Open Water back to Pool

I've swum in open water a few times per week for the last few months, having started the year in the pool. It took me a long time to adjust to my first OW swim, been swimming around 1hr 30 at a time, focus on technique and particularly balance to improve speed - and feels like it's working.
Anyway, today I jumped in a pool for 3500m (open air, but heated and clear so I could see the bottom) and I found it so much easier than previous to my open water work.
I swim with a full wetsuit in the lake, and in jammers in the pool.

It got me thinking - I reckon everyone could massively benefit from OW swimming - there's something about not being able to see the bottom, meaning you become even more focused on balance and the stroke.

Anyone agree or disagree with the above? I'd be interested to hear experiences of transitioning back and forth.

H

I agree. I also find in open water that because there is no sense of speed as there are no tiles you have to just think about rhythm and timing. My current wetsuit is far too buoyant though. It makes me feel unbalanced around the hips and legs and I can feel my feet coming out the water often. I have a new Huub wetsuit which is much better but it seems to be made of tissue paper. It's so fragile! I don't like the zip either.

As it turns out, in open water I don't swim straight! In the pool I must make subtle sub-conscious corrections. I only breathe to one side though so that might have something to do with it.

[descending]

I am not a big open water guy I go on days when it's perfect air/water temps. So maybe half a dozen swims last year? It is nice to break into a rhythm and just go with no walls. I do find the lack of hypoxic moments at each wall pay off in open water though. I agree there is a kind of rhythm that opens up w/o walls and lines confining you. That said I'm about as likely to do another swim relay for a triathlete as I am to get a ride into orbit on the next Space X flight. I get bored quickly in open water.

My favorite is open salt water...no wetsuit....I target a landmark in the distance and get there when I get there. Yes the absence of speed sensation is strange.

Our pool sets up long course for a week -- my second favorite! Much easier for me to find a groove on longer swims.

[Tom Pamperin]

Originally Posted by ScoopUK

As it turns out, in open water I don't swim straight! In the pool I must make subtle sub-conscious corrections. I only breathe to one side though so that might have something to do with it.

If you have a pool lane to yourself, it can be an interesting experience to swim with your eyes closed and see how long it is before you hit a lane line. Then you can start exploring WHY you are going crooked.

Originally Posted by Tom Pamperin

If you have a pool lane to yourself, it can be an interesting experience to swim with your eyes closed and see how long it is before you hit a lane line. Then you can start exploring WHY you are going crooked.

From an article about Phelps' coach:
"Lately, Bowman has employed a new technique that includes swimming with blacked-out goggles, so that swimmers can imitate the ideal strokes they’ve watched on video. He says it eliminates bad habits."