I *think* I know the answer to this but I wanted to confirm -
Getting ready to swim the 25K USMS OW swim next Saturday. And yeah, yeah, I know everyone on here is going to say that doing the 25 is crazy. But it will be done. :wiggle: Insert loco smiley here.
I also signed up for USA-S GA Senior State meet which is 5 days after the 25K. The meet is the following Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Is it just asking for an injury to race that soon after the 25K? I've never done that kind of distance before. Or can I swim a couple of events (I will scratch finals) if I feel fine and nothing is hurting me? Or should I just expect to feel terrible for a week after the swim?
I've never been in better shape in my life. That's probably a good thing with the 25K coming up.
Thanks!
I think there's a good chance you'll be completely trashed and probably won't swim that fast at the meet, but I don't really think you're risking injury.
My recommendation is to take at least a solid week off before you even think about touching the water. Even then I'd only do about 1000 a few times for a couple weeks.
I ran the Chicago marathon in 2000. I felt fabulous in all my training runs (well as good as you can). My 20 mile run was awesome but I needed a break after the actual marathon - I could barely walk for about 4 days.
I think physically and mentally you'll need and want a break. I'd skip the meet altogether but if you are feeling fantastic after you could try (as suggested above) a long real easy swim on Wednesday and see what happens.
Forcing yourself to try and swim fast very well may end of putting you on the path towards an injury.
What's your new diet, and how does it compare to your old one?
I'm interested too!
You'll do great!! How long does a "race" like that take? 5 hours? Ouch.
Doesn't sound like a real injury issue to me either if there's nothing creaky or twingey right now. But I think it would be mentally and physically difficult to get in the water right away and race. Besides, you already have many extremely fast LC times and you can come to Colonies Zones and smoke me in fly! (Well, not the 200 of course; you're on your own there.)
Straight ahead!
So you have 4 full days to rest? Hmm? Well, only you will be able to determine how fatigued you are after a few days rest. I would base my decision upon an easy recovery workout on the Wednesday prior to the meet. If I felt like trash and my joints and muscles were still recovering, it would seem wise to skip the meet and live to swim another day.
Good luck in the 25K. There's another certified insane member on here with aspirations to swim this same event. You two should undergo joint therapy. :)
I have a friend that used to do this swim and others that were MUCH longer. He was a 1650 NCAA finalist and was training 40-50k yards/week at the time in his early 30s. My feedback is based on how well he got back into it when we trained together.
You will need about 2 weeks to recover and do anything other than easy-moderate effort as far as practice. It is not the yardage as much as that the pool yardage is interval training and OW is OW..... no walls.... no stopping (maybe a little stopping for snacks with a long one like that).
You can always go to the meet, but don't expect much. Usually effected my friend 2-5 seconds per 100, so if it is still value added to attend a meet and go that much slower, then feel free.
Thank you Donna! You go get 'em at Nationals!! GOOD LUCK! Maybe I'll see you at next year's LCM nats. I hear it's in Indy?!
Makes good sense to me SCYFreestyler. I don't see myself swimming the meet if things are hurting. But if I'm not hurting. . . I'll be tempted.
You're Special K remember, you can do it!
I think like others fatigue not injury is the worry. that said. rest before, take a diligent approach to your diet in the recovery period. Green tea, bananas, maybe some supplements to help recovery. Don't idle but limit days between the two events to some EZ stretchy type of swimming or other exercise.
