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.
Hope your wife has a speedy recovery and will be back in the pool before long!
Correct!
You can stop whenever you want, but the clock keeps ticking.
A couple weeks ago, I did an "unofficial" hour swim. A masters' teammate and I swam (not in the regular workout sessions) and our coach observed us and stopped us at the end of the hour. I took water a couple times, assuming the clock was still ticking--which was fine with me.
But it raises a practical/strategy question: I'm doing another hour swim, an official one this time (I think people can choose whether they want results sent in, which I'm not sure I'll do b/c it's more just to get some feedback on my distance fitness). 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. I noticed that I'd get a second wind after I stopped (each time) but I was worried I'd lose too much time if I stopped too often. Still, I noticed that my energy fell off about 20 or so minutes after taking a drink the first time. So I'm going back and forth between thinking I'd have been better off grabbing a drink about every 500 yards or not having anything the whole time since I'd be losing ground by stopping.
Those with more experience in this, what are your thoughts?
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.
Yikes Allen, I'm sorry you and your wife have to go through this. I wish her a quick recovery and hope she'll be able to get her 2016 Hour Swim in for sure.
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.
Happy to report that I improved from my non-official hour swim from two weeks ago by 150 yards! Took mmlr38's advice and didn't stop once I got going. Had some water before warming up, then just before starting, and that seemed to do the trick. I did slow down toward the middle, but pushed myself somewhat toward the end, as the previous swim just seemed slower than I knew I was capable of doing. I'm not quoting either of the two totals--they're VERY modest by the standards of the swimmers on this forum. But progress is progress! :)
Thanks for the thoughts. As the swim is today, I hope I'm in good enough shape to swim an hour nonstop at a pace that's both doable for that long and allows for some improvement, however modest.
:badday: :bighug: Please wish Seal Girl my best! I hope her recovery is a speedy one.
Hope your wife has a speedy recovery and will be back in the pool before long!
Yikes Allen, I'm sorry you and your wife have to go through this. I wish her a quick recovery and hope she'll be able to get her 2016 Hour Swim in for sure.
That's a real bummer, Allen. Hopefully she has a speedy recovery.
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Thanks to all of you.She got out of the hospital yesterday She can't lift anything over 10 lb for 2 wk.At 2 wk the surgeon will evaluate healing and see when she can swim.
Thanks to all of you, she got out of the hospital yesterday. She can't lift anything over 10 lb for 2 wk. At 2 wk the surgeon will evaluate healing and see when she can swim.
That's good news! Hopefully she'll be back in the water in a few weeks.
Happy to report that I improved from my non-official hour swim from two weeks ago by 150 yards! Took mmlr38's advice and didn't stop once I got going. Had some water before warming up, then just before starting, and that seemed to do the trick. I did slow down toward the middle, but pushed myself somewhat toward the end, as the previous swim just seemed slower than I knew I was capable of doing. I'm not quoting either of the two totals--they're VERY modest by the standards of the swimmers on this forum. But progress is progress! :)
:applaud: Well done! So glad to hear that you improved. And 150 yard improvement at that! That's very significant!
Slowing down in the middle is fairly normal for me as well. Somewhere around the 2/3 mark of any swim I mentally fatigue and fall slightly off pace, but recover for the last 20% or so. Sounds like you experienced something similar.
In any case, job very well done!
