My wife is the distance swimmer in the family and loves the postal swims. I was going to be her timer this morning. Unfortunately she started having abdomiinal pain yesterday. She thought it was a virus, but instead it was her appendix. Instead of doing the 1 hr swim this morning, she had surgery. Surgent went well, but but it looks like this will be the second year in a row where fate has conspired to prevent her from doing all 5 postal swims.
That's a real bummer, Allen. Hopefully she has a speedy recovery.
I'd like to improve on my yardage in this swim, and I'm trying to decide whether it's better to take something at more regular intervals than I did last time (took water after 500 yards and then close to the end, maybe last 15 mins. or so) or not stop.
Those with more experience in this, what are your thoughts?
There is no real physical need, in terms of hydration or fueling, to stop during any form of exercise lasting only an hour. Most endurance athletes agree that unless it's going to be more than a 90 minute effort, it's not necessary to stop to hydrate or fuel. Any amount of time spent resting is almost impossible to make up.
However, I know other people who appreciate taking rests during the hour swim just to recover mentally and give themselves a psychological boost.
So, if you want to swim your best one-hour postal, I'd suggest finding the pace that you can maintain for an hour and get in good enough shape to do so and then swim the entire hour without stopping.
My wife is the distance swimmer in the family and loves the postal swims. I was going to be her timer this morning. Unfortunately she started having abdomiinal pain yesterday. She thought it was a virus, but instead it was her appendix. Instead of doing the 1 hr swim this morning, she had surgery. Surgent went well, but but it looks like this will be the second year in a row where fate has conspired to prevent her from doing all 5 postal swims.
That's a real bummer, Allen. Hopefully she has a speedy recovery.
I'd like to improve on my yardage in this swim, and I'm trying to decide whether it's better to take something at more regular intervals than I did last time (took water after 500 yards and then close to the end, maybe last 15 mins. or so) or not stop.
Those with more experience in this, what are your thoughts?
There is no real physical need, in terms of hydration or fueling, to stop during any form of exercise lasting only an hour. Most endurance athletes agree that unless it's going to be more than a 90 minute effort, it's not necessary to stop to hydrate or fuel. Any amount of time spent resting is almost impossible to make up.
However, I know other people who appreciate taking rests during the hour swim just to recover mentally and give themselves a psychological boost.
So, if you want to swim your best one-hour postal, I'd suggest finding the pace that you can maintain for an hour and get in good enough shape to do so and then swim the entire hour without stopping.
