Gull mentioned the one hour postal swim in the Elite vs. Fitness thread and rather than go further off topic over there I decided to create a new thread.
So one thing I've been wondering about is what is the best way to swim it? The obvious strategy is to just start out with a pace you think you can hold for an hour and go for it. Past experience has told me this isn't always easy, though! Has anyone tried it using repeats? For example, to swim 5,000 yards you need to hold a 1:12 pace per 100. What if instead of trying to swim straight you did 100s on the 1:12? Maybe I'm crazy, but I feel like maybe I could hold 100s on the 1:12, going probably 1:07-1:08 the entire time easier than I could swim for an hour straight at a 1:12 pace.
Another strategy might be to have a goal pace in mind and keep swimming until you fall off the pace, then rest some amount of time and continue. The question is whether this approach would actually allow you to swim farther over the course of an hour. It seems a little counterintuitive, but maybe it would work.
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About three months ago I switched to bilateral breathing (every third). I can hold this pattern throughout a workout, even repeats of 400s. In November, when I swam the 3000 Postal, I managed 2000 breathing bilaterally, then went back to every other for the last 1000. It was fairly "painful." I'm thinking I should breathe every other for the one hour swim. Any thoughts?
I too was a "breathe every 2" a while back. I finally was able to get to breathing every 3 for long distances and at high intensity by doing this - breathe every 2, but off the walls, flip and take two pulls before breathing. This really helped my speed (I was faster off the walls by delaying breathing) and it gave me a good rush to see how much faster I got off the walls as compared to others. So, I kept this up and improved my lung capacity enough to then (over a very short time) breathe every 3 and keep the two pulls off each wall before breathing. Now, I'm working on breathing every 4 to 5. To do this, I'm first working on eliminating my breath before I flip. (No breathing into the walls). If that's too hard, I'll go for 3 pulls and then breathe after the flip turn.
An hour swim fast is very psychological and painful for me. I've been working on 30 minute straight swims with teammates who are near my speed. We make about 102 laps in that time frame - but then feel like :dedhorse: by the end. If the only issue after the swim is a spinning room, that's pretty good.
The 1 hr swim scares the heck out of me - but I'm going to give it a try this month. I'll most likely go out pretty fast (that's the sprinter in me - if I go out too slow, I get scared that I can't pick it up later) at about 80% and try and hold as long as possible. If I feel like :dedhorse: :dedhorse: :dedhorse: mid way through, then so be it.
During the 30 minute swims, there would be many times that I would start thinking negative thoughts, so I would have to be very aware of it and push them aside and replace with things like, "I can do it," "I will do it," etc. When tightening up, I'd be sure to really try and keep the stroke long, smooth and get good hip rotation.
Good luck to everyone who attempts this swim!
About three months ago I switched to bilateral breathing (every third). I can hold this pattern throughout a workout, even repeats of 400s. In November, when I swam the 3000 Postal, I managed 2000 breathing bilaterally, then went back to every other for the last 1000. It was fairly "painful." I'm thinking I should breathe every other for the one hour swim. Any thoughts?
I too was a "breathe every 2" a while back. I finally was able to get to breathing every 3 for long distances and at high intensity by doing this - breathe every 2, but off the walls, flip and take two pulls before breathing. This really helped my speed (I was faster off the walls by delaying breathing) and it gave me a good rush to see how much faster I got off the walls as compared to others. So, I kept this up and improved my lung capacity enough to then (over a very short time) breathe every 3 and keep the two pulls off each wall before breathing. Now, I'm working on breathing every 4 to 5. To do this, I'm first working on eliminating my breath before I flip. (No breathing into the walls). If that's too hard, I'll go for 3 pulls and then breathe after the flip turn.
An hour swim fast is very psychological and painful for me. I've been working on 30 minute straight swims with teammates who are near my speed. We make about 102 laps in that time frame - but then feel like :dedhorse: by the end. If the only issue after the swim is a spinning room, that's pretty good.
The 1 hr swim scares the heck out of me - but I'm going to give it a try this month. I'll most likely go out pretty fast (that's the sprinter in me - if I go out too slow, I get scared that I can't pick it up later) at about 80% and try and hold as long as possible. If I feel like :dedhorse: :dedhorse: :dedhorse: mid way through, then so be it.
During the 30 minute swims, there would be many times that I would start thinking negative thoughts, so I would have to be very aware of it and push them aside and replace with things like, "I can do it," "I will do it," etc. When tightening up, I'd be sure to really try and keep the stroke long, smooth and get good hip rotation.
Good luck to everyone who attempts this swim!
