Do you wear a wristwatch in marathon swims?

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  • I use my Forerunner 945 on my swims, so far, at least. Every once in awhile, the mapping goes super wonky when displayed on Garmin Connect..... at least three times I've gotten maps that show I have swum from Alabama, USA all the way to the west coast of Africa, in under 4 hours. I'm guessing that that's an error.

    I find that if I make SURE my battery is starting at 100% (especially for longer swims), and that I wait for the buzz to indicate that the watch has acquired the GPS signal, my track is more reliable. Also, I make sure that I push the buttons to save the file at the end of the swim, rather than permitting the watch to go to autosave. That may or may not be important, but I also find that a routine is important so I'm going with it.

    When it comes to a time when I'm doing an official swim with formal monitors, I won't wear the watch, because I'll be able to have enough people to do the tracking/watch watching for me.

    SoloIronMike
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    Yeah, Garmin help desk told me to plug my watch into my computer and delete some "old folders." I was kind of shocked and perturbed, seeing how I bought it new from Amazon. But I've deleted the three folders they've instructed me to delete. I won't have another OW swim for a couple weeks but I think I'm going to walk around the base here with GPS on and see if I get a map at the end.

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • They told me the same thing when I called....
    It didn't fix the problem.
    It appears to be intermittent...and that makes it difficult to diagnose.

    I wonder if it's a satellite/software thing on the Garmin Connect end of things.

    @IronMike said:
    Yeah, Garmin help desk told me to plug my watch into my computer and delete some "old folders." I was kind of shocked and perturbed, seeing how I bought it new from Amazon. But I've deleted the three folders they've instructed me to delete. I won't have another OW swim for a couple weeks but I think I'm going to walk around the base here with GPS on and see if I get a map at the end.

    IronMike
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    I did a test last night and set the Swim2 to Run, then walked around the base. It worked and the map looks great. Based on your above comment @Sara_Wolf, I'll do another test or two before my next OW swim.

    dpm50

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • Funny thing.....
    When my data exported to Training Peaks, I had NOT swum to Africa....
    but, GC shows me across the Atlantic. That's what leads me to believe it's a GC issue, and not necessarily always a watch issue.

    Don't get me wrong, sometimes the watch does weird things, like showing me starting and stopping in the middle of the lake and vastly under tracking my path...... but others are showing a premature ending, or a strange starting spot.... and the rest reasonably accurate.

    It's a bit of a cluster.

    lol

    @IronMike said:
    I did a test last night and set the Swim2 to Run, then walked around the base. It worked and the map looks great. Based on your above comment @Sara_Wolf, I'll do another test or two before my next OW swim.

    IronMike
  • Nick_PNick_P PAMember

    @dpm50 and @IronMike
    Are you still using your swim2.
    My thought is I need something for time when I’m the open water.
    There have been a few days I lost track of the hours

  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    No, I dumped it. It rarely or never connected to GPS. I sent it back to Amazon and got my $$ back. Great for counting laps, but I can do that with a simple lap counter.

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • ChickenOSeaChickenOSea Charter Member
    edited November 2022

    Yep! Just an analogue one with a large face that I can read easily. I like to challenge myself to not look at it between feeds. Just a little mind game.

  • SwimUpStreamSwimUpStream Portland Oregon Member
    edited November 2022

    I’ve worn a watch mostly to tell me time in the water. Many of my watches also gave me HR, stroke count, pace, and meters swum but I take that data with a gain of salt. I definitely wouldn’t see it aiding a marathon swim, given it’s inaccuracies. Now navigating systems on a boat, and getting accurate splits from your crew, that’s advanced over the years as has weather / tide forecasts. It’s hardly the same as what’s guided Matthew Webb across the EC. Those advances far surpass those from a wrist watch.

  • kejoycekejoyce New EnglandSenior Member

    @Nick_P I have been wearing my swim 2 for a year and a half now. Love it for open water, love it for the pool, love it for it's light smart watch features (previews of text messages/that's etc). I wear it as my daily watch in addition to tracking miles.

    wendyv34
  • smithsmith Huntsville, AlabamaSenior Member

    I've worn a watch in several swims. I must confess that I used it for pacing purposes, which I don't believe would be endorsed by purists. I think the best use of a watch is during long open water workouts. I did that a lot when we lived in the Midwest.

    In a sanctioned 5K in 2012, the official approached me before the race and ordered me not to wear the watch. I wanted to negative split, and thought it would help. Caught me. I did not challenge him. He was right.

    Keep moving forward.

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