How do you guys sight in the water? After your breath, do you look up? Before?
Thanks in advance for your input.
I look up first, then turn to breathe. Also, since you know what side the bouys are on, as you breathe to that side, you can sort of sight as you breathe.
Breathe then sight. For me, it goes along with body roation and what my recovery arm is doing better, and it’s easier to keep my hips from dropping so much.
I had a problem with this also, I felt like I was wasting too much energy when I sighted. Then I watched emilio’s video on T1 wetsuits and I tried to mimmick what he did and it helped out a lot. Check it out at www.desotosports.com then click on T1 wetsuit video
I went out and got myself a great swim coach last year. Best thing I ever did for my training. She taught me how to sight properly.
A common mistake when sighting is that you lift your head high. BAD BAD BAD. Hips sink. You lose momentum. Stroke is all thrown off.
Instead you should sight every other breath. It just like taking a breath. But roll your head to the front so just your eyes are out of the water. You should be looking for your pre determined sighting points that you picked before you even got in the water. Usually the large orange buoys are the best. If you have a pre set spot, you shouldn’t spend more than a second sighting.
Learning to sight correctly and sighting often can really help your swim and keep you on track. Practice it! Even in the pool.
Big head-up freestyle stroke. My eyesight isn’t that good, so it usually takes me 2 strokes to find the landmarks / buoys.
As already mentioned, sighting should involve no more head lifting than is absolutely necessary. If possible, find big landmarks (on land) before the race and use them to sight until you’re closer to the buoys. It’s often difficult to see the turn buoys in the midst of the swim, so having something on land to look for is very helpful. Also, if you don’t find your mark/buoy immediately, just duck your head and take a few more strokes before sighting again. Unless you’re all by yourself and are completely off course, you probably don’t need to sight as often as you think anyway.
In the pool, work on getting your head up just enough so that you can see the blocks at the end of the lane. That should be about all you need to do to find your marks in the water. It’ll take practice, but what doesn’t?
“A common mistake when sighting is that you lift your head high. BAD BAD BAD. Hips sink. You lose momentum. Stroke is all thrown off.”
But how the heck do you see over the waves if you don’t lift your head high? In an ocean swim (where the water is pretty choppy), if I don’t make a strong effort to lift my head, I usually can’t see more than about a few yards ahead. Even in a lake, if there’s a lot of splashing around, it’s often hard for me to get a clear enough view to see the buoy. Usually, I’ll have to stop and tread water at least a couple of times during an open-water swim in order to determine the right direction.
Come to a dead stop with four or five breaststrokes, kicking swimmers behind you, and completely lift your head, neck and shoulders out of the water. Then plunge your head straight down and take three or four wild strokes off course before doing it again.
(or at least that’s how it’s done in a lot of the races I’ve been in)
;^)
“A common mistake when sighting is that you lift your head high. BAD BAD BAD. Hips sink. You lose momentum. Stroke is all thrown off.”
But how the heck do you see over the waves if you don’t lift your head high? In an ocean swim (where the water is pretty choppy), if I don’t make a strong effort to lift my head, I usually can’t see more than about a few yards ahead. Even in a lake, if there’s a lot of splashing around, it’s often hard for me to get a clear enough view to see the buoy. Usually, I’ll have to stop and tread water at least a couple of times during an open-water swim in order to determine the right direction.
Ok, your right for those few ocean swims yeah. I swim in very choppy Lake Michigan and don’t have a problem sighting. It’s almost better if there are waves. You sight at the peak of a wave.
I just raced on sat. Now yes, it was in a small lake. But, I used my technique and had no problems sighting amongst all the Clydesdales and Athenas in my wave.
But how the heck do you see over the waves if you don’t lift your head high?
A: Timing. If you pick your head up and you’re at the bottom of a wave, take another two strokes and look up again. Eventually you’ll time it at the top of a wave and be able to see. In the meantime, you’re moving forward, thus keeping your momentum and helping your swimming overall.
Remember, you don’t need to sight immediately when you try, you just need to sight often enough to stay fairly straight.
I only sight forwards every minute to 90 seconds. The rest of the time I just cue off stuff to my side, or if there are any swimmers in front. If it is a sunny day, the sun should be in the same position relative to your direction of travel. I am reasonably good at swimming a straight line as well. If it’s choppy and overcast, I’ll sight more often since it’s easier to get knocked off course.
Breathing on alternate sides helps a person to swim straight and you get more visual clues to work with. Tim
Do not sight by the buoys. You should know your line for every single turn before the race, and by knowing the line you are going to take, you should sight based on objects on the horizon (ie large trees, mountain peaks, piers, flags on beach). If you’re swimming in the ocean, and there is litterally nothing, then that won’t work for the way out, but it will work for the way back.
When I was in college and did some open water swim races, I usually warmed up swimming most of the entire swim course. This would let me line up my sighting perfectly beforehand. At Notre Dame we had a biathlon (1000m swim + 2 mile run), and I won it one year due to my knowing the course. The landmark from the first buoy to the second buoy was the Golden Dome!!! It was perfect. There was actually a lifeguard boat that was directly between the first buoy and the second buoy, and the buoy was in the shadows of trees. I was the only one to have swum the course beforehand, so I knew to swim straight for the dome. Everyone else went 100s of yards off course.
Now that I don’t swim as much and because tris are longer than just a one or two mile open water swim (the whole bike and run thing), I don’t like to swim too much before hand (maybe 5-8 minutes). During that time, I try to swim in the middle of the course and line up the buoys as best I can to find landmarks. Some races does allow warm-up beforehand (stupid…can you imagine a duathlon RD not allowing running warmup beforehand???). If you are not allowed to warm-up in the water, then combine your run warm-up with your scouting mission of the swim course. Run around the lake or body of water to line up the turn buoys. If you are on a hill, go down to the waters edge and get as low as possible to get an idea of your perspective from in the water. Pick your target and focus for a few seconds and remember what it looks like.
When the race starts, don’t forget about the pre-race intel you collected. Just because some other dude is faster doesn’t mean he has a clue where to go.
When you are actually sighting, you are only lifting your head a couple of inches MAX! During normal swimming the water line is going to be right on your forehead. All you have to do is to get your eyes out of the water. This will be a very quick glance, because you are looking for a tree, bridge, flag, or some other landmark. If you are looking for a small bouy, then you will probably have to take more time with each glance, and that is slower. Typically, I spend one stroke (1/2 cycle) sighting, then I immediately go into a breath. I probably sight once every 30-50 yards. Learn to swim straight! Only having to sight half as much as the next guy can make up for differences in speed, because no matter how you do it sighting is slower than normal swimming.
Don’t just show up to the swim start and ask the person next to you, “so what is the swim course?” Knowing the course on the swim is just as important as knowing the course on the bike and run!
FLA Jill nailed it- Breath with your normal stroke then roll you head to an eyes just about the water position. But that only works in smoother water and if you have good eyesight. Personally I wear glsses no contacts and I can’t see crap at distance. So for me when i sight I need a bit of time to focus on the horizen so I can actually see what I am looking for. As result i am forced to go with a more tarzan style swimming which is pretty much a full on heads up swim for a few strokes. of course I breath while doing this, but I need to kick like a MoFo to keep the hips up. If you don’t have a strong kick this is very hard to do well.
All good advice but here are the big 4 IMO. 1) Learn to swim in a straight line. Go to the pool, shut your eyes and take 15 to 20 strokes. Odds are you are going to hit a lane marker in 8 or under. Which way did you go? Fix it. You will never be a good OW swimmer if you can’t go in a straight line. 2) Keep your head low when you sight. My coach calls it crocodile eyes. And as a part of this, please remember you are not going to be tested on the details of the object you are sighting on when the swim is over. I can never figure out what the people who stop and look around like seals are looking at for so long. If you see an orange blur that is good enough. If you see the building that is good enough. No one is going to ask you how many windows are in it. Further, if you sight and don’t see it don’t break your rhythm – keep on swimming – it will be there the next time or the time after. 3) If you do get off, don’t make a huge correction to get back where you should be. Make a couple of small ones. 4) When following people trust but verify. About everyone has a story where they followed someone and that person didn’t know where they were going. Extra meters on the swim costs huge time. Good luck.
Don’t just show up to the swim start and ask the person next to you, “so what is the swim course?” Knowing the course on the swim is just as important as knowing the course on the bike and run!
yeah but I always get laughed at when I say I need to do swim course recon… pools and lakes and oceans are all different!
I think I tend to sight every 12 strokes or so, breathing every third stroke. I just really really quickly tip my head up a little bit… it was so easy in the miserable-piece-of-black-fabric-called-“wetsuit,” I was right on top of the water anyway.