Solo Feeding Question

hmbohan

As I begin to gear up for moving from the pool to the lake for training, I was wondering if I could pick everyone's brains on solo-feeding. Safety concerns aside for a moment...I do most of my open water training alone. I have a 1/2 mile long lake by my house in which I do laps. The problem I've run into is in trying to feed without having to exit onto the beach. The past two years I've been swimming with a Amphipod belt with four 10.5oz bottles and shoving gel packs into my suit. That will keep me going for a number of miles, but it's a heck of a lot of drag and I'd rather not have to get out of the water on my long swims to refill.

I realize options are pretty limited, and that the best answer is either to suck it up and get out of the lake every couple of hours or find a friend, but I just thought I would put it out there in case someone has a clever idea.

Thanks!

dc_in_sf

How busy is the lake?

I believe a common solution to this problem is to anchor a floating cooler and store your drinks/gels etcetera on that. Chuck some flags on it so it doesn't get run over by boats and maybe a sign saying that it is being used for training so folk don't try and "rescue" it.

david_barra

http://www.greatgiftsformen.com/inflatable-floating-cooler-p-1631.html?gclid=CJfxp7vK_7UCFckx4AodFHYAgg

Kane

I like swimming alone and for safety and for dragging my thing (keys, spare pair of goggles, gels, etc) i use this awesome product: http://www.ishof.org/cgi-bin/mivavm?/Merchant2/merchant.mvc+Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=SF
Unless it is extremely windy you don't even notice it. The bright orange colour also gives other users in the lake an opportunity to see you.

ChickenOSea

david_barra wrote:

http://www.greatgiftsformen.com/inflatable-floating-cooler-p-1631.html?gclid=CJfxp7vK_7UCFckx4AodFHYAgg

These are great! Sky mall has some really hilarious things too. I can't use them where I swim or they'd be stolen for sure

david_barra

ChickenOSea wrote:

david_barra wrote:

http://www.greatgiftsformen.com/inflatable-floating-cooler-p-1631.html?gclid=CJfxp7vK_7UCFckx4AodFHYAgg

These are great! Sky mall has some really hilarious things too. I can't use them where I swim or they'd be stolen for sure

Tow it behind you

ChickenOSea

Hehe I just had visions of Chicago's first in-water mugging

jcmalick

@ChickenOSea and @david_barra...yes those floating coolers combined with an anchor makes for an awesome feeding station...I was worried about a bum swimming out and stealing our drinks when doing a 6 hour qualifier off of Brighton Beach with Willy Blumentals a few years ago but turns out relocating our buried keys (when the towels were moved) in the sand and finding a parking ticket were the only ill effects of that day! %%-

Haydn

An inflatable raft is best if you train alone. The type spear fishers use. If you get into trouble you can sit on them. They weigh nothing to tow but can carry plenty of supplies, radio, flares, fins. About 3 foot long so big enough to be seen and don't get blown about like the buoy. Also great if you swim with others as it can be used as a rescue platform.