I'm about 9 days away from my longest race to date, the Manhattan Island Foundation's Little Red Lighthouse race—5 miles, pushed along (I hope) by a nice current.
Over the past 4 weeks, I have worked up to a peak of 6,500 yards per day (one long swim w/ 500 cooldown) alternating with a 4,000-yard mix of different sets, for a total of 5 or 6 days a week.
My question now is, should I taper? And, if so, how much?
I haven't swum this much since high school and I"m exhausted!
Parents
Former Member
The swim was amazing—glassy, 75 degrees, strong supporting current, great views of Manhattan's Upper West Side, and a nice straight shot to the GW Bridge. My heartrate was barely elevated by the end, but I was frustrated by how tight my arms and shoulders got. I came in at around the time I anticipated, 1:42, which was almost exactly same time as my longest training swim (3.5 miles) in the pool.
A very fast swimmer counseled me to do less distance and more tough interval swimming for next time. She also mentioned I might want to throw some backstroke and *** into my race here and there in order to keep from tightening up.
Thanks to everyone for the advice. Just wait'll next year!
Niloman
P.S. I came in 48th out of about 120 swimmers, although LOTS of folks overshot the finish line b/c the organizers were late putting out the buoys...
The swim was amazing—glassy, 75 degrees, strong supporting current, great views of Manhattan's Upper West Side, and a nice straight shot to the GW Bridge. My heartrate was barely elevated by the end, but I was frustrated by how tight my arms and shoulders got. I came in at around the time I anticipated, 1:42, which was almost exactly same time as my longest training swim (3.5 miles) in the pool.
A very fast swimmer counseled me to do less distance and more tough interval swimming for next time. She also mentioned I might want to throw some backstroke and *** into my race here and there in order to keep from tightening up.
Thanks to everyone for the advice. Just wait'll next year!
Niloman
P.S. I came in 48th out of about 120 swimmers, although LOTS of folks overshot the finish line b/c the organizers were late putting out the buoys...
