Suggestions on Tapering for LD Ocean Swim

Thank you, Solar, for your suggestions and advice. I live in the western caribbean so the ocean temperatures are warm. But there may be waves, of course, if the wind blows a lot and it meets current which creates waves. Ocean waves aren't that bad. As you have probably experimented, they're so wide that they don't hit you. You play a surfing game with them. So the key of course is to play with them on a regular basis. Having no access to an Ocean here up north, our approach was simple. Get to the race course few days in advance (1 week before the important meets). It's been very helpful more than once. But strangely, the adaptation to jelly fishes or other sea "monsters", giant turtules, strange fishes has shown to be more of a concern (compared to waves). Little tip, if you think there will be jelly fishes, ask your coach to bring a mix of water/vinegar in a spray bottle. If you get burned, few spays of this mix and the pain is gone. I've done one 23 mile swim but back in the mid-90s and I basically only swam about 3 to 6 miles a day for it. Ah ! So you've been there. I'm not worried then. 'Course the ability to breathe every side may be important in open water races. I remember once a unilateral breather having to quit because of a major neck pain. I am amazed that your LD crowd does that kind of mileage, lord, that is a lot. I wasn't the one deciding on the weekly mileage or the content of the regiment. I don't know if it was really required. What I know though, is that we've had relative success. Have the result been better, equal or worse with less volume? I don't have the answer. But again, most males (3 of them actually) were sub-16min swimmers over 1500. 2 of them were top 5 contenders on the FINA world cup circuit; Jeff Roussy and Alex Leduc. The latter actually won an event (I think Chad Hundeby which you may happen to know as he was dominating the LD scene during the '90s, was not there). Between the marathon (done on a weekly basis), there was very few training sessions. Race on saturday or sunday. Dead until wednsday, few miles done on thursday and/or friday. Then an other marathon. Hence the huge volumes done in preparation for this summer punishment. I am amazed that you think I may not need to taper much and I will certainly keep that in mind when the time comes If I have an occasion (I might actually create this occasion), I'll get in touch with few folks and see how they do it nowdays, and what result they get. But I can already guess that the bottom line is to not get overtrained throughout the season. As the race approaches, you got to make sure not to overreach too much. Then you cut a bit the week before the race and that's it.

Thank you, Solar, for your suggestions and advice. I live in the western caribbean so the ocean temperatures are warm. But there may be waves, of course, if the wind blows a lot and it meets current which creates waves. Ocean waves aren't that bad. As you have probably experimented, they're so wide that they don't hit you. You play a surfing game with them. So the key of course is to play with them on a regular basis. Having no access to an Ocean here up north, our approach was simple. Get to the race course few days in advance (1 week before the important meets). It's been very helpful more than once. But strangely, the adaptation to jelly fishes or other sea "monsters", giant turtules, strange fishes has shown to be more of a concern (compared to waves). Little tip, if you think there will be jelly fishes, ask your coach to bring a mix of water/vinegar in a spray bottle. If you get burned, few spays of this mix and the pain is gone. I've done one 23 mile swim but back in the mid-90s and I basically only swam about 3 to 6 miles a day for it. Ah ! So you've been there. I'm not worried then. 'Course the ability to breathe every side may be important in open water races. I remember once a unilateral breather having to quit because of a major neck pain. I am amazed that your LD crowd does that kind of mileage, lord, that is a lot. I wasn't the one deciding on the weekly mileage or the content of the regiment. I don't know if it was really required. What I know though, is that we've had relative success. Have the result been better, equal or worse with less volume? I don't have the answer. But again, most males (3 of them actually) were sub-16min swimmers over 1500. 2 of them were top 5 contenders on the FINA world cup circuit; Jeff Roussy and Alex Leduc. The latter actually won an event (I think Chad Hundeby which you may happen to know as he was dominating the LD scene during the '90s, was not there). Between the marathon (done on a weekly basis), there was very few training sessions. Race on saturday or sunday. Dead until wednsday, few miles done on thursday and/or friday. Then an other marathon. Hence the huge volumes done in preparation for this summer punishment. I am amazed that you think I may not need to taper much and I will certainly keep that in mind when the time comes If I have an occasion (I might actually create this occasion), I'll get in touch with few folks and see how they do it nowdays, and what result they get. But I can already guess that the bottom line is to not get overtrained throughout the season. As the race approaches, you got to make sure not to overreach too much. Then you cut a bit the week before the race and that's it.