Dizziness in T1

Hi Guys,

Wondering if anyone suffers from a similar problem to me. Every time i come out of the water fast and into T1, i'm so dizzy that i'm struggling to balance and take my wetsuit off at the same time. It's absolutely horrible! I actually had to sit down to get my suit off last time! Are there are any ways to prevent this? Am i doing something wrong? Thanks!

Some find kicking the legs hard at the end of the swim helps, some don't.

Ultimately you are going from lying down to standing up very quickly with maximum rushing about. The heart now has to pump blood and down 5 to 6 foot against gravity.

You could practice getting up really quickly in the morning and getting dressed in 30 seconds from when you are first awake.

M.eface

Mrs SA used to get this a lot

Have you tried ear plugs?

Works for Mrs SA she doesn't get dizzy coming out of the water

It's ventrical thingy... erm wait....

It might not be called that.. to do with blood pressure or something from horizontal to vertical. Someone will know what I'm getting at, too tired to google it myself

Ok, something to do with blood and stuff...

stop coming into T1 fast  

it's a combination of your balance receptors and blood pressure differentials when going from horizontal to vertical that causes the issues.  

it affects some people more than others 

just practice

There is a balance test done called caloric stimulation I think. It involves squirting alternate hot then cold water into the ear. Apparently it stimulates the inner ear. Hot water makes it spin one way, cold the other. I had it done, I felt sick as a dog with dizziness, both ways. It lasted about 30 seconds. Similar in OW. Solution, earplugs, wax ones. Result? No dizziness at all. EIther way, earplugs seem to be a solution.

The dizziness thing happened to me during my first OW tri. Which was also my first ever OW swim, so I just put it down to a combination of the cold and a lack of practice. I didn't find it horrible, more rather amusing. Was completely bongoed and staggering around in circles for a couple of minutes, but recovered fairly fast. May try ear plugs next time and see if it makes a difference...

1. Kick your legs more in the last 100m

2. Stand up SLOWLY - you lose a few seconds but gain time in the long run.

I suffer from this, but it is easy to manage if you take it easy.

thanks for the tips guys! I'll try the harder kicking at the end on Sunday at my race, and i'll get a set of earplugs aswell!

Dizziness in general for me! Tend to find whenever I up my training volume, like I'm doing this week, that I get dizzy from knees to forehead whenever I stand up. Tend to get a bit of blurred vision and darkness, but it clears quickly. Had to hold onto door frames quite regularly last night .

as others have said, its normal, slow down, to a tempo pace out of the water, you can't win it here.

2 very different causes being discussed here:  "dizziness" means different things to different people- hence why it is a "heart sink" syptom to most octors.

Cold water effect on ears- as per caloric stimulaton test- likley to casue "true vertigo"- feeling of actual spinnig, accompanied by jerking eye movemets, - like getting off a spinning roundabout at he fair- ear plugs might help.

Postural hypotension- low blood pressure on standing- caused by vasodilation/ loss of compressive effect on wetsuit on legs/ abdomen. Could also, I supoose, be a heart rhythm problem- ever worn a HRM at these moments? Causes light-headed feeling, like being about to faint, may get "greying out" of vision. Need to sit/ lie down 'til it passes, and then get up slowly.