One of our swimmers on the Elgin Blue Wave Masters team brought up a guy who swims 14,000 yards a day each and every day to achieve his yearly total. I find this really difficult to comprehend. Has anyone heard of such swimmers?
PWB, were there kids who "coulda been a contender" but dropped out just from the harshness?Possibly, but I should have qualified that I was a distance swimmer and this was primarily for the distance folks.
Do you think the coach may have been a sadist?Actually, no. He was a great coach and we all swam great. This was 1983 and the stories of what guys like Brian Goodell and Vladimir Salnikov had done in terms of high volume were legendary and circulating around many clubs. I actually really thrived for my 800/1500 doing this kind of stuff. Later on, in university, the only year I swam a decent 1650 was the year we did Tuesday/Thursday workouts that were in the ~12K to 14K range. But, by then, I was probably going more like low 60K yards (25K between the TTh long singles and another 30K from doubles on MWF and then maybe 6K to 8K on Saturday).
Of course, 30+ years later, a 4K workout is a long one for me :)
What else is done in the day when soooo much pool time takes it up?
This! I'm impressed anyone has the kind of time to swim an average of ~6-7 miles a day and still work, eat, sleep, etc.
To each their own.
no life guards at my pool!
haha, there are no lifeguards at my gym pool either. but it is an indoor 2-lane 25 yard pool. I'll do 1000-2000 there after a gym workout, the occasional full workout (when my real pool isn't open), and did a few extra long swims there last year when ramping up for some o/w events. but it really takes a bit to psych myself up for something like that.
As to the topic.... I hit a record 640 miles last year. I swam 3 10k events, attempted a 10 miler (fell just short of finishing), and a few swims around 5k, along with 2 meets. I do have a full-time job, some occasional work travel, and some personal travel and vacations (where I may or may not swim). There were a few months when I swam some every day (that some might have been 400 yards), but generally over a month I'll take off at least 3-4 days.
90 minutes of swimming before work is really about the most I can handle. I have done some 3 hour training swims on weekends, but even those can be tough to pull off, from an overall life / timing perspective.
As to the topic.... I hit a record 640 miles last year. I swam 3 10k events, attempted a 10 miler (fell just short of finishing), and a few swims around 5k, along with 2 meets. I do have a full-time job, some occasional work travel, and some personal travel and vacations (where I may or may not swim). There were a few months when I swam some every day (that some might have been 400 yards), but generally over a month I'll take off at least 3-4 days.
90 minutes of swimming before work is really about the most I can handle. I have done some 3 hour training swims on weekends, but even those can be tough to pull off, from an overall life / timing perspective.
That works out to something like 12 miles a week, if I'm calculating right, or an average of just under 3000m a day, which still seems quite a bit more reasonable than 8+ miles a day. I am pretty slow, though (3600m takes me 1.75 to 2 hours), so maybe my view is skewed. How many meters do you cover in those three hours, out of curiosity?
no life guards at my pool!
My regular pool has one (1) lifeguard (at a time), and I'm not actually sure he knows I'm there half the time. (particularly when I'm the only one there and in the far lane). :drowning:
How many meters do you cover in those three hours, out of curiosity?
When I swim 3 hours, it is usually at a place like Barton Springs in Austin. I can cruise a bit at the beginning, before it gets busy, but spend the last 30+ minutes dodging people (and having to swim on one side for the diving board). So in 3 hours probably 6 miles. But I'll only do that once or twice to peak for a swim. Most of my long swims there will be 2 to 2-1/2 hours, keeping about that same pace, 30 minutes per mile (I'm faster in a pool and for organized events, especially with a current). The, "pool," is 1/8 mile long, and I mentally measure my distance in miles rather than meters or yards.
