Open Water Swimming

[kevin keane]

Belpark open-water swims are beginning this coming Sunday at Seapoint
near Dun Laoghaire.

Swims will be approx 30 – 40mins, depending on speed and conditions.
Wetsuits are mandatory. All standards will be catered for but these
swims are more of a training session than a lesson. This is an ideal
chance for people will little experience of open water swimming to
become more comfortable with being in the sea and for all you pool
dwellers to get some brime in your hair!

Times for the swims will be tide dependent but generally we will try
to have them on Sunday afternoon or evening, keep an eye on the weekly
club email, www.dublintri.com and the facebook page for week-to-week
info.

This Sunday’s swim is at 6pm. That means be ready to go in front of
the Martello tower at Seapoint (for those with cars, the best place to
park is at the DART station at Salthill & Monkstown and walk along the
seafront to the Martello Tower).

Stephen Early and Ellen Murphy will be taking the swim, here’s some
info from Stephen (who’s been swimming at Seapoint regularly this
summer)

Usual plan is to use the buoys as markers for both sighting, and
interval type training. In other words, swim out easy to the first
buoy, pick up the pace as you swim around it and go hard to the next
buoy. Alternate hard/easy to the end (5 buoys in total) and the same
on the way back. Not exactly cutting edge stuff, but it works on
improving both your straight line open water swimming and confidence
in the water - which is the goal of open water sessions (well, in my
opinion anyway). If everyone knows the session before we get in,
there’s no need to stop during the swim, meaning that you can get a
continuous 20-30 minute loop – which is better than the pool for
improving endurance in your shoulder muscles.

Regarding future swims, we need a few more people who are confident in
the water and could lead one swim once a month. We are a small club
and so rely on members to step up to the plate to keep things going,
so if you want to volunteer half an hour of your time email me at
fixedkev at gmail

Enjoy!