Questions from a novice

1. Swimming is enough for me. I am sure you will get lots of suggestions for, weights lifting to gym exercises from others. 2. I just put on a swim suit and wear my googles. No sunscreen or protectors. Never wear sunscreen even when on the beach. I just don't over do the sun thing. Shower before and after swimming. 3. No breaststroke for me. 4. Try swimming in open water find out how far you can swim with ease. 5. Eat what tastes good and doesn't upset your stomach. I eat anything I want.

geochuck, you wear "googles"?:D By the way, how long do you swim each time?

I don't over do any thing anymore. I swim for 1000m and play around with push offs and streamlining sculling, kicking on my back for an hour or two a day generally. When I was into the marathon swimming that was another thing. I would swim 1 hr, 2hrs, 3hrs, sometimes two swims a day and some times more. Never more than a nine mile swim, lots of 5 mile swims. The races of course were much further then I trained.

Fuzzy, If at all possible, do a practice swim in open water. Is there a lake nearby? Nothing will help your confidence more than a swim in open water. Doing sets that are longer than your goal swim should carry over just fine. Some days swim the over-distance as a straight swim; some days break it into 400 or 500 segments. A hard set of 100s on a short rest interval (10 sec) will also help. Pacing is the biggest mistake - don't get carried away at the beginning and go out too fast. Keep a steady pace and go faster toward the end if you feel good. Enjoy your race. Betsy

Hi - I'll second the suggestion to swim in open water for practice so that you are exposed to a variety of conditions. On a wavy day, when all about you are getting seasick, keep your head underwater as much as possible. Do the OW swims incrementally. I swim buoys, and my first swim I turned around before the first buoy, it was such a different environment.:drown: For practice OW 1-mile swims during the day I take a water bottle and some light fruit for after (grapes, cherries, kumquats). For practices or swims early in the morning (7 a.m. for OW), I have at 5:00 or 5:30 a.m. a small portion of what I would normally eat for breakfast and push the fluids. Go long. It helps to find like-minded souls to swim with. Hope this helps, VB

1. Swimming is a full body workout. You probably don't need to do additional exercise to get a full body workout, and if you have specific goals outside of swimming, those will need to be taken into consideration when determining what other workouts would benefit. 2. You could try to find a used fast skin that is no longer good for racing, but tight enough to practice in. It sounds like you are really worried about sun exposure, and if that is the case, you might want to track down a covered pool. 3. Are you a ninja? Only ninjas and the genetically strange can do *** stroke kick well when first starting out swimming. Here is a good place to start with ankle stretching. www.goswim.tv/.../dryland---ankle-flexibility-exercises.html The real key is probably practice. As for 4 and 5, I don't open water swim. But I agree with the previous comments that it is mental. If you are mental, you are ready to swim open water :)

What do you mean by streamlining?

What does 1000 m translate to in yards. I swim in a 25 yd pool, do 72 lengths which is a mile, but can't get the meter thing down.

...1. Are there any muscles that swimming DOESN'T develop, and that I should work separately in order to have a "balanced" physique?...We always do some IM sets so I'm getting in at least some work in all 4 strokes. I also continue to run, about 15 mi./wk., altho I don't know why--most of the time I'm thinking I'd rather be swimming. 2. I live in CA and swim 3x a week in an outdoor pool at lunchtime so I'm getting lots of sun exposure. BESIDES sunscreen, is there anything I can wear in the water to protect at least my torso? I tried a rash guard once but it was too "draggy". Maybe I just need a really tight one.... 4. How do I know when I'm ready for (i.e. able to finish) an open water swim of say 1 mile in a lake? Yardage in a pool can't be the same . . . you rest between sets, you push off the wall, there are no waves, you don't have to look up to navigate, it's significantly warmer, etc. Is there a rule of thumb such as, if I can swim 2000 yds continuously in a SCY pool I should be able to swim a mile in a lake?... 5. What and when do you eat and drink before an open water swim? Thanks in advance! 1000 meters is 1094 yards. So, about 44 lengths. If you are doing all four strokes you're probably pretty balanced. Back stroke balances front crawl, but it's not a bad idea to do rotator cuff exercises for your shoulders and rowing-type pulls for your back muscles. Abdominal exercises, especially "the plank" are good for stability. A good sticky sunscreen with zinc and a high spf rating should protect for at least an hour in the water. My favorite was Hawiian Tropic "Cler Zinck", but now that I can't find it, Blue Lizard seems almost as good. If you use a rash shirt, it will have to be a very snug fit dry, as the fabric will relax when wet. The darker colors of Chlorban supposedly have an spf 50 rating. I did my first open water event on mostly all pool training, but my only goal was to finish and yes, not need to be pulled out. I got through with some wicked calf cramps, but finished okay. You can practice things like sighting in a pool, lift just your goggles out of the water to take a "snapshot" view as your recovering arm is coming out, put your face back in as that hand enters the water, breath on the other side. Never combine a breath with a sighting, it slows you down too much. As you are in a club, why not ask your clubmates to join you in open water practices? You can work together on getting used to starts, waves etc. I did Sasamat Lake last July on cold leftover pizza, mainly because the b&b I stayed at didn't serve breakfast until 8:00 and I had to get to the lake by 7:00 for sign-on. As I had two hours to digest it, it worked fine. Anything you find convenient and digestable, with a little fat and protein to make it last, should work for you, as long as you give it time to digest. Good luck! I'm sure you'll do fine.

4. How do I know when I'm ready for (i.e. able to finish) an open water swim of say 1 mile in a lake? Yardage in a pool can't be the same . . . you rest between sets, you push off the wall, there are no waves, you don't have to look up to navigate, it's significantly warmer, etc. Is there a rule of thumb such as, if I can swim 2000 yds continuously in a SCY pool I should be able to swim a mile in a lake? I don't mind finishing last, I just don't want to have to be pulled out of the water! 5. What and when do you eat and drink before an open water swim? Thanks in advance! You are probably ready now. Learn how to sight (think like a crocodile peering out of the water.) Learn to transition between *** and free mid-lap. Practice swimming with your eyes closed and work on getting your stroke to track straight (knowing how to sight is good, but the less you have to do it, the better) Physically, open water is not much more demanding than pool swimming. Just different. Your body adapts and is capable of more than you think. I often tell people open water is about 20% swimming ability and 80% being crazy enough to do it. In other words, it's mostly mental preparation you need. Yes, if you can swim 1500 yards in a SCY pool, you can easily swim a mile in a lake. IMHO, the walls hinder you as much as they help you. If you have never swam in a river or lake or not done it in a very long time, then it's a good idea to get in a little practice just so you are familiar with the general weirdness of open water. As for food, just have whatever you normally consume before an ordinary workout. I got this advice from a bike racer but it applies to swimming as well. Don't eat anything weird before a race. But if all you eat is weird, don't eat anything normal. In other words, don't mess with your diet too much.