My goal was 4500; I went 4550, holding 1:19s. My training partner pulled away at 3000 and finished with 4625; I didn't try to stay with him. The first 2500 felt great (effortless?), but after 3000 I began feeling hungry and didn't want to bonk (we swam at 7am so there was no prerace meal other than my usual latte). Surprisingly, my time at the 3000 mark was only 15 seconds slower than my 3000 Postal time in November. My breathing pattern for the first 3500 was two breaths on the left, one on the right--which worked well. Looking forward to tapering (and shaving) at the end of the month for the Charlotte meet where I'll be squaring off with the Geek (and my training partner) in the 500. One of my college coaches used to say that the 500 is a sprint. Now I believe him.
I think I have adequate conditioning. I need to focus on technique and race pace swimming.
Former Member
Gull,
Awesome job exceeding your goal! :notworthy:
I just did the swim today. Holy cow! It was fun and he** at the same time.
Being a sprinter, I went out at a good clip. I did NOT hydrate well before the race and paid for it later with leg cramps starting up at the 30 minute mark. :frustrated:
(I'm used to races that are 5 minutes or less). I had to stop and drink water from the bottle with 10 minutes to go and I slowed down significantly within those last 10 minutes.
Had a goal of 5000 and did 5080. Ultimate/ dream goal was 5150, but with the stopping and cramping, I fell short of it. I think it will be helpful to actually train serious distance for this in the future. . . Yikes. Hopefully, my coach is NOT reading this. :) She'll give me 8x800 if I'm not careful. :rofl:
I have a new respect for distance swimmers. :notworthy: :notworthy:
Wow! They are swimmers of steel.
Other than the leg cramps, it just seemed like a mental game (stay positive) the whole way through. I broke it up into 4 15 minute segments which helped tremendously. Breathed every 2 - ick and sometimes every 3. So much turning. . . But, felt okay otherwise (minus my legs). Need to try and find someone to do this with me next time!! But, a great counter/ timer did help.
Lord, you really need to be crazy to do this. :banana:
Found this on GoSwim this AM..
Men 25-29: 6115 by Daniel Veatch (I think that’s the most swum by ANYONE of any age)
Men 40-44: 5775 by Jeff Erwin
Men 45-49: 5500 by Sandy Macdonald
Women 30-34: 5625 by Lisa Hazen (I think the women’s all-time record)
Women 35-39: 5415 by Laurie Hug
Women 40-44: 5325 by Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen
She Man was within chow blowing distance of Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen!
Congrats to all! I still stand by my stance of having NO desire to see how far I could swim in an hour, but I have major respect for anyone who tries it. After swimming all four 50s at my meet today and the 100 free, I'm feeling very wimpy ... :confused:
Thanks Matt and Heather for your kind words.
Still a LONG way from those top swimmers. But, ya gotta start somewhere. :)
Matt, that would be some major, projectile chow blowing. :joker: I remember looking up those times before my swim and just thinking "Wow!" and then doing my own thing.
Heather, swimming all the 50s and 100 free is a LOT in a meet (at least I think so). In fact, I think I remember swimming just the 50s at some meets.
Did I read that you did some personal bests even not feeling 100% (had a hint of a cold)? That's awesome! How did those swims go? How was your 50 fly?
Looking forward to hearing more 1 hour postal stories!! If nothing else, I feel that swim increases anyone's threshold for pain. :woot:
I joined my Masters group in September '05, and did the 1 hour in January. I remember hating it, looking at the clock a lot, and having my technique fall apart fairly often.
This morning I hated it, looked at the clock a lot, and held my stroke a lot better -- and went about 10% further. That seems like decent improvement in a year. I'll take it, anyway.
You will note that I cleverly avoided any mention of actual yardage/meterage, so as to avoid unfavorable (for me) comparisons with my high-mileage brethren/sisteren. But the results are tabulated in yards, so I would assume the distances related by the others are yards. I swam it in SCM, and the results sheet says to multiply the result by 1.0936 to calculate yards.
Great job Bill! I'm a semi-seasoned swimmer and the postal scares the heck out of me - still does. I started to worry about it a couple days prior to the swim. I know my form fell apart about halfway into the swim. Instead of gliding across the water it felt more like "ker-plunk, ker-plunk" due to my breathing every two. I really don't think I'll be able to do 10% further next year - I think that's a super improvement you made.:notworthy: I too kept looking at the clock on occasion - was helpful and a bit distracting.
It sounds like this was your first time for the 1 hour. If so, that was an awesome swim.:applaud:
I've done it twice and hope to do it again this Sat. if I can get my wife or one of the kids out of bed to count and time for me. My biggest disadvantage to doing well is I am unable to do quality training between Thanksgiving and New Years because our pool closes during that time. For me it's just survival. I don't like to watch the clock. It just seems to make it drag on that much longer. I'll have my timer let me know every 500 and I just try to do it as a continuous set of 500's Seems easier to break it up that way.
