I have entered the Swim Around Lido Key event for April 14th. It is about a 7mile swim. The longest I’ve done previous is 3 miles, and that’s sorta like a long workout - took me 74 minutes. Seven miles is a bit longer and I’m wishing for some friendly advice.
Would anyone like to help me in my training for this? I’m wondering about the last week, or “taper week”.
I don’t think I should cut back to much less than 5-6000/day, but maybe I’m wrong here. I’m getting in 8-10,000 on Saturdays now, and have to limit my weekday swims to 5-6000 as it is. I just figure I want to be rested, but don’t want to over do the resting.
Thanks in advance!
So I finished the swim. It was ugly, lots of chop, and lots of vomiting by myself, which ended up causing me to disqualify myself, as I stood up on the bottom during a couple of my vomiting sessions. But it is done. My training, thanks to you guys, was spot on, and I was in about 6th place (per my kayaker) before I got sick. Didn’t finish so well, but I don’t know how to train for unexpected ingestion of massive amounts of salt water. It is what it is. I can now officially check that one off my bucket list, and go forward from here. Maybe a straight stretch down the beach, to avoid so much chop from here on, as I’ve always had a “delicate” stomach. Thanks again for the great advice, guys!
Celestial -
Congrats on finishing although it was not the swim you wanted it to be. One of the aspects of open water swimming that coaches and articles do not address is vomiting. It is hard on your body and when salt water is involved, just plain ugly (as you described). BUT, it is gonna happen to everyone at some time in a race.
FWIW - I find swimming along the shore to be worse - due to breaking waves.
PW
One of the aspects of open water swimming that coaches and articles do not address is vomiting.
I got a lot of help with this on the Marathon Swimming Forum (marathonswimmers.org/.../). There can be different reasons, and the solution depends on what caused it (sea sickness, ingesting too much food or liquid feeds, swallowing salt water). Some OW swimmers do seem more prone to it than others, and learn to "feed the fish" without even stopping. It's not as hard as it sounds, unless the retching is particularly violent.
Congratulations on finishing anyway, Celestial!
"Retch and Vomit":
marathonswimmers.org/.../
"Dealing with Sea Sickness":
marathonswimmers.org/.../
I've generally not had a problem with swims of 1 to 2+ miles from swallowing salt water. I don't get sea sick easily, but because you are immediately on top of rocking and rolling surf, I think that can happen pretty easily as there is no steady horizon - easier than in a boat where you can sight on the steady horizon.
My last Atlantic City swim was 1.5 miles, some wind and swell in the ocean, and I was not feeling great at the end. I swallowed my fair share of water and was more worried about diarrhea after getting out, but think the "sick" feeling was the beginning of motion sickness.
Check out the links from Janswim. I've taken dramamine when fishing and have never had a motion sickness problem when others who didn't take it were sick in less than an hour.
Way to hang in there, Celeste - now that you've done the training, go back after an OW swim and hope for a calmer day.
I'm a little surprised they DQd you for standing. Even in a pool meet swimming freestyle, I think you can stand on the bottom as long as you don't attempt to gain any competitive advantage.
Oh I'm so sorry you had a bad experience, but remember, every event is a learning experience. Hopefully your next one will be a bit better and more fun, for sure.
Two suggestions... bring candied ginger (Penzay's spices carries it) or ginger ale to help sooth the belly. And see if you may be swallowing water while you swim. In chop, it can't always be helped, but maybe see if you're blowing out through your nose underwater instead of with your mouth. You may be sucking in more than you realize.
