Open Water Swim in Oct.

There may be a few more logistical details to work out, but ... I think I'll do this. I have some questions for the crowd: Background: In the past year I've competed in the 800 SCM & LCM, the 1000 SCY twice, and the 1650, finishing in 21:09. I've also done many (over a dozen) 3000 yard continuous swims in a SCY pool, complete with 119 flip turns, which takes me about 41 minutes. I think my technique and endurance are adequate to attempt this. But I've never done any open water swimming, or any endurance swimming longer than 40 or 45 minutes. I have three months to prepare. 1. Training. Currently I do about 15,000 to 20,000 yards a week in various pools, featuring lots of conditioning sets, various drills, etc., as is typical for a pool swimmmer. What else should I do in the way of training to prepare for a 10 mile river swim? Any special prep needed for open water? 2. In-race refueling & other logistics. You can swim 3000 straight in a pool without stopping for anything, but I'll bet you can't do the same for 10 miles. What in the way of drinks, gels, ham & cheese sandwiches, etc., should I have on the kayak? Should they be taken on a schedule? What else should be on the boat? 3. What am I missing? It would be better to know what the problems are now, three months out, than to discover something novel in the last week. What should I read? Any comments welcome! Caveat: I've done a number of OW races, but only up to the 5K distance Get some OW race experience prior to this, preferably some cold water experience I'd personally amp up your weekly yardage, but do so by swimming longer rather than more frequently (e.g., if you're doing five 4K workouts a week, go for five 6K workouts or four 7k to 8k workouts) and having your sets be longer If you can, do some OW lake or river training Read chaos's blog (forums.usms.org/blog.php and his race reports to understand feeding. Even though he goes longer than you will, he gives some great advice.

There may be a few more logistical details to work out, but ... I think I'll do this. I have some questions for the crowd: Background: In the past year I've competed in the 800 SCM & LCM, the 1000 SCY twice, and the 1650, finishing in 21:09. I've also done many (over a dozen) 3000 yard continuous swims in a SCY pool, complete with 119 flip turns, which takes me about 41 minutes. I think my technique and endurance are adequate to attempt this. But I've never done any open water swimming, or any endurance swimming longer than 40 or 45 minutes. I have three months to prepare. 1. Training. Currently I do about 15,000 to 20,000 yards a week in various pools, featuring lots of conditioning sets, various drills, etc., as is typical for a pool swimmmer. What else should I do in the way of training to prepare for a 10 mile river swim? Any special prep needed for open water? 2. In-race refueling & other logistics. You can swim 3000 straight in a pool without stopping for anything, but I'll bet you can't do the same for 10 miles. What in the way of drinks, gels, ham & cheese sandwiches, etc., should I have on the kayak? Should they be taken on a schedule? What else should be on the boat? 3. What am I missing? It would be better to know what the problems are now, three months out, than to discover something novel in the last week. What should I read? Any comments welcome! Caveat: I've done a number of OW races, but only up to the 5K distance Get some OW race experience prior to this, preferably some cold water experience I'd personally amp up your weekly yardage, but do so by swimming longer rather than more frequently (e.g., if you're doing five 4K workouts a week, go for five 6K workouts or four 7k to 8k workouts) and having your sets be longer If you can, do some OW lake or river training Read chaos's blog (forums.usms.org/blog.php and his race reports to understand feeding. Even though he goes longer than you will, he gives some great advice.