One Hour Postal Strategies

That's about what I think I could do. I know I could hold a few 500s in the 5:40-5:45 range, but not sure if I could keep it up for ten. In my mind, if I'm getting less than ten seconds rest it would probably be better to just swim continuously. Kirk: I would be very surprised that you would not be able to achieve 5000 Yards in an Hour judging from the distance swims you have done in the last 2 years unless you get real bored after 30 minutes or so. This is assuming that you are swimming at the 5:01.77 level for a 500, 18:05.33 for a 1650, and 9:24.10 for the 800 Free that you did at the World meet. From 1993 to 1997, I trained for this swim and went 5170 in 93, 5150 in 94, 5025 in 95, 4940 in 96, and 5100 in 97. In 1998 and 1999, not training distance very much I went 4785 in 98, and 4725 in 99. When I turned 50 for 2002, I trained distance and went 4870 and in 2003 went 4825. I have not done the 1 hour swim in 3 years but plan to do it on the last day of January. As I looked over my workout logs, I would do at least a 4000 to 4500 yard set on a 1:20 to 1:30 interval per 100 at different distances at least 3 times per week to build endurance and stamina and be aware of my stroke technique and make sure it would not get sloppy as fatigue hits. I was never a fan of doing sets where you are only getting 5 seconds rest because I believe its important to try to hold a constant pace and work up to that without getting totally exhausted. I am a firm believer that its more important to know and feel or your pace and if you have to have a higher interval of rest to accomplish that so be it. I recommend a 85% swim 15% rest, and if you can handle it, 90% swim 10% rest. One of the things I like about the 1 Hour Swim is that it comes at a time of year where swimmers can use the time before hand to build the aerobic base and elevate the aerobic system for the hard work that lies ahead in the 1 hour swim. Some of things I think about while trying to improve my maximum aerobic capacity is distance per stroke (DPS), to stretch during the swim and be consistent in strokes per length while trying to hold a consistent pace. If I remember correctly I would swim a little bit faster the first half but would not vary by more than 3 seconds per 100 on the second half of the swim. I would advise anyone swimming the 1 hour swim to know what there cruise interval is. Most swimming programs around the country use this concept as a way to teach pace in mid and long distance swimming. Usually this is done doing a timed 30 minute swim (T-30) or as little as a 500 swim. The objective of the T-30 is to swim as far as you can in 30 minutes and calculate your average time per 100. Additional seconds are added only one time per distance. For instance, if your CI is 1:15 per 100 and you are to swim a 300 on CI + 15 seconds, your interval wopuld be 4:00 (1:15 X 3 +15 seconds). Another way to calculate a pace is from a timed swim of 500 yards or more. Take the total time and get the average 100 yard/meter time. Then calculate an 85% effort to 75% effort to yield an interval. The one hour swim is the most popular postal swim and a lot of programs besides masters swimmers do it as T-60 swims but most do T-30 swims for bench marks of fitness, endurance and training. Unlike the other postal swims where you have to swim a set distance for time, this is a set time for distance and I believe you can use strategy better with this type of arrangement. If you can see a clock easily, you can compute in your head where you should be at all times and when to back off and when to push during the race. For instance, if my goal is say 5000, I know that I have to do 500's on 6, 1000's on 12, be at 1250 at the 15 minute mark, 2500 at the 30 minute mark, etc. This is what I do during the swim which keeps me from being bored. Swimmers are always surprised that they went as fast as they did and were able to accomplish the 1 hour swim easier then they thought, but if you really think about it most masters swimmers swim a practice and train at least 60 minutes to 90 minutes a session, so the hour swim is not that much of a stretch for most people as long as they adhere to there practice pace. Once they swim continuously and don't hold the pace there used to swimming then problems will arise. Tips and hints for a good one hour swim. 1. Do some endurance sets and know what pace you are capable of handling. 2. If you can get a scoreboard clock or have access to read a clock easily without disrupting your swim, this would be wise so you can hold and figure pace thoughout the whole 1 hour. 3. Get counts often. This is important because its very easy to lose track of where you are and what time you should be at for your goal swim. I have my counter use the standard lap counter that everyone uses for swim meets that counts up to 65 and has double orange counters for the end. The problem with these is that there are no even numbers so you have to get counts on odd lengths. So use 1100 instead of a 1000 as an example. I feel the more counts you can give a swimmer the better. This makes it difficult during the 1 hour swim because you usually have less than 40 seconds per 50 to write the time down and get the count in the water without getting everything wet but with practice it can be done. 4. Make sure you warm up and warm down adequately. I have seen a lot swimmers in my day that don't do either of these things properly and end up having a bad swim because of inadequate warm up or being sore for 3 days after the swim because of inadequate warm down. 5. If you can, do the swim in the best pool possible with the best conditions. This makes a big difference on performance and think of this event just like a National Championship meet where you would have the exact conditions like deep pool, cool water, excellent lane markers, etc.

That's about what I think I could do. I know I could hold a few 500s in the 5:40-5:45 range, but not sure if I could keep it up for ten. In my mind, if I'm getting less than ten seconds rest it would probably be better to just swim continuously. Kirk: I would be very surprised that you would not be able to achieve 5000 Yards in an Hour judging from the distance swims you have done in the last 2 years unless you get real bored after 30 minutes or so. This is assuming that you are swimming at the 5:01.77 level for a 500, 18:05.33 for a 1650, and 9:24.10 for the 800 Free that you did at the World meet. From 1993 to 1997, I trained for this swim and went 5170 in 93, 5150 in 94, 5025 in 95, 4940 in 96, and 5100 in 97. In 1998 and 1999, not training distance very much I went 4785 in 98, and 4725 in 99. When I turned 50 for 2002, I trained distance and went 4870 and in 2003 went 4825. I have not done the 1 hour swim in 3 years but plan to do it on the last day of January. As I looked over my workout logs, I would do at least a 4000 to 4500 yard set on a 1:20 to 1:30 interval per 100 at different distances at least 3 times per week to build endurance and stamina and be aware of my stroke technique and make sure it would not get sloppy as fatigue hits. I was never a fan of doing sets where you are only getting 5 seconds rest because I believe its important to try to hold a constant pace and work up to that without getting totally exhausted. I am a firm believer that its more important to know and feel or your pace and if you have to have a higher interval of rest to accomplish that so be it. I recommend a 85% swim 15% rest, and if you can handle it, 90% swim 10% rest. One of the things I like about the 1 Hour Swim is that it comes at a time of year where swimmers can use the time before hand to build the aerobic base and elevate the aerobic system for the hard work that lies ahead in the 1 hour swim. Some of things I think about while trying to improve my maximum aerobic capacity is distance per stroke (DPS), to stretch during the swim and be consistent in strokes per length while trying to hold a consistent pace. If I remember correctly I would swim a little bit faster the first half but would not vary by more than 3 seconds per 100 on the second half of the swim. I would advise anyone swimming the 1 hour swim to know what there cruise interval is. Most swimming programs around the country use this concept as a way to teach pace in mid and long distance swimming. Usually this is done doing a timed 30 minute swim (T-30) or as little as a 500 swim. The objective of the T-30 is to swim as far as you can in 30 minutes and calculate your average time per 100. Additional seconds are added only one time per distance. For instance, if your CI is 1:15 per 100 and you are to swim a 300 on CI + 15 seconds, your interval wopuld be 4:00 (1:15 X 3 +15 seconds). Another way to calculate a pace is from a timed swim of 500 yards or more. Take the total time and get the average 100 yard/meter time. Then calculate an 85% effort to 75% effort to yield an interval. The one hour swim is the most popular postal swim and a lot of programs besides masters swimmers do it as T-60 swims but most do T-30 swims for bench marks of fitness, endurance and training. Unlike the other postal swims where you have to swim a set distance for time, this is a set time for distance and I believe you can use strategy better with this type of arrangement. If you can see a clock easily, you can compute in your head where you should be at all times and when to back off and when to push during the race. For instance, if my goal is say 5000, I know that I have to do 500's on 6, 1000's on 12, be at 1250 at the 15 minute mark, 2500 at the 30 minute mark, etc. This is what I do during the swim which keeps me from being bored. Swimmers are always surprised that they went as fast as they did and were able to accomplish the 1 hour swim easier then they thought, but if you really think about it most masters swimmers swim a practice and train at least 60 minutes to 90 minutes a session, so the hour swim is not that much of a stretch for most people as long as they adhere to there practice pace. Once they swim continuously and don't hold the pace there used to swimming then problems will arise. Tips and hints for a good one hour swim. 1. Do some endurance sets and know what pace you are capable of handling. 2. If you can get a scoreboard clock or have access to read a clock easily without disrupting your swim, this would be wise so you can hold and figure pace thoughout the whole 1 hour. 3. Get counts often. This is important because its very easy to lose track of where you are and what time you should be at for your goal swim. I have my counter use the standard lap counter that everyone uses for swim meets that counts up to 65 and has double orange counters for the end. The problem with these is that there are no even numbers so you have to get counts on odd lengths. So use 1100 instead of a 1000 as an example. I feel the more counts you can give a swimmer the better. This makes it difficult during the 1 hour swim because you usually have less than 40 seconds per 50 to write the time down and get the count in the water without getting everything wet but with practice it can be done. 4. Make sure you warm up and warm down adequately. I have seen a lot swimmers in my day that don't do either of these things properly and end up having a bad swim because of inadequate warm up or being sore for 3 days after the swim because of inadequate warm down. 5. If you can, do the swim in the best pool possible with the best conditions. This makes a big difference on performance and think of this event just like a National Championship meet where you would have the exact conditions like deep pool, cool water, excellent lane markers, etc.