I am just about to do my first triathlon. The swin course is in the baltic sea (salt water). Up to now i trained only in a lake.
I plan to swim a bit slower than I could in order to prevent to swallow too much salt water. I am afraid the salt water would upset my stomach - and the stomach has quite a bit to do during an ironman distance.
Am i too careful here ? Anybody had bad experiences with swallowing too much salt water ?
Thanks, Manfred
PS: Any other things related to swimming in salt wate I should consider ?
"Manfred Dötsch" <[email hidden]> wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:
Quoted message said:
I am just about to do my first triathlon. The swin course is in the baltic sea (salt water). Up to now i trained only in a lake.
I plan to swim a bit slower than I could in order to prevent to swallow too much salt water. I am afraid the salt water would upset my stomach - and the stomach has quite a bit to do during an ironman distance.
Am i too careful here ? Anybody had bad experiences with swallowing too much salt water ?
Thanks, Manfred
PS: Any other things related to swimming in salt wate I should consider ?
The best is the most obvious, you will float higher and easier in salt, this may offset your reduced effort to result in the same speed. DD
I am just about to do my first triathlon. The swin course is in the baltic sea (salt water). Up to now i trained only in a lake.
I plan to swim a bit slower than I could in order to prevent to swallow too much salt water. I am afraid the salt water would upset my stomach - and the stomach has quite a bit to do during an ironman distance.
If you're going to swallow salt water, chances are it's going to be because a wave knocked you around at a bad time, or you got whapped by another swimmer. Speed doesn't really have much to do with it, unless you're talking about going so slow you aren't around anyone else in the water.
I've never had stomach problems when I've swallowed a good deal of water on sprints. But the thing is that you tend to come out of the water really tasting it in your mouth, and somehow that taste makes it easy to forget to hydrate, so you have to really pay attention and stick with your hydration plan even if your mouth/throat doesn't seem terribly interested in water or energy drink.
on choppy days when i swim in the sea i think i end up drinking 12 small mouthfuls of sea water. id much prefer this than drinking pool water. i haven't found any problem with the saltwater in my stomach, but i have only done sprint distances (if that makes any difference to your digestion).
i think for your own psychological benefit, dont worry about it. if you've done the training, and stick to your gameplan, youll have the confidence to perform well and feeling ill from seawater wont even be an issue.
It makes sense to me what you're saying. I am looking foreward now to have a really good time during the competition - and I will pay attention to drinking enough as soon as i get on the bike.
It makes sense to me what you're saying. I am looking foreward now to have a really good time during the competition - and I will pay attention to drinking enough as soon as i get on the bike.
Keeping a an extra bottle of water at T1 to use to rinse out your mouth doesn't hurt much either. The taste of saltwater isn't something youreally want to keep with you for the next few miles. 🙂 Makes it easier to drink if you can waste a few mouthfulls first.
-Dave
-- work: dga - at - lcs.mit.edu me: angio - at - pobox.com MIT Laboratory for Computer Science angio.netangio.netOpen ↗ (note that my reply-to address is vaguely despammed...) bulk emailers: I do not accept unsolicited email. Do not mail me.
Originally posted by Manfred DöTsch I am just about to do my first triathlon. The swin course is in the baltic sea (salt water). Up to now i trained only in a lake.
I plan to swim a bit slower than I could in order to prevent to swallow too much salt water. I am afraid the salt water would upset my stomach - and the stomach has quite a bit to do during an ironman distance.
Am i too careful here ? Anybody had bad experiences with swallowing too much salt water ?
Thanks, Manfred
PS: Any other things related to swimming in salt wate I should consider ?
Manfred,
In ironman distance, salt replacement is an important consideration. It is easy to suffer from salt depreciation, but hard to suffer from having too much. (Unless you have soy sauce in your bidon.)
To regulate salt levels that are too high, your body just dumps salt into your urine - no problem. But to regulate salt levels that are too low, your body dumps water into your urine to attempt to increase the salt percentage - this is not what you want to happen when you are probably already dehydrated !!
So long as you aren't swimming in a polluted area, I'd see it as a bonus to swallow a little.
