Out of curiosity, how much time does an average open water swimmer spend training each week?
And what distance events do most average open water swimmers participate?
On a weekly basis, I'm grateful when I can swim three times for an hour and fifteen minutes (4500 m). Last summer I did my first two open water events, 1.5 and 1.0 miles. I'm wondering if a longer event would be reasonable? But spending less time with my family, or at work, or asleep, are not options.
What's your approach?
I average just shy of 20K SCY equivalents a week, usually split across 4-5 workouts in the pool. When I race OW, I like to swim 4K and 5Ks. This amount of training, for me, is sufficient to race those.
I think the answer to your larger question, though, is very individualized. I know of people doing VERY long marathon swims, who train maybe 25K-30K per week.
I average just shy of 20K SCY equivalents a week, usually split across 4-5 workouts in the pool. When I race OW, I like to swim 4K and 5Ks. This amount of training, for me, is sufficient to race those.
I think the answer to your larger question, though, is very individualized. I know of people doing VERY long marathon swims, who train maybe 25K-30K per week.
