The smell of chlorine

Triathlon Forum
1

I have been doing my TI drills religiously for the last month. I am hoping to leave my inefficient stroke in the rear view mirror. As a result, I have inhaled my share of water doing the fish like drills and other balance drills. Anyone else out there have that chlorine smell in their nose everytime they inhale for the rest of the day after a swim? I did not experience this when I was not doing drills. Makes me wonder what that chlorine is doing to my body. I also have been getting stomach discomfort from swallowing so much chlorine water when I do the drills.

2

The stomach discomfort is most likely from swallowing too much air, not the chlorine … your stomach contains solutions much more severe than chlorine. Try to breath “high in the chest” rather than “from the belly”. Exhaling completely under water can help with this too (that’s not based on any science I read … just something I noticed from my swimming)

What I want to know is “Is my skin going to smell like chlorine for the rest of my life?” Just how much soap do you have to use? =)

3

The smell is most likely coming from your skin and/or hair. It seems that no amount of soap and shampoo will get rid of it completely. Swimming with a cap will help keep your hair healthier. My sister and some other girls I know, slather on conditioner BEFORE putting on a cap and swimming. I find that slathering myself with lotion after swimming, helps get rid of, or at least mask, the chlorine smell.

4

Please don’t slather yourself with anything before getting in the pool. The rest of us don’t want to swim in an oil slick after you.

My wife actually likes (almost) the smell of chlorine on my skin, it reminds her of when we were dating in college.

You’ll eventually learn to stop swallowing water just keep at it.

5

The only way to truly rid yourself of the Cl odour is to participate a dryland workout. Sweating will help flush your skin of most of the Cl that’s found it’s way into your pores and other crevacies. Otherwise, it generally takes about 8-10 hours to rid myself of that ultra-clean scent.