Hello All...
My name is Elizabeth and I have a quick question. I used to be a swimmer but haven't since high school because I do not do well with competing for time.
But I love the distance... so my question is this....
Is there long distance swimming that is more based on endurance than on time... if so, what is this called? Is this a professional event thing, or is there ameteur... What's the longest distance out there... etc. etc.
Thanks, I appreciate any comments.
Parents
Former Member
Hi Elizabeth,
Definitely check out the long distance calendar at USMS web site. But here is some general info..... longest distance races at Master's swim meets are the 1000 and 1650 (short course yards ) and 800 and 1500 (long or short course meters). It is often difficult to find a meet which will offer both long distance races unless it is a national or regional championship. Often, you must choose one or the other even when they are offered as they run them on the same day! (This needs to be changed).
Postal swims are really where the distance events are offered. You do this at a local pool and send in the splits/entry to the host team which breaks them into age groups by distance or time. These include the Hour Swim, 3000/6000 yd, 5k/10k meters, plus a few others. These are good ways to rank yourself nationally against other swimmers your own age. And it gives you a benchmark to measure your improvement by each year.
And finally there are the Open Water Swims which vary in distances from 1/2 mile up to 25K swims and are in various lakes, bays and oceans regionally. USMS has several national championship open water swims which they try to spread out nationally. Hope this helps! Website has all this info on it and some open water swims may be listed in the regional websites for your area. (Good luck and congrats on getting back into it).
sharon
Hi Elizabeth,
Definitely check out the long distance calendar at USMS web site. But here is some general info..... longest distance races at Master's swim meets are the 1000 and 1650 (short course yards ) and 800 and 1500 (long or short course meters). It is often difficult to find a meet which will offer both long distance races unless it is a national or regional championship. Often, you must choose one or the other even when they are offered as they run them on the same day! (This needs to be changed).
Postal swims are really where the distance events are offered. You do this at a local pool and send in the splits/entry to the host team which breaks them into age groups by distance or time. These include the Hour Swim, 3000/6000 yd, 5k/10k meters, plus a few others. These are good ways to rank yourself nationally against other swimmers your own age. And it gives you a benchmark to measure your improvement by each year.
And finally there are the Open Water Swims which vary in distances from 1/2 mile up to 25K swims and are in various lakes, bays and oceans regionally. USMS has several national championship open water swims which they try to spread out nationally. Hope this helps! Website has all this info on it and some open water swims may be listed in the regional websites for your area. (Good luck and congrats on getting back into it).
sharon
