How many of you stop and for how long to fuel/ hydrate during the 10K postal swim? What do you drink if anything?
I can't decide if I should do this and when in the race. Is it allowed? I barely made it through the hour swim (and did just over 5,000 yds) last year.
Thanks for any thoughts!
How many of you stop and for how long to fuel/ hydrate during the 10K postal swim? What do you drink if anything?
I can't decide if I should do this and when in the race. Is it allowed?!
I would be surprised if it was not allowed for a race of that duration (guessing around 2+ hours). I too did the 1 hour postal, a hair shy of 5k and stopped once for about 5 seconds to grab a big mouthful of gatorade. I can't see how a race that long would not let you replenish fluids.
She-man,
I've never done the 10K postal. It's too hard to get a lane when our pool is set up for long course. I did do the 6000 yard postal this past fall though. I took a quick drink from my water bottle at the 3000 mark (very quick -- I think that my split for that 50 was 3 seconds slower than my average). I imagine that if I were to swim the 10K, that I would grab a drink at the 5000, and then possible again at 7500 if my mouth was getting too dry.
An interesting observation that I had for myself was that my 5000 split in my 6000 was faster than my 5000 split in the hour postal. I didn't stop at all in the hour postal, but it makes me wonder if I could have done just as well if I'd given in and taken a quick drink.
Kristi
I kinda of like to have a few rum and cokes while I watch 10K postals. :lmao:I'd never dream of swimming one, of course:drown:
How many of you stop and for how long to fuel/ hydrate during the 10K postal swim? What do you drink if anything?
I can't decide if I should do this and when in the race. Is it allowed? I barely made it through the hour swim (and did just over 5,000 yds) last year.
Thanks for any thoughts!
You can stop during ANY freestyle race (even a 50). From the USMS Rule Book:
102.15.5 Standing on the bottom during a freestyle race shall not disqualify a swimmer, but the swimmer must not leave the pool, walk or spring from the bottom. Standing on the bottom during any other stroke shall result in disqualification.
Anna Lea
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I've never done a 10k in the pool, but I did do an open water 10K in Atlantic City a few years back. Perhaps I am unusual in this regard, but i didn't get thirsty or hungry throughout the race, which took me about 2 hours and 35 minutes.
The water was probably in the 77-78 degree range, and my goal was to just finish the race, not to kill myself trying to go fast. Maybe that affected my thirst sensors, who knows?
Our workouts last week included two 5500 meter long course practices. Again, I never felt the slightest sense of thirst, though I probably lost about a half gallon of sweat and lung exhaust during the workout--181 lb. before and 178 lb. after. I did take a packet of GU with some water before swimming, but not prodigious quantities by any means--just a couple sips.
Do you guys get really significantly thirsty during workouts? Is your pool temperature 84 or above?
Do you guys get really significantly thirsty during workouts? Is your pool temperature 84 or above?
I have to force myself to drink in a 90 minutes swim workout. I will get through maybe one-third of a water bottle (tap water) unless I forget to drink.
I did a 5K open water swim last summer and didn't get thirsty at all. Water temperature was moderate (upper 70s? I don't recall exactly.)
What would I do in a 10K OW? I don't know...if no provisions were made for a feeding station, I would probably just hydrate very well before the race and go without.
In college I almost never drank during workouts, up to 3 hours long. Probably wasn't a good idea, but those were the dark ages.
On the other hand, when I'm on the bike I drink like A LOT; in the summer it will be one water bottle (Gatorade) every 15 miles, sometimes more on very hot days. Go figure.
I am not sure if you guys saw this, but I wrote an article on hydration that appeared in Swimmer. There are multiple myths about what constitutes proper hydration, many of these stoked by the bottled water association (which I am personally hopeful will be eventually recognized as the greatest marketing scam of the late 20th century. As one scientist put it, it's no accident that Evian is Naive spelled backwards.)
Among others, I interviewed Ann Grandjean, a nutritionist for the US Olympic teams, who concluded, among other things, that caffeine is NOT a diuretic in anybody who uses it regularly. Even in caffeine-naive individuals, it is only very mildly diuretic--not that water mongers would have us believe this.
Moreover, advice like "drink till your urine runs clear" is more likely to cause cramps, not stave them off, by flushing your body of electrolytes.
If anyone would like to see a .pdf of my article, send me a private message with your email address and I will send it to you. It was posted somewhere on the magazine's site, but I can't find it anymore.
