Postal 1 hour

RE: Postal 1 hour

art_z — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:59:51 GMT

I was watching the clock too, but I lost count of my progress after about 1,200. I must say looking at the clock at the 20 minute mark and realizing the was still 40 more minutes to go was a real wake up of what I was in for.

RE: Postal 1 hour

Former Member — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 15:11:16 GMT

One year I did the swim twice -- yes, a glutton for punishment -- the first time I swam it without any concern with time, just getting into a rhythm; the second time I watched the clock. I swam much better when I kept track of the time. I'm a chronic clock watcher. I generally check every 100.

RE: Postal 1 hour

art_z — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 10:44:25 GMT

Well, glad to say thats over. 4,937 yards. Can't say it was a pleasant experience. Was pretty much on pace till about 30 minutes when I started to slow down.

RE: Postal 1 hour

Kurt Dickson — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:30:21 GMT

If you've done 7k without chaffing, I wouldn't worry. I am a chunky dude and while I chaff with running, I do not usually with swimming unless it's open water or I use a wet suit.

RE: Postal 1 hour

art_z — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:07:59 GMT

From personal experience and the result of no vaseline protection prior to last year's 5K, I had to walk around with my arms outstretched for about a week from the underarm chafing. OUCH. . hmm, I've done recent workouts in ecxcess of 7k yards with no issues, but I guess it can't hurt to be prepared. thanks for the advice.

RE: Postal 1 hour

davesebastian — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:59:27 GMT

Another thing you may want to consider is some lubricant for the underarms and neckline. Chafing can occur when you get pumped up doing this amount of swimming without breaks, or just from the repetitiveness while continuously swimming for this amount of time. From personal experience and the result of no vaseline protection prior to last year's 5K, I had to walk around with my arms outstretched for about a week from the underarm chafing. OUCH. As I'll be doing my OHP tomorrow night, about to put the "glide" into the gym bag right now.

RE: Postal 1 hour

rtodd — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 07:55:53 GMT

Oh man, Did it for the first time.....and maybe the last. That was tough! It is alot harder than I thought. started out at 1:30 100's and ended in the 1:40's. Just could not hang in there. Total 3,300. Props to all the distance people out there.

RE: Postal 1 hour

slknight — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:44:49 GMT

START VERY EASY! It is great to have a goal time but don't get too hung up on it, listen to your body and resist the urge to look at the clock. I think that in this case, his goal time would be 1 hour. :lmao:Sorry, I couldn't resist. :bolt:

RE: Postal 1 hour

pwolf66 — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:29:47 GMT

I guess it would just be easier to find more time to swim so that I would be in better shape. Nah, that can't be it. :thhbbb: Paul

RE: Postal 1 hour

Former Member — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 08:55:04 GMT

"My best hour swim was when I had a pace clock next to me and I could calculate where I was for the entire swim." "It really helped when I had settled on a target pace per 500 for a swim and could see the clock easily." "Being able to see the clock will be key for me." Does the below rule apply to postal swims? 102.15.9 Swimmers are not permitted to wear or use any device or substance to help their speed, pace or buoyancy during a race...

RE: Postal 1 hour

pakman044 — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 04:24:29 GMT

Does the below rule apply to postal swims? 102.15.9 Swimmers are not permitted to wear or use any device or substance to help their speed, pace or buoyancy during a race... In competition, meets are supposed to have pace clocks for the warmup pools, although that requirement can be waived by the LMSC (USMS 107.16, 2008 rulebook): 107.16 PACE CLOCKS There shall be at least two large, accurate timing devices or clocks for each warm-up course, preferably located on opposite sides of the course, clearly visible to all swimmers. So certainly if the pace clock is a part of the facility, in a real meet, were it visible to the competitors, it would probably be fair game for it to be used by the competitors. In addition, since USA Swimming rules recommend that the pace clocks be on both sides of the course itself, and I don't think that it would be the intent of the USMS rules to say that a largely USA-S compliant facility is not a compliant USMS facility (compare USMS 107.16, 2008 rulebook, with USA-S 103.17, 2007 rulebook). We can also conclude that having a pace clock on deck pursuant to 107.16 would be permissible, as Part 1 rules apply when "applicable" in postal swims (USMS 304.1). Now whether you can wheel your own pace clock up next to your lane is another story. The facility rules don't say that a facility can't have extra pace clocks, nor do they say that a facility can't have pace clocks around the competition course. So my feeling is that would be permissible. But given that this is a self-policed postal event, it's probably not the intent to be so ticky-tack about that kind of rule. If you wanted to get that fine-grained, then let's take a situation where you were in a postal swim of any type, and HAD to use the bathroom. When you gotta go, you gotta go. Technically speaking, if you get out of the pool, you're disqualified ("Standing on the bottom during a freestyle race shall not disqualify a swimmer, but the swimmer shall not leave the pool, walk or spring from the bottom. ...") . But I would think in practice, it would be silly to DQ yourself and reswim in that situation--you just keep the clock running while you're on the toilet. Patrick King, who still is far too out of shape even to contemplate swimming the 1 hour postal

RE: Postal 1 hour

art_z — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 01:20:05 GMT

did a 1000 in practice yesterday, took a 50 easy and then did a 500. pool was hot, about 86 degrees. I did a 1k warmup then: 1000 was in 11:55 the first 500 was around 5:57. I started on a 1:10 pace and quickly settled into 1:12 or so. the following 500 was on 5:58. I'm thinking as long as the pool is a bit cooler (which I believe it is, Germantown Academy) I should be ok to keep that pace for an hour. Did not feel particularly worn out or overly tired.

RE: Postal 1 hour

Former Member — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:26:05 GMT

I'm thinking about it. I've never swam an hour non-stop (the longest to date has been 42 minutes in a 2.5k OW event). I'm guessing I could do 4,000-4,500 max. Probably closer to 4,000 because I'd probably want to stop at least twice, just to keep things sane. Has anyone done this and regretted it later? I'm referring to injuries sustained from attempting something you have no business doing.

RE: Postal 1 hour

Former Member — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:38:18 GMT

No unfair advantage here as I do not own any toys. To clarify my statement I roll over on the back and use long slow strokes to pull my way down the lane while I rest my muscles I have been using doing the free. This also allows me to get a lot of extra air. In a 25 or so I roll back over and go at it again. I guess it would just be easier to find more time to swim so that I would be in better shape.

RE: Postal 1 hour

smontanaro — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:28:09 GMT

When my stroke falls apart I will change to backstroke and pull a 25 or so... "pull" as in with a pull buoy? Sorry no toys allowed in the postal events. Skip Montanaro

RE: Postal 1 hour

Kurt Dickson — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 06:15:10 GMT

David, You shouldn't actually injure yourself if you have been swimming every (or every other day). The last 2 years I've done every possible postal event and I think the hour is hardest for me because of the time of year. It's winter, I'm bloated from Christmas, and do not feel like doing anything. The last 6 years, I've done the one hour and usually if I'm not sick before doing it, I'm sick two days later (viral uri stuff). If you push it, it will make you cry. If you stick with a reasonable pace, you should be fine.

RE: Postal 1 hour

Former Member — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:34:04 GMT

I am no threat to ya'll as my goal is a modest 3500 this year to match last years swim. I like to split the event into 500's and just concentrate on long easy strokes the whole way. When my stroke falls apart I will change to backstroke and pull a 25 or so, this makes a huge difference for me. This plan will not get you those repeat 100's of about a minute, sorry. A USMS member sent me a message last year that I kept repeating to myself. "swim the best you can. It doesn't matter if you finish first or last." This was good advice which netted me 500 more yards than my 3000K goal last year. Good luck every one.

RE: Postal 1 hour

poolraat — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:25:50 GMT

My best postal swims (3000 & 1 hour) came when I didn't watch the clock but had my counter let me know how far I had gone by using the kickboard scheme described by (S)he-Man earlier in this thread. Except I asked for the signal every 500 yards on the 3000 and every 1000 during the 1 hour.

RE: Postal 1 hour

knelson — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:08:24 GMT

I'm usually of the mindset that I don't really want to see the clock. Usually my body finds it's own pace and watching the clock is only going to annoy me if I'm swimming too slow. For a swim this long I like to get into a good pace then just try to zone out. Knowing exactly where I'm at for an entire 60 minutes is just too much for me.

RE: Postal 1 hour

art_z — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:16:31 GMT

I'm a chronic clock watcher in practice for anything over a 100, always looking at my splits off the 50 when I come up to breath. Being able to see the clock will be key for me. did 4x500 the other day on 6:15 and was able to hold 1:10 pace comfortably, hopefully I can keep that pace or close to it, with no rest.

RE: Postal 1 hour

Kurt Dickson — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:38:59 GMT

That is the problem starting slow as it is difficult speeding back up in something so long (I find it easier to negative split in something shorter like a 500 or 1000). Of course if you go out too hard, it is 50 minutes of torture. Also, make sure your surroundings know you are doing the swim. I usually go up to the lifeguard and try to convey the fact that if he stops me or tries to take out a lane-line after 50 minutes of me hurting myself, I may have to kill him (in a nice way of course). Your timer is your advocate (keeping people out of your lane, etc.) and when I've used one of my useless children, I've regretted it.

RE: Postal 1 hour

art_z — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 01:14:54 GMT

my fear is if I drop off pace for a 500, I will never be able to get back on track, at least if I'm always on the clock, I'll know when I start slowing down immediatley. the down side to either approach is if I do start slowing down, there isn't much I'll be able to do about it.:sad: I will definitley tackle it as 10x500, keeping particular attention to the splits at 200, 250 (because its the psychological 1/2 way point to 500, its a downhill swim from there), 300, 400 and 500. man, what the hell did I get myself into :frustrated:

RE: Postal 1 hour

Former Member — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:59:19 GMT

I'm doing my first one in two weeks. Any tips from the veterans? I'm shooting for 5,000 yards which I think works out to about a 1:12 pace per 100. Good luck! Let us know how it goes! Last year I did 5080 (if I'm remembering correctly). I had to stop briefly with 10 minutes to spare b/c I had leg cramps. Drank some water and continued on. I believe I did not hydrate and fuel up properly. My coach said I should have hydrated beginning the day or two before! Makes sense now to me. I recommend the endurance drink of your choice. I also had my counter give me colored kickboard signals at 15 minute intervals to know if I was on pace or not (red if I was off pace or blue if I was on pace). This helped me tremendously as I divided up the swim into 4 15 minute segments (mentally). Seemed shorter that way. I also positioned myself so I could see the digital clock when coming off the walls. Basically, I knew that I was on pace and how many laps I had done (was also shooting for 5000). Oh, and I had done some 30 minute swims the months prior. I must say the 60 minute swim is MUCH more challenging. Okay, I'll be honest. Was grueling but very worth it as my pain tolerance really increased as a result of doing this swim. The 1000 now seems very doable!

RE: Postal 1 hour

art_z — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:13:35 GMT

Art _z: We had a very interesting discussion about this last year and rather than rehash that, I have provided the link and hope this helps. forums.usms.org/showthread.php awesome, thanks!

RE: Postal 1 hour

Frank Thompson — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:53:00 GMT

I'm doing my first one in two weeks. Any tips from the veterans? I'm shooting for 5,000 yards which I think works out to about a 1:12 pace per 100. Art _z: We had a very interesting discussion about this last year and rather than rehash that, I have provided the link and hope this helps. forums.usms.org/showthread.php