Postal 10K

Josh A postal is a virtual swim of sorts.... you do the event on your own with a counter/team whatever and then you enter the event...All the people that enter are then "scored" against each other according to age. We all do the same distance under the same rules and then at the end (somewhere in mid sept for the 5/10k's) all the results are compiled and scored according to time. So basically I swim it hear in houston and you swim it at your home pool and we turn our entry into the same place. So it is called 'postal'. there is a link under the competition link go to manuals/resources. hope this helps:p What a load of codswallop! Indyswimbag is having you on Josh. In reality it is all about providing a long enough distance to numb our bodies into a state of obedient somnolence so that we will not get involved in incidents of workplace rage and, thus, 'go postal'. Please see: en.wikipedia.org/.../Going_postal Syd

Josh A postal is a virtual swim of sorts.... you do the event on your own with a counter/team whatever and then you enter the event...All the people that enter are then "scored" against each other according to age. We all do the same distance under the same rules and then at the end (somewhere in mid sept for the 5/10k's) all the results are compiled and scored according to time. So basically I swim it hear in houston and you swim it at your home pool and we turn our entry into the same place. So it is called 'postal'. there is a link under the competition link go to manuals/resources. hope this helps:p

Indy - thanks for the info. That should cover it. One more question: I seem to remember a postal event of considerable length - I think 100kgs. or maybe miles. It was to be done within a certain time period. Does this sound familiar to you? Syd - thanks to you too. Learned a great new word from your post. Somnolence - that's a good one. :yawn:

Can someone explain to me what a postal race is? Possibly refer me to an explanation via a link?

I'm planning to do it for the second time this year (did it in 2005). I didn't really get bored. I was determined to complete the distance. Feeding breaks things up. I swam in a public pool so I had to keep my eyes open for people climbing into the pool and "swimming" (ladies with flowered bathing caps, not the type of people you could get a good draft from). I swam the 5k a month or so before the 10k as well. That might help people's confidence. Of course, building up to the distance in practice is important as well. A couple comments based on the previous messages in the thread: * No toys allowed (boards, pull buoys, fins, etc), so if you're planning to make the 5k/10k into workouts take that into consideration. * You *will* need to take in some nourishment. I recently timed Marcia Cleveland's 10k. She took hammer gel and maxim at the 4k, 6k and 8k marks. So for her it was at about one hour, 90 minutes and two hours. * If you're semi-serious about a good time, forget the 20-30 second feedings. Marcia's feedings were about 7 seconds each. Of course, Marcia is not your average distance swimmer either. :cheerleader: Skip Montanaro

Just to add a little something I am doing even though I train in the ocean. I've been doing 9x800's with just enough rest to hydrate each 800. Oh, I do these 3 days in a row, then 1 day off, and the next 3 days I do 6x800's same rest interval plus 3x800's sprinting every 20 strokes. Then I do something silly, I backfloat for 10 minutes and thank my stars I covered that distance! So every 3 days I take 1 day off; so far, so good; I seem to need the rest! And my mile time is falling now. Im swimming 4 miles in about an hour and 40 minutes.