I hope no one minds, but I could use your input. And if I repeat myself, it is for the benefit of any new people to this forum.
I am training for what I call an epic swim; a swim from the island of Roatan to Utila in August of 2008, the year I turn 60. The distance is about 19 miles. After months of not swimming by choice, I started re-training this past January 15th. Due to previous swimming injuries, I decided to not leap into it but to train smart so I don't have any downtime due to injury flareups.
In January, I only swam Monday-Wed-Fridays and the yardage started small. My total from Jan 15 to the 31st was 8,800 yds.
In February, I added a fourth swim day, Saturdays. I decided to make Mondays and Fridays drill and sprint days, and Wednesdays and Saturdays are distance days, many times I time them to see progress. My total yardage from Feb 1 to Feb 24th is 26,980 yds. There were 6 days in there the ocean was angry and the swims were of short duration.
Two weeks ago, I timed my 2nd 2 mile swim and it is down from a 54:07 to a 51:02 so I see progress, and not just in time but how trashed I felt hours after it. Last Wednesday, I timed a 1 mile swim and it was a 27:01 so that is rather slow compared to the 2 mile, but hey, we all have off days.
Since that time, I have been extremely fatigued, I actually did not swim this past Saturday because I needed the rest. It is difficult doing a load of laundry. Now, I do not take vitamins because there aren't any here but I plan on getting a suitcase full when I go home to Texas in April. Also, it is hard to hydrate during training because the little island kids steal my gatorade and water off a chair on the beach. But I am not sure how important hydration is for a mile or 2 mile swim, but when I get into the 4 milers and I am about ready to break into those, I guess I'll have to figure a way like wear them around my neck or something.
My questions are: do I need to incorporate periodization into my training routine (periodization is where you swim so many weeks on, and so many days off on a regular basis); what vitamins or replacement products would benefit me as I move upward into more mileage? The reason I am asking these questions is when I go home the end of April for a visit, I will be able to buy anything that may help my body regulate the training I am incurring. The only thing here is Gatorade and my problem with that is it may take so much of it, that my stomach will be sloshing around full of liquid; not a good thing.
Sorry this is long, but wanted to layout the groundwork. So, periodization, pros and cons? Replacement products? Vitamins?
Donna
Parents
Former Member
Hi Leonard - remember me from the Swim for Life? Are you doing it again this year? I hope to see you there. Swimmy and I will be doing it again this year. I am also doing the 4.4 mile Bay Swim the week before.
As always, your posts are so helpful! I was wondering if you have any advice on how much to train per week, for how long, before a major swim like Manhattan or what Donna is trying?
Specifically, how many yards per week is sufficient to do the Manhattan swim or one of the Channel swims? I am sure my current 30,000 max per week would not be enough. I would probably need to work up to at least 40,000, I would think, but I would be curious to hear how much you do when you are training for one of the big ones.
Also, have you done the English Channel or Catalina? I would think that Manhattan is similar in some ways in terms of the distance, but very different in terms of the environment. Any insights you care to share?
Thanks so much. I hope I get to see you at the Swim for Life this year.
Take care,
Diana
Hi Diana - Yes, I do remember you :) Not sure what I am doing this year WRT which swims. Unfortunately, I have been dealing with some problems, both personal and professional, since about last May and this has limited my training. If I do Swim for Life, I may do it as a "tourist swim" - just a good excuse to get out in the water and swim an easy 5 miles. It's all up in the air.
I've not done English Channel or Catalina. If Manhattan had gone well last year, I was thinking Catalina this year and the EC next, but that all will have to wait.
As to training for Manhattan, at times I got up to about 55,000 yards/week. I'm not at all sure that much yardage is necessary, but I wanted some insurance. However, rather than distance, IMHO I think that doing Manhattan revolves around three things:
1) Efficient stroke. You are riding the current much of the time and if you can take advantage of that, it makes it much less tiring. After 6-ish hours in the water, I wasn't particularly tired and my arms weren't dead either. I attribute that to both the volume of work, but particularly to the amount that I worked my technique, both in practice and in the race.
2) The ability to deal with the dreaded Whirlpool/Lower Harlem River section. After 2-ish hours of going up the East River with the current, you suddenly hit the Hell Gate whirlpool area and it is all going against you for quite a while (1.5-2 hours, I think, but it seemed like years). I knew this would happen and did workouts specifically tailored to deal with it. e.g. Do a 3 hour straight swim at decent pace (4,000 yards/hour for me), but then accelerate the last hour to a faster pace. This simulated trying to glide up the East River and then having to dig in to fight the current at the whirlpool/Harlem River section. I also did alot of 1-2 hour workouts were I would accelerate for some distance every so many minutes and then go right back to pace. It worked well and it was in this section that I started to overtake various other swimmers and relay teams. As soon as the current started going with me again, I went right back to really working my glide.
3) Dealing with the water temperature. It was a bit cold last year, so being able to stay in the water for 8-9 hours down to about 60 degrees is necessary. Some of that is genetic, some training, some luck. I also suggest that you consider doing the Boston Light Swim. It is a good combo of cold water, some glidingwith the current, some rougher sections and then gliding again. Plus, it's a fun race.
In general, I think that rather than get yardage obsessed, start thinking in terms of specific abilities needed (like the ones above - there are others) and then try to figure out how you can achieve them. The yardage will end up coming along "for the ride." Training for the sake of training (all too common in swimmers) is not the best use of your time - train specifically to achieve a goal by breaking it down and then training the abilities needed to achive the goal.
There are other people here with far better credentials than mine in terms of races that they have done, so hopefully, they will chime in with some ideas. (e.g Terry Laughlin, Rob Copeland, etc.)
So we don't bore everyone else, feel free to PM me if I can give you my poor thoughts on anything specific.
Best & hope to see oyu in Chestertown,
LBJ
Hi Leonard - remember me from the Swim for Life? Are you doing it again this year? I hope to see you there. Swimmy and I will be doing it again this year. I am also doing the 4.4 mile Bay Swim the week before.
As always, your posts are so helpful! I was wondering if you have any advice on how much to train per week, for how long, before a major swim like Manhattan or what Donna is trying?
Specifically, how many yards per week is sufficient to do the Manhattan swim or one of the Channel swims? I am sure my current 30,000 max per week would not be enough. I would probably need to work up to at least 40,000, I would think, but I would be curious to hear how much you do when you are training for one of the big ones.
Also, have you done the English Channel or Catalina? I would think that Manhattan is similar in some ways in terms of the distance, but very different in terms of the environment. Any insights you care to share?
Thanks so much. I hope I get to see you at the Swim for Life this year.
Take care,
Diana
Hi Diana - Yes, I do remember you :) Not sure what I am doing this year WRT which swims. Unfortunately, I have been dealing with some problems, both personal and professional, since about last May and this has limited my training. If I do Swim for Life, I may do it as a "tourist swim" - just a good excuse to get out in the water and swim an easy 5 miles. It's all up in the air.
I've not done English Channel or Catalina. If Manhattan had gone well last year, I was thinking Catalina this year and the EC next, but that all will have to wait.
As to training for Manhattan, at times I got up to about 55,000 yards/week. I'm not at all sure that much yardage is necessary, but I wanted some insurance. However, rather than distance, IMHO I think that doing Manhattan revolves around three things:
1) Efficient stroke. You are riding the current much of the time and if you can take advantage of that, it makes it much less tiring. After 6-ish hours in the water, I wasn't particularly tired and my arms weren't dead either. I attribute that to both the volume of work, but particularly to the amount that I worked my technique, both in practice and in the race.
2) The ability to deal with the dreaded Whirlpool/Lower Harlem River section. After 2-ish hours of going up the East River with the current, you suddenly hit the Hell Gate whirlpool area and it is all going against you for quite a while (1.5-2 hours, I think, but it seemed like years). I knew this would happen and did workouts specifically tailored to deal with it. e.g. Do a 3 hour straight swim at decent pace (4,000 yards/hour for me), but then accelerate the last hour to a faster pace. This simulated trying to glide up the East River and then having to dig in to fight the current at the whirlpool/Harlem River section. I also did alot of 1-2 hour workouts were I would accelerate for some distance every so many minutes and then go right back to pace. It worked well and it was in this section that I started to overtake various other swimmers and relay teams. As soon as the current started going with me again, I went right back to really working my glide.
3) Dealing with the water temperature. It was a bit cold last year, so being able to stay in the water for 8-9 hours down to about 60 degrees is necessary. Some of that is genetic, some training, some luck. I also suggest that you consider doing the Boston Light Swim. It is a good combo of cold water, some glidingwith the current, some rougher sections and then gliding again. Plus, it's a fun race.
In general, I think that rather than get yardage obsessed, start thinking in terms of specific abilities needed (like the ones above - there are others) and then try to figure out how you can achieve them. The yardage will end up coming along "for the ride." Training for the sake of training (all too common in swimmers) is not the best use of your time - train specifically to achieve a goal by breaking it down and then training the abilities needed to achive the goal.
There are other people here with far better credentials than mine in terms of races that they have done, so hopefully, they will chime in with some ideas. (e.g Terry Laughlin, Rob Copeland, etc.)
So we don't bore everyone else, feel free to PM me if I can give you my poor thoughts on anything specific.
Best & hope to see oyu in Chestertown,
LBJ
