What have WE become?

Ion, Thank you for posting a reply to my question. I appreciate your passion for the sport, especially as a 'late bloomer' That is a very good pool time for 5kms, for those with excellent flip turns and an effective push off each wall, there would be an adjustment in the time in the open water. Of course added to this would be the water conditions, temperature, currents wind etc. Because I don't have excellent turns, I actually gain time, I swim faster in a 5km in the open water than I do in a pool. I swim a 1hr 14 (which includes a feed break, necessary as I am a Type 1 insulin Dependent Diabetic) in the open water in 72 degree water, calm conditions, no wetsuit. I would like to share with you my training schedule. I train all of the 1-10. I need all of those skills and more to be able to be a successful indoor and open water swimmer. I do kick sets galaore to ensure my kick keeps me well balanced and supported in all swims, and I need to have this well trained when treading water for feeding breaks, and for me as a type 1 insulin dependedent diabetic, for the longer breaks needed to test my blood sugars. I train all four strokes, and medley. I see this as keeping my swimming well rounded. I train breath control as this is useful in the open water when it is really rough and I can't always get a breath when I take one. (I have developed a great technique for swallowing quickly rather than inhaling! I train' economy' breathing where I can easily swim a 25m length with no breath, as well as the other types of breath control sets. AS a dive is only used once in a race, I do train this as well as 'dead starts' where you are floating and then take off, as some water starts are in deep water. I am learning to be better at flip turns. I also train turns going tightly and quickly around a buoy. Expolsive sprint training, sprint training, VO2 Max training and Anaerobic training is also done, like other indoor swimmers, several times in each macro, meso and micro cycle. I am coached by professional top level coaches. While distance swimmers have endurance ability, because of their body make up (more slow twitch fibers) they do train speed to improve their technique strength and ability to hold a faster pace for longer. I use 3-4 different styles of freestyle depending on the weather conditions. So I do drills every single day as part of my training sessions. Open water swimmer, those whom I have competed with and trained with, don't swim with their heads above the water. We train in the ability to swim in a straight line. We train to be able to pull evenly on both sides so we can go straight. If there is a current, well those one arm drills sure are handy ! I do lift my head to sight, but I have this trained in a most energy efficient way, and I look up depending on conditions , course when I want/need to. (sometimes it is to communicate with the boat person. If you have a boat person, (I have to have a boat person at all times in races, usually support crew accompany on 10km or longer swims) then you really only need to look up to see the progress you are making, and the beautiful scenery. It is the job of the boat person to hold the line. If there is lots to see beneath me, then I look up even less ;) I train with Peter Reid, Laurie Bowden, Simon Whitfield, as well as other top triathletes once a week and all have a lot of speed.(It is an hour drive to this session each way) A couple of weeks ago at the end of our session, we did a timed 400m and Simon clocked in an easy 4:10. I consider that time to be excellent. For the past 5 years I have had the incredible opportunity to be coached by a person who trained the Fastest in the world in womens 50 free in 2003, and he also trained two of us who swam the furtherest in marathon swimming in Canada that year.(that was my question, who was this coach and who was the swimmer in the 50 free, not about Bill Sweetenham) In the indoor season, I compete in all sorts of meets for masters, including Nationals, Provincials, and I have also done World Master Championships. My outdoor season begins in late June, early July depending on temerature. I begin with shorter swims to acclimatize and season my lean body to the cold waters. I train against the current of a river which ensures I most certainly do get to train sprint and VO2 max as I do 3-4 minute ladders in one part of the river which is extremely difficult to get up, (the trout, and crayfish underneath me in the clear clean waters, wave me on) and another part where I try and hold against the swift current for 20 secs or longer(Here I think I am amusement for the fish, crayfish and clams who watch with open mouths!) . I also do fartleck sets, 'on the way' swims (where you have to beat the last interval and continue on for the next distance etc. My season ends after the last race around Aug 15th. Last year I logged 430+ kms in the open water. (That averages 10-12+ kms a day, including several hours devoted to wave practise where I swim into, across the waves and with the waves behind me - if you don't have good body balance and an excellent core, pray for calm weather. No I wasn't asking about Sweetenham, whom I have also met. Rather about the coach and swimmer I know from the UK. I didn't get a reply from that, but I understand how busy you are with all the other posts to reply to. Ion try an open water swim. They are so much fun. Come North and do your first one here! Ion, do you remember telling me how much I didn't know? I hope over the other threads, and by explaining this you may see that I do actually know something about swimming. I am busy with everything to do with swimming including motivating, educating, guest speaker on several topics, and training others. By the way I learnt to swim at 33, and I am now a young 49. So c'mon, Ion. Just try an open water swim. You would do well. And you might even be surprised how good it actually feels to take it outside the lines. Pick one and do it. It's an amazing challenge. Doing these distances in a pool would be ever so boring. Not so outside. Ps. I do my LSD (long slow distance in 2 lakes, both steps from my house. One is a smaller lake which I have a 300m across to a rock where I can do dive starts ;), a 200m, and 500m measured distances, for on the way swims in a 1km (GPS'd)loop down the lake. I average around 12 loops in this beautiful lake, + the 300m crossing each way. I train in the river when I don't have a boat as the community know me well, and really watch out for me. It is mostly not over my head, and not too wide so the shore is always easy to get to. In the big lake I do the much longer distances, usually 4-6 hours at a stretch. And it is where I get terrific wave practise in the afternoon.

Ion, Thank you for posting a reply to my question. I appreciate your passion for the sport, especially as a 'late bloomer' That is a very good pool time for 5kms, for those with excellent flip turns and an effective push off each wall, there would be an adjustment in the time in the open water. Of course added to this would be the water conditions, temperature, currents wind etc. Because I don't have excellent turns, I actually gain time, I swim faster in a 5km in the open water than I do in a pool. I swim a 1hr 14 (which includes a feed break, necessary as I am a Type 1 insulin Dependent Diabetic) in the open water in 72 degree water, calm conditions, no wetsuit. I would like to share with you my training schedule. I train all of the 1-10. I need all of those skills and more to be able to be a successful indoor and open water swimmer. I do kick sets galaore to ensure my kick keeps me well balanced and supported in all swims, and I need to have this well trained when treading water for feeding breaks, and for me as a type 1 insulin dependedent diabetic, for the longer breaks needed to test my blood sugars. I train all four strokes, and medley. I see this as keeping my swimming well rounded. I train breath control as this is useful in the open water when it is really rough and I can't always get a breath when I take one. (I have developed a great technique for swallowing quickly rather than inhaling! I train' economy' breathing where I can easily swim a 25m length with no breath, as well as the other types of breath control sets. AS a dive is only used once in a race, I do train this as well as 'dead starts' where you are floating and then take off, as some water starts are in deep water. I am learning to be better at flip turns. I also train turns going tightly and quickly around a buoy. Expolsive sprint training, sprint training, VO2 Max training and Anaerobic training is also done, like other indoor swimmers, several times in each macro, meso and micro cycle. I am coached by professional top level coaches. While distance swimmers have endurance ability, because of their body make up (more slow twitch fibers) they do train speed to improve their technique strength and ability to hold a faster pace for longer. I use 3-4 different styles of freestyle depending on the weather conditions. So I do drills every single day as part of my training sessions. Open water swimmer, those whom I have competed with and trained with, don't swim with their heads above the water. We train in the ability to swim in a straight line. We train to be able to pull evenly on both sides so we can go straight. If there is a current, well those one arm drills sure are handy ! I do lift my head to sight, but I have this trained in a most energy efficient way, and I look up depending on conditions , course when I want/need to. (sometimes it is to communicate with the boat person. If you have a boat person, (I have to have a boat person at all times in races, usually support crew accompany on 10km or longer swims) then you really only need to look up to see the progress you are making, and the beautiful scenery. It is the job of the boat person to hold the line. If there is lots to see beneath me, then I look up even less ;) I train with Peter Reid, Laurie Bowden, Simon Whitfield, as well as other top triathletes once a week and all have a lot of speed.(It is an hour drive to this session each way) A couple of weeks ago at the end of our session, we did a timed 400m and Simon clocked in an easy 4:10. I consider that time to be excellent. For the past 5 years I have had the incredible opportunity to be coached by a person who trained the Fastest in the world in womens 50 free in 2003, and he also trained two of us who swam the furtherest in marathon swimming in Canada that year.(that was my question, who was this coach and who was the swimmer in the 50 free, not about Bill Sweetenham) In the indoor season, I compete in all sorts of meets for masters, including Nationals, Provincials, and I have also done World Master Championships. My outdoor season begins in late June, early July depending on temerature. I begin with shorter swims to acclimatize and season my lean body to the cold waters. I train against the current of a river which ensures I most certainly do get to train sprint and VO2 max as I do 3-4 minute ladders in one part of the river which is extremely difficult to get up, (the trout, and crayfish underneath me in the clear clean waters, wave me on) and another part where I try and hold against the swift current for 20 secs or longer(Here I think I am amusement for the fish, crayfish and clams who watch with open mouths!) . I also do fartleck sets, 'on the way' swims (where you have to beat the last interval and continue on for the next distance etc. My season ends after the last race around Aug 15th. Last year I logged 430+ kms in the open water. (That averages 10-12+ kms a day, including several hours devoted to wave practise where I swim into, across the waves and with the waves behind me - if you don't have good body balance and an excellent core, pray for calm weather. No I wasn't asking about Sweetenham, whom I have also met. Rather about the coach and swimmer I know from the UK. I didn't get a reply from that, but I understand how busy you are with all the other posts to reply to. Ion try an open water swim. They are so much fun. Come North and do your first one here! Ion, do you remember telling me how much I didn't know? I hope over the other threads, and by explaining this you may see that I do actually know something about swimming. I am busy with everything to do with swimming including motivating, educating, guest speaker on several topics, and training others. By the way I learnt to swim at 33, and I am now a young 49. So c'mon, Ion. Just try an open water swim. You would do well. And you might even be surprised how good it actually feels to take it outside the lines. Pick one and do it. It's an amazing challenge. Doing these distances in a pool would be ever so boring. Not so outside. Ps. I do my LSD (long slow distance in 2 lakes, both steps from my house. One is a smaller lake which I have a 300m across to a rock where I can do dive starts ;), a 200m, and 500m measured distances, for on the way swims in a 1km (GPS'd)loop down the lake. I average around 12 loops in this beautiful lake, + the 300m crossing each way. I train in the river when I don't have a boat as the community know me well, and really watch out for me. It is mostly not over my head, and not too wide so the shore is always easy to get to. In the big lake I do the much longer distances, usually 4-6 hours at a stretch. And it is where I get terrific wave practise in the afternoon.