Quote Originally Posted by Krys View Post
THanks for the advice. I will deffinatly try my first brick this weekend. So I have another question for all of you ladies.. i dont know how to spot in the water and I'm nervous about swimming in the open water. I'm used to competing in a pool where there is a straight line to follow. How do you do that? I'm scared I might freak out in the water and freak out because there are so many people.. how do you handle that?
My next question.. what do you usually drink on the ride? I've read of people doing water and others sports drinks.. what do you think??
Thanks ladies for all your help! I am SO glad I found this site and all of you wonderfull people!
Spotting. Do it in the pool for practice.

Set something at the end of lane and every 4-8 strokes, glance up to look at it.

When you go to breathe, you kind of bring your head up and look ahead, then you breathe to the side with you head towards your shoulder and carry on with your stroke.

You don't need to analyze what you are spotting... but instead... all you need a glance at it.

In open water, you want to try to find something on shore (that isn't moving) that lines up with the boyous (? spelling) you need to swim for. If you can find a tree or something of the like that is good.

Keep in mind that the boyous are bright and easy to see in the water (assuming there are no waves)... again, all you need to do is get a glance of the color as you lift your head and keep swimming towards it.

To stay away from the crowds... start on the outside (away from the boyous) and towards the back. When you swim, do not hug the boyous, the fast swimmers and the ones out there really competing will be hugging them... if you stay close, but not on top of the boyous when you round them, less chance of getting run over in the water.

Otherwise... getting in OW does different stuff to different people. If you start to freak, you have to talk yourself through it. Remind yourself that you can swim, you can do it, and keep stroking. A lot people get freaked out because of murky water.

On the bike... for a sprint I just use water. A 20oz bottle. I don't even drink all of that. I do not do any nutrition. It's a short race, so you really don't need to. Just eat a breakfast of around 500 or so calories about 2 hours before the race... you will be good to go.

GOOD LUCK!