Just a 1-mile swim. Swells were pretty crazy, darn near choppy. Clomps of mowed down seaweed floaters in spots, but mostly clear.
I must have looked pretty silly with an HRM under my wetsuit. I had this Blackberry-sized watch (I’m exaggerating) over my arm, so many were intrigued. Some were green with envy at my having something that they can only pre-order right now. I didn’t rub it in, but mentioned only that I was taking it to the ocean with me for a test drive.
About the HRM, since the pairing is wireless–it does not take readings in the water. Duh! I’ll have to see tomorrow if I messed up by G405 heart rate monitor in the process. Probably not. Those things are pretty water-tight.
It was nice to know how much time we took to get from buoy to buoy–roughly 9 minutes per quarter mile. Yeah, slow–but we were just doing pedestrian pace today. Or at least I was. My teammate kept crossing in front of me. Something to be said for swimming in a straight line. I know–the swells were pretty big, so that had something to do with it. But even with my slow swim–I can follow a straight line quite well.
I was tempted to pair my G405 USB wireless stick with the 310XT. Decided not to in the end, because I’d risk messing my G405 training center setup. So I took another laptop and installed the 310XT USB wireless stick and also installed the TC on that one.
So I took a look at the result. 41 minutes, with about a minute or so standing in the shallows or talking at the buoys. The 310XT recorded 3.54 miles. Elevation was accurate–around 0 or sea level. Ups and downs naturally, because of the swells. The 3.54 miles is influenced by the swells and chop, and something else.
Remember what I said about my teammate crossing in front of me? Well, the GPS result shows me doing the zag for her zig. Amusing actually. It is very logical to say that swimming in a straight line would cut down on time. Unfortunately, open ocean hardly behaves like the pool.
Oh yeah. Everyone took a drink of ocean water today it seems. Maybe the chop caused it. Anyway, it was warmer about 100 meters from the shore (thermocline). Something else interesting. They wanted to round the half mile buoy from the quarter mile buoy again which would have made 1.5 miles. I looked at the time and reasoned I couldn’t do that and hope to get to my brother’s place in time. I was taking him to the airport afterwards. My teammates just followed me in and called it a day–turned out I was right. Just had enough time to get dry and head over to the next town. All’s well that ends well.
I practiced lengthening my body, and doing high elbow catch. I even worked on making sure that the push was done for as long as the catch allows. I also practiced 4 strokes to 1 breath. Bilateral breaths are very wasteful as far as swim effort. The more your head stays in the water (or hold off on the breath), the faster you are. I easily caught my teammates when I did this.
So that was a pretty cool ocean swim!
How was the accuracy for mileage? I swam with mine for the first time yesterday in a lake and it had me swimming 4.25 miles in 40 minutes! SWEET! I’m the fastest swimmer in the world! In truth it was more like a mile all told with stops to regroup our group. Very frustrating. I might try attaching it to my goggles next time.
I got 3.54 in 41 minutes for a mile swim. There were swells too, so the signals may not be as accurate. I’m lending it to a fast swimmer to see if his readings are better than mine. We will go for a 1.5 mile swim tomorrow so that should be very informative.
Don’t know about attaching it to googles though. I kept checking to make sure it was in place, because it would be one mighty expensive toy to lose in the water. Good luck with the next time!
I know. I’m a bit sketchy on goggles, too. I’ll have to play with it!
I had the 310 XT in the water for the first time this week, it had me doign 6.45 km, in fact I only done a mere 2.2km. Shame
Hey Tom,
The GPS readings are unreliable in the water. You can use it as a timer in the water and ignore the GPS readings. Once you’re on land, then the accuracy is excellent.
Have fun with that!
QS
Same here!! I was so excited to try it out today and after swimming around 1800m it had me at 4.5miles!!! I have seen where people have placed the 405 in plastic and rolled it up in their swim cap. Perhaps attaching it to the back of the wetsuit or in the swim cap (no plastic needed for this device!!). Here’s the site explaining how to place it http://dcrainmaker.blogspot.com/2007/09/how-to-swim-with-your-garmin-forerunner.html if you look at the bad placement example, it kinda looks like my swim today.
Hope this helps. Gonna give it a try this week.
Hi, I live in Rio de Janeiro and had the same issue. 7.5km in 37 min, meaning going back and forth at Copacabana Beach. So I am ready for 2016 Olympic Games in Rio!!!