Good Morning Everyone:
I am doing IM FL in a few months and currently live in WI. I am a top 10-15% swimmer so the swimming is not an issue however I am worried about the saltwater. I tend to suck in water when I swim and in freshwater its no big deal as i just spit it out, however in Saltwater I am worried. Does anyone have any tips on how I can get over this? Is there anything you can do to get more used to in while no saltwater is around?
I am going to FL 2 days early so i’ll have a little time, but not a ton and i’m oviously not going to do a 2 mile swim the day before an IM.
They will have a table near the water exit. Take a sip of water before getting back in for your second loop.
Don’t swallow For me, taking in water in the mouth and spitting it out, presents no issue. It’s when it goes down the pip that it gets kinda icky. You can also carry a gel in the sleeve of your wetsuit. If it gets really uncomfortable, in the throat, down the gel. The sweetness will mitigate that salty taste in your throat.
To my knowledge the beach run is part of the distance. Be careful here and don’t go too hard. I did and cramped in my legs to start second half. Swim is wetsuit legal. Not sure historically if it’s ever been too warm for one. Salt water tips? Keep it out of your belly.
In Hawaii I chew a stick of gum and leave it up in my gums and if the taste gets bad I just bring it down chew a couple times and place it back up in the gums. Practice not swallowing water in your fresh water swims. First time I swam in the salt water I got real nauseous “DONT SWALLOW”.
Over the years, strategies for optimizing time by running certain angles have been discussed (you can find them on here), but in recent years, they have made it pretty tough to do anything other than exit, cross the mats and quickly re-enter the water. I would guess total distance on feet is around 100 yards if you run the shortest possible length and use the buoys as intended.
Careful not to spike your heart rate too bad. It is way to easy to get vertical, run like a lunatic, get horizontal again and really feel spent (30 minutes into a very long day).
I work in San Diego but don’t live there so most of my swimming is in fresh or pool water but every once in a while I get to swim in La Jolla Cove or Coronado. What I find to be more of a problem is if you have leaky goggles. Salt water wrecks your eyes on long swims and may affect the rest of your day. So if you are starting to get water in the goggles make sure to fix that. You do not want 2.4 miles of water in your goggles. I had a leaky right goggle one time halfway through a 1 mile swim in La Jolla Cove and I just let the water slosh in there and eventually just kept my eye closed (I couldn’t get it to seal properly). My eye was irritated and swollen for the next hour (not fun).
As far as salt water in your mouth I think you’ll get used to the taste quickly and as long as you don’t swallow you shouldn’t have an issue.
thank you everyone…swallowing the water isn’t a huge concern as i typically dont do that unless i’m hit with a wave or something. It does get in my mouth a lot however!
Do you swim in a pool at all? Or do you, but never get water in your mouth then because of the lack of waves? I mention this because I find the taste of pool water (not that I have it often) to be much more offensive than salt water.
Do you swim in a pool at all? Or do you, but never get water in your mouth then because of the lack of waves? I mention this because I find the taste of pool water (not that I have it often) to be much more offensive than salt water.
I do pool swims at least once a week (rest is open water in Lake Michigan). I get water in my mouth all the time, rarely swallow however.
At Miami 70.3 which was my first saltwater race my throat was destroyed afterward. All I can think of was that I swallowed a lot of water on accident and then wasn’t able to wash it down effectively. So my advice would be don’t swallow.
My next salt 70.3 I didn’t swallow the water and drank plenty of water when I came into T1 to rinse out and had no problems. Good luck
You end up with a crappy taste in your mouth during the swim, but I’ve never found it so crappy as to cause a problem. I’ve never noticed it to be an issue after I got out of the water and had something to drink.
You can cross this worry off of your list.
What you should be worried about is that my wife and I plan to work T2 and we’ll lose your socks.
I’m from Colorado and did IMFLA yeast year. I was concerned about salt water too. Turned out to not be an issue at all. It was also the most fun swim I’ve ever done. Good luck!
A tic tac is a great way to keep your mouth from getting bothered by the salt water. just tuck it into your gum like someone would do with a dip of chewing tobacco. It will really help a lot.
I agree with the gum. I do all my swims in pool and ocean with gum. It’s seems crazy but it totally helps. The salt & chlorine taste bothers me big time without gum. I grew up a swimmer (FOP) and have always used, as well as a couple of my fellow swimmers . Practice in pool plenty if you think you may use in race.
For me, taking in water in the mouth and spitting it out, presents no issue. It’s when it goes down the pip that it gets kinda icky. You can also carry a gel in the sleeve of your wetsuit. If it gets really uncomfortable, in the throat, down the gel. The sweetness will mitigate that salty taste in your throat.