Can speed practice alone help long distance endurance?

Absolutely, for as a kayak escort, sprinters have no trouble taking on the surf and strong currents. Long distance marathon swimmers do have trouble and I have to fish them out all the time. Speed practice really helps you punch out, while you'll just be marking time and swimming in place when the current is against you if you train long and slow like "marathon swimmers" do. If you're busy work-a-holic that can manage an hour of training a day, then speed practice is for you, and a one mile to 2 1/2 mile open ocean swim will be a piece of cake. Anything over an hour of practice is just garbage milage and is counter productive. Forget technique, for out in the ocean, you just throw your arms out there and see what works, for all that efficient stroke stuff means nothing when you're getting banged up in the surf. Suit yourself Chaos, but I'm talking survival. I've personally pulled long distance swimmers with picture perfect strokes onto my kayak. Swimming in the surfzone, out, back and parallel to the breakers means you throw anything out there that will work. If you can swim with the perfect stroke, while at the same time being kicked, whacked, scratched and tossed around swimming in a pack, then more power to you. But I personally prefer a body surf stroke that allows me to zig and zag with the flow of the water and get me to shore with enough energy to run up the beach to the finishline. Remember, the ocean is the great equalizer, and you are not wearing fins or pfd, so swim accordingly. In the middle of nonsensical notions like "inefficient swimming leaves you more energy" and "anything over one hour training is not just wasted but harmful," there is some value to what Clyde is saying. Not about the body-surf-stroke silliness, but: -- if you have limited training time, do it at higher intensities -- distance swimmers do need to be able to "punch it" at times to deal with a variety of circumstances, most especially in OW swimming

Absolutely, for as a kayak escort, sprinters have no trouble taking on the surf and strong currents. Long distance marathon swimmers do have trouble and I have to fish them out all the time. Speed practice really helps you punch out, while you'll just be marking time and swimming in place when the current is against you if you train long and slow like "marathon swimmers" do. If you're busy work-a-holic that can manage an hour of training a day, then speed practice is for you, and a one mile to 2 1/2 mile open ocean swim will be a piece of cake. Anything over an hour of practice is just garbage milage and is counter productive. Forget technique, for out in the ocean, you just throw your arms out there and see what works, for all that efficient stroke stuff means nothing when you're getting banged up in the surf. Suit yourself Chaos, but I'm talking survival. I've personally pulled long distance swimmers with picture perfect strokes onto my kayak. Swimming in the surfzone, out, back and parallel to the breakers means you throw anything out there that will work. If you can swim with the perfect stroke, while at the same time being kicked, whacked, scratched and tossed around swimming in a pack, then more power to you. But I personally prefer a body surf stroke that allows me to zig and zag with the flow of the water and get me to shore with enough energy to run up the beach to the finishline. Remember, the ocean is the great equalizer, and you are not wearing fins or pfd, so swim accordingly. In the middle of nonsensical notions like "inefficient swimming leaves you more energy" and "anything over one hour training is not just wasted but harmful," there is some value to what Clyde is saying. Not about the body-surf-stroke silliness, but: -- if you have limited training time, do it at higher intensities -- distance swimmers do need to be able to "punch it" at times to deal with a variety of circumstances, most especially in OW swimming