I have three OW swims in late May/early June. Two are long distance (2.4 and 3.1 miles). I have been doing one day a week of distance work as prep. I have some difficulty in creating a good distance workout for myself that isn't boring (4 X 1000 isn't very fun). Given I have time for about 4500-5000 in our practice time, I was wondering if anyone has any good distance workouts to suggest? You can always PM me with your ideas if that suits you better.
I realize there is an OW section on the forum but figure more people view this section.
I have three OW swims in late May/early June. Two are long distance (2.4 and 3.1 miles). I have been doing one day a week of distance work as prep. I have some difficulty in creating a good distance workout for myself that isn't boring (4 X 1000 isn't very fun). Given I have time for about 4500-5000 in our practice time, I was wondering if anyone has any good distance workouts to suggest? You can always PM me with your ideas if that suits you better.
I realize there is an OW section on the forum but figure more people view this section.
The good news is that 3.1 miles is not long by OW standards (just 5K, similar to the hour postal swim) and 4500-5000 is plenty of yardage to prepare.
More good news: pretty much any set where you don't get much rest will work, so use your imagination. For aerobic work, I find that "pyramid" sets are a little less boring than most: 100-200-300-400-500-400-300-200-100 is a "quick" 2500 but doesn't really seem that bad. Find a rhythm and pace you feel like you can hold for one hour and work on slowly increasing it. Every Friday is "broken mile" Friday for our workout group, we all try to find different ways to break up the mile and get the overall time; in more than one year I don't think we've done the same thing twice. (Today was a pretty pedestrian 11 x 150.)
Try to work out LCM as much as possible. Very helpful to find a good rhythm that (hopefully) effortlessly gobbles up the yards.
Do some OW practice swims when you can, the breathing and sighting is different than in the pool.
Oh, and you should come up to Charlottesville for the Chris Greene 2 mile cable swim in July. Cable swims are great: an open water swim with a lane line to help you swim straight! It's a national championship this year, I've seen plenty of people from NC in the past.
There is a beach area for the kids. And, even with my dislike of all things UVa, I have to admit that C'ville is a pleasant town with pretty surroundings. Bring your bike, plenty of good hills nearby.
I have three OW swims in late May/early June. Two are long distance (2.4 and 3.1 miles). I have been doing one day a week of distance work as prep. I have some difficulty in creating a good distance workout for myself that isn't boring (4 X 1000 isn't very fun). Given I have time for about 4500-5000 in our practice time, I was wondering if anyone has any good distance workouts to suggest? You can always PM me with your ideas if that suits you better.
I realize there is an OW section on the forum but figure more people view this section.
The good news is that 3.1 miles is not long by OW standards (just 5K, similar to the hour postal swim) and 4500-5000 is plenty of yardage to prepare.
More good news: pretty much any set where you don't get much rest will work, so use your imagination. For aerobic work, I find that "pyramid" sets are a little less boring than most: 100-200-300-400-500-400-300-200-100 is a "quick" 2500 but doesn't really seem that bad. Find a rhythm and pace you feel like you can hold for one hour and work on slowly increasing it. Every Friday is "broken mile" Friday for our workout group, we all try to find different ways to break up the mile and get the overall time; in more than one year I don't think we've done the same thing twice. (Today was a pretty pedestrian 11 x 150.)
Try to work out LCM as much as possible. Very helpful to find a good rhythm that (hopefully) effortlessly gobbles up the yards.
Do some OW practice swims when you can, the breathing and sighting is different than in the pool.
Oh, and you should come up to Charlottesville for the Chris Greene 2 mile cable swim in July. Cable swims are great: an open water swim with a lane line to help you swim straight! It's a national championship this year, I've seen plenty of people from NC in the past.
There is a beach area for the kids. And, even with my dislike of all things UVa, I have to admit that C'ville is a pleasant town with pretty surroundings. Bring your bike, plenty of good hills nearby.
