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.
I know. I should be able to do it easily.
I've done the event twice. The first time was in 2003 and I went 4960 yards. That was my first year in masters and I had started back swimming in September, so really that was pretty decent. I wanted to do 5000, but fell a little short.
In 2004 I was in much better shape and knew I could easily go more than 5000 yards. Unfortunately I got bad calf cramps on about three different occasions during the swim and that really slowed me. It's actually funny to look at my splits because it's glaringly obvious where I cramped up. I "only" did 4,900 yards.
I haven't done it since then. I think it's time to give it another shot. I've done 5K open water swims in just over an hour, so it sure seems like I should be able to do it in a pool. I'll definitely take it out nice and easy, because I think I paid the price both previous times by going out a little fast.
Kirk:
Good luck with the 2007 1 Hour swim. If you pace it right I don't think you will have a problem with the > than 5000 goal. Just curious, would you do this swim at the old Pavilion pool at the University? Have thought about doing this at the Federal Way 2007 Short Course Nationals pool? Sometimes an excellent pool can make a difference. Is the Univ. of Washington pool similar to the old Michigan State University pool you swam in at college?
I noticed that the only one person in USMS history has gone over 6000 yards in the 1 Hour Swim and that is 1988 Olympian Daniel Veatch. He did that back in 1994 and went 6115, which is almost 200 yards more than anybody else has done. That is quite a milestone of someone going under 1 minute pace for the whole hour. I remember when Mike Brunner and Bobby Hacket did this many years ago for 100 minutes resulting in 10,000 Yards. I went back and checked his times for that year in SCY and found that he did the 500 Free in 4:36.13, the 1000 Free in 9:40, and the 1650 in 16 minutes. So he kind of kept pace as the distance went along.
I once heard that Tom Dolan, Chris Thompson, and Tom Siciliano went 6600 yards for there T-60 swims. That should not be surprising because both Dolan and Thompson were under 14:30 for there 1650 swims when they set there American Records. Siciliano was up in the high 14:30's. I am sure there are others out there that could do 6600 in the 1 hour swim.
I know. I should be able to do it easily.
I've done the event twice. The first time was in 2003 and I went 4960 yards. That was my first year in masters and I had started back swimming in September, so really that was pretty decent. I wanted to do 5000, but fell a little short.
In 2004 I was in much better shape and knew I could easily go more than 5000 yards. Unfortunately I got bad calf cramps on about three different occasions during the swim and that really slowed me. It's actually funny to look at my splits because it's glaringly obvious where I cramped up. I "only" did 4,900 yards.
I haven't done it since then. I think it's time to give it another shot. I've done 5K open water swims in just over an hour, so it sure seems like I should be able to do it in a pool. I'll definitely take it out nice and easy, because I think I paid the price both previous times by going out a little fast.
Kirk:
Good luck with the 2007 1 Hour swim. If you pace it right I don't think you will have a problem with the > than 5000 goal. Just curious, would you do this swim at the old Pavilion pool at the University? Have thought about doing this at the Federal Way 2007 Short Course Nationals pool? Sometimes an excellent pool can make a difference. Is the Univ. of Washington pool similar to the old Michigan State University pool you swam in at college?
I noticed that the only one person in USMS history has gone over 6000 yards in the 1 Hour Swim and that is 1988 Olympian Daniel Veatch. He did that back in 1994 and went 6115, which is almost 200 yards more than anybody else has done. That is quite a milestone of someone going under 1 minute pace for the whole hour. I remember when Mike Brunner and Bobby Hacket did this many years ago for 100 minutes resulting in 10,000 Yards. I went back and checked his times for that year in SCY and found that he did the 500 Free in 4:36.13, the 1000 Free in 9:40, and the 1650 in 16 minutes. So he kind of kept pace as the distance went along.
I once heard that Tom Dolan, Chris Thompson, and Tom Siciliano went 6600 yards for there T-60 swims. That should not be surprising because both Dolan and Thompson were under 14:30 for there 1650 swims when they set there American Records. Siciliano was up in the high 14:30's. I am sure there are others out there that could do 6600 in the 1 hour swim.
