Hey all,
The Big Day is coming... August 3... for my swim across the Great South Bay (www.greatsouthbayswim.com).
Today I swam the full race distance, 5.25 miles in a POOL with kids splashing around on both sides and once getting into my lane, but nothing like learning to focus, ha!
I know I should probably get in some open water practice, but I don't live near open water, hence the pool swim.
Donna's been excellent with lots of tips, schedule thoughts and suggestions, so I've made much more progress than I ever thought I would!
Now the question is what about a taper... what to focus on, what kind of yards, things like that. Last two weeks, except for weekend swims, the yardage was low per swim (maybe 2000-2500) but my focus was on trying to hold my form while pushing a bit more. I noticed that it paid off today as my "tired" mile times are what my "fresh" times used to be. (Not fast, I should point out, but less slow than before!)
I do both swimming and running, and I wonder about your thoughts on that as well. My bf wants to do a five mile run a week before my swim, and I figure that would be too soon before the swim for me to be in such a run, I am considering signing up and just jogging it. But I wonder if even that might be too much that soon before the swim. (Anyone who runs/swims who can speak to that?) Alternatively, I'd just go with him to cheer for him and do a shorter run along the trail near the race--really a nice setting, so I enjoy going with him, even if not to race.
My arms and shoulders are muttering darkly at me now, but if the pattern of my long swims holds out for this one, they should feel pretty good in a day or two. I seem to have a lot quicker recoveries from long swims than from long runs. What I may not have is as much time during the week as on weekends, but I can work things in if ppl feel they are vital.
So there you are... and if anyone thinks of suggestions in areas not covered by this post, please feel free to share them.
I'm excited about this swim, and a little scared too, but I figure both the excited and the scared feelings are part of the process and mean I'm a real live person. :)
In any event, thanks all for your help/suggestions/ and hey, cheers are cool too! :D
FMIF, I tend not to taper all that much for the 4.4 mi bay swims. I find that for me, the most important thing is to work out LCM beforehand, esp week of, so that I am fully used to getting into a groove and not having a lot of turns.
my recommendation is to get in LCM at least a couple times (if you're not already) and swim some sets that will get you trying to find a long distance groove, and then maintain that groove (mine was 8x200, 2x {easy, build, 2 groove pace}, ~20-30 sec rest).
on the day before, i never swim; just relax, and do NOTHING! eat something the night before you've eaten 100x w/o incident (same as morning of), I recommend watching Finding Nemo for inspiration (just keep swimming!!!) and then go git'r done!
its tough to taper for a swim of that distance, but as long as you put in the yardage ahead of time, you'll be golden!
Thanks for your thoughts, Muppet! I actually like doing 200s, so this is a good thing to hear. I'm not really near any LC pools--did have a chance to do a meet in an area LCM pool and loved it! But other than that, my swimming has been SCY. Not the ideal prep for something like what I'm doing, but gotta do whatcha gotta do.
However, I'm going to do a little searching around and see what I can find LCMwise in my area for maybe at least a couple swims.
Someone who's doing my upcoming swim said he was thinking of--but decided to skip--taking antibiotics before the race b/c he said he didn't feel right afterward last time he did the race. I can understand both why he considered antibiotics and why he decided against them.
He said bacteria levels in the bay could be high. I'm thinking just make sure I'm taking my vitamin c to boost my immune system, but I'd rather not take antibiotics unless I have a specific condition that needs them.
How do you folks deal w/ boosting the immune system? I also wonder if it's simply a matter of the body being a bit broken down after that long a swim, b/c sometimes after a running marathon, I'm a little on the edge of coming down with whatever's going around.
FMIF, I tend not to taper all that much for the 4.4 mi bay swims. I find that for me, the most important thing is to work out LCM beforehand, esp week of, so that I am fully used to getting into a groove and not having a lot of turns.
my recommendation is to get in LCM at least a couple times (if you're not already) and swim some sets that will get you trying to find a long distance groove, and then maintain that groove (mine was 8x200, 2x {easy, build, 2 groove pace}, ~20-30 sec rest).
on the day before, i never swim; just relax, and do NOTHING! eat something the night before you've eaten 100x w/o incident (same as morning of), I recommend watching Finding Nemo for inspiration (just keep swimming!!!) and then go git'r done!
its tough to taper for a swim of that distance, but as long as you put in the yardage ahead of time, you'll be golden!
Thanks for your thoughts, Muppet! I actually like doing 200s, so this is a good thing to hear. I'm not really near any LC pools--did have a chance to do a meet in an area LCM pool and loved it! But other than that, my swimming has been SCY. Not the ideal prep for something like what I'm doing, but gotta do whatcha gotta do.
However, I'm going to do a little searching around and see what I can find LCMwise in my area for maybe at least a couple swims.
Someone who's doing my upcoming swim said he was thinking of--but decided to skip--taking antibiotics before the race b/c he said he didn't feel right afterward last time he did the race. I can understand both why he considered antibiotics and why he decided against them.
He said bacteria levels in the bay could be high. I'm thinking just make sure I'm taking my vitamin c to boost my immune system, but I'd rather not take antibiotics unless I have a specific condition that needs them.
How do you folks deal w/ boosting the immune system? I also wonder if it's simply a matter of the body being a bit broken down after that long a swim, b/c sometimes after a running marathon, I'm a little on the edge of coming down with whatever's going around.
