I am preparing for stage 1 of the 8 bridges swim in the Hudson River. It is 18.3 miles. I have been doing 4,000 yards 5 days a week, then, adding a long swim on the weekends. I plan on adding yardage to that long swim each week. My question is, what should be my yardage/mile goal for the last long swim before the race? Would it make sense to swim 2 a days? I live in Pittsburgh, Pa, so, open water swims is not an option until May...any suggestions for preparation would be welcome. Thank you. Judy
I haven't actually DONE the swim yet, but I am starting to train for longer distances. Not quite as long as 18.3, but 6.2 is fairly measureable. I think it depends on how the rest of your week is scheduled with the mileages you need to get up to for your long swim. I was reading some more experienced open water swimmers saying you can double up with good results if doing a swim in one chunk is tough to schedule, so 6 miles Saturday morning, then 6 miles Saturday evening is a possible strategy. But I don't know what the preferred strategy is. If I tripled my current plan, to get to your end goal, it would put me at a 15.3 miles long swim for my peak week (it's actually about a 9,000y swim for me). However, I plan on doing one steady easy open water swim (once the weather is tolerable) PLUS one long aerobic interval pool swim most weeks. So, in my peak week, I'm also doing an 8,000 yard pool swim, which is an amount almost equal to my long swim. I think at this point though, you might not want to think about what mileage you need to hit vs. what mileage you can hit during your peak week. Meaning, if you are at X miles right now for your long swim, don't just ramp up to what the ideal target is, ramp up only at a rate where you can handle the training without becoming over trained. Hopefully by now, you've figured out how much yardage or intensity you can add per week without breaking yourself. Stick with that.
I haven't actually DONE the swim yet, but I am starting to train for longer distances. Not quite as long as 18.3, but 6.2 is fairly measureable. I think it depends on how the rest of your week is scheduled with the mileages you need to get up to for your long swim. I was reading some more experienced open water swimmers saying you can double up with good results if doing a swim in one chunk is tough to schedule, so 6 miles Saturday morning, then 6 miles Saturday evening is a possible strategy. But I don't know what the preferred strategy is. If I tripled my current plan, to get to your end goal, it would put me at a 15.3 miles long swim for my peak week (it's actually about a 9,000y swim for me). However, I plan on doing one steady easy open water swim (once the weather is tolerable) PLUS one long aerobic interval pool swim most weeks. So, in my peak week, I'm also doing an 8,000 yard pool swim, which is an amount almost equal to my long swim. I think at this point though, you might not want to think about what mileage you need to hit vs. what mileage you can hit during your peak week. Meaning, if you are at X miles right now for your long swim, don't just ramp up to what the ideal target is, ramp up only at a rate where you can handle the training without becoming over trained. Hopefully by now, you've figured out how much yardage or intensity you can add per week without breaking yourself. Stick with that.
