me have to sit down to put bike shoes on. However, when I did an OD, I actually lost balance when I stood up exiting water and had to brace with my arms, followed by having to sit down to put my bike shoes on in T1 as my world was spinning… It subsided a few minutes after leaving the water, but would still like to figure it out as it probably cost me 60-90 seconds in T1 to regroup and get my bearings (and ensure I wasn’t going to kill someone riding like a drunk on a bike). Any idea what might be causing it? My theories:
Moving head independently of upper body when I breathe (am working on keeping head with my upper body rotation) somehow does something with the blood flow to my head
New to tris last year. First race was sprint - in T1 I noticed just a little bit of problem with my balance, but not enough to make me have to sit down to put bike shoes on. However, when I did an OD, I actually lost balance when I stood up exiting water and had to brace with my arms, followed by having to sit down to put my bike shoes on in T1 as my world was spinning… It subsided a few minutes after leaving the water, but would still like to figure it out as it probably cost me 60-90 seconds in T1 to regroup and get my bearings (and ensure I wasn’t going to kill someone riding like a drunk on a bike). Any idea what might be causing it? My theories:
Moving head independently of upper body when I breathe (am working on keeping head with my upper body rotation) somehow does something with the blood flow to my head
somehow not getting enough oxygen
water in ears messing with my equilibrium
anyone experienced this and conquered it?
I sometimes have that problem after swimming in cold water and use wax plugs for those swims. it goes away fast but t1 is not time for that.
Depends on what you mean by dizzy too. Is it light headedness(like when standing up to fast) OR more like vertigo which is what I feel when swimming in cold water.
New to tris last year. First race was sprint - in T1 I noticed just a little bit of problem with my balance, but not enough to make me have to sit down to put bike shoes on. However, when I did an OD, I actually lost balance when I stood up exiting water and had to brace with my arms, followed by having to sit down to put my bike shoes on in T1 as my world was spinning… It subsided a few minutes after leaving the water, but would still like to figure it out as it probably cost me 60-90 seconds in T1 to regroup and get my bearings (and ensure I wasn’t going to kill someone riding like a drunk on a bike). Any idea what might be causing it? My theories:
Moving head independently of upper body when I breathe (am working on keeping head with my upper body rotation) somehow does something with the blood flow to my head
somehow not getting enough oxygen
water in ears messing with my equilibrium
anyone experienced this and conquered it?
Pretty common, from what I have read. I believe it comes from exercising in a horizontal position and then quickly changing to a vertical position. I had issues when I first started doing tri’s. My solution was to do some hard kicing at the end of my swim to get the blood flowing more to my legs.
Very common, especially for those new to triathlon. Here are a couple of reasons: (1) you may be getting a little hypoxic in your swim (oxygen debt) which comes from breathing to fast and too shallow. Make sure you breathe out everything in the water (don’t hold your breath!) and then you will have empty lungs to take in a good breath. Focus on this type of breathing in practice. (2) When this happens to me it is usually from going from horizontal (swimming position) to vertical (standing) very quickly. Your blood is out in your arms when you swim and your body is trying to focus on getting the oxygenated blood to where it needs to go. All of a sudden you change the game and there is a need for more blood in the legs and head and that transition can cause the dizziness regardless of water temp or anything else. But you can practice with this too. Swim 200 yards hard in the pool then get out quickly and walk around. Repeat. If your pool is also where you run (outdoors or treadmill) then practice a quick transition into your running shoes and gear and then do some ez jogging right after the swim. Lastly, consider sitting on your butt as soon as you get to your bike so you won’t be bending over and wobbling on one leg trying to put on your shoes. Good luck,
-Doug
It’s definitely more like vertigo… Also wonder if it fixes itself once you become a good swimmer. 2 of my buddies that swam in high school and now do tris look at me like I have 3 eyes when I ask if they experience this at all.
Not to put a damper on things, but I’ve been racing tri’s for 22 years and I ALWAYS get vertigo entering into T1. I don’t care if its a pool swim in 80* water or a Colorado River swim at 58*. I get vertigo every single time. Anything from a 400m to an IM distance swim.
I can deal with it without a problem unless its a wetsuit swim. Try getting a wetsuit off in T1 with vertigo and your head down trying to pull the legs over your feet. I’ve fallen over more then a few times in T1 doing this. If I can stand and pull the suit over my feet by standing on the wetsuit legs and keeping my head up…I’m ok. If not, I have to sit.
If the race is without a wetsuit I can deal with it without a problem. I’m normally fine by the time I start running through T1 with my bike. As a side note, I actually transition very fast and normally one of the fastest in my age group even with vertigo.