I've just met a top swimmer in my country who is now in his 40s, and he is in the top 5 of the national long distance swimming championships, not in the age group, but overall.
He mentioned that he trains about 80 km a week. I wonder how he can keep such amount of training in his working age, and I have found out that he is the CEO of a telecommunication company he created, i.e. he's an entrepreneur. He trains at a recreation club, i.e. a place exclusively for the upper social class.
However, even for me working in a standard 9 - 18 office job Monday to Friday, I cannot do more than 20 km a week, and recently due to the pool opening time (the pool I use opens 7:30 and closes 19:00 in winter), I can only do about 13 km a week, which is totally not enough for my target race (my target is to do 15 km race next year). If I need to do the channel afterwards I must convert my full time job to part time in the winter preceding my attempt in order to have enough training, i.e. live off my saving.
The life of an entrepreneur, with no doubt, is much busier than employed as a 9-18 office worker, how is he still possible to have 80 km training a week? This question is very offending that I dare not ask him directly.
I'm with Mike above for the most part. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate before a long swim. I don't drink much for any 90 minute workouts, but more than that, I'll work through a bottle - more if the water is above 86.
Even with open water swims or "without stopping" practices, it's okay to do a quick swig here or there. The few seconds you take to slug down a swallow or two will help you more than slowly losing time as you bonk over the course of a long race. When I'm training in OW, I generally wear one of those floats that you can put your keys or water in. Or drag a bottle behind me. When doing long training at the pool, just sip when needed.
I'm not a huge fan of "straight through" more than about 2000 or so. To me, that turns into more mental training than physical. You can build endurance and speed by doing sets such as ladders or multiple 300s-500s. The Open Water and High Volume forum workouts both have good long sets to do to build up.
I'm with Mike above for the most part. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate before a long swim. I don't drink much for any 90 minute workouts, but more than that, I'll work through a bottle - more if the water is above 86.
Even with open water swims or "without stopping" practices, it's okay to do a quick swig here or there. The few seconds you take to slug down a swallow or two will help you more than slowly losing time as you bonk over the course of a long race. When I'm training in OW, I generally wear one of those floats that you can put your keys or water in. Or drag a bottle behind me. When doing long training at the pool, just sip when needed.
I'm not a huge fan of "straight through" more than about 2000 or so. To me, that turns into more mental training than physical. You can build endurance and speed by doing sets such as ladders or multiple 300s-500s. The Open Water and High Volume forum workouts both have good long sets to do to build up.
