My wife being a runner asked yesterday after I completed a 2.3ish mile swim what is the equivalent swimming-wise to a marathon. Because she had always assumed that a 2.4 mile swim would be like running a marathon since it's part of the Ironman Tri.
I didn't really feel like completing that swim that I would compare it to a marathon. While I was pooped and sore, it was not like having my muscles ripped to shreds and hurting to move several days.
Any thoughts?
Also the other discussion we had was the fact that in a running or biking race, you really are running/biking that distance, but in a swim you are doing some n amount more than the straight distance. For swimming your fighting the waves and your own ability to swim straight that you do some amount more. I've thought "how great would it be if I could place a gps tracker around my ankle that I could plot my swim and see how much I really did."
I beleive that is the best way to pick a course.
:laugh2::agree: Beer does wonders for decision making!
As for equivalent distances, my training for a 5 1/4 mile swim was equivalent, timewise, to my marathon training--shorter swims during the week, longer swims on weekends, until I reached the race distance, then backpedaled last three weeks in a taper.
But as Slowswim says, the big challenge with an open water swim that long is there's no easy way to just step off the course. Literally "sink or swim." Although there were official boats patrolling, and one could presumably hitch a ride on one of them if things got dicey, I was grateful I didn't need to.
In terms of the time for the actual race... A marathon in my swim time of 3:25:12 would be pure daydream... I'd entirely LOVE such a running marathon time! My fastest marathon (over ten years ago) was just under 3:55.The one drawback on the run is that you don't get a current helping your speed, as I did in my swim--in my swim, they have it set up to start when the tide comes in and the current is behind swimmers. I'm EXTREMELY grateful for that!
Running (except for trail running, especially for longer distances) doesn't pit you against the elements in as intimate a way--any weather or water condition can affect a swimmer much more directly--you won't get tunnels, bridges, trees and other temporary wind/rain blocking. There isn't the chance to talk to other competitors in a swim... even couldn't talk that much with my kayaker. Often it felt like me and the water.
I was surprised not to feel any need to take refreshments during my swim (well, should say by the time the need arose, I felt too seasick to take in anything, just wanted to keep swimming). But during a marathon, I always have gels, maybe about every five miles. Never could find any gel that agreed with me when I'd do long training swims. But normally have no problems with them when I run. Wonder if that has anything to do w/ body position in swimming....
Also... except for the actual bay swim when it took me about 4-5 days to recover and feel normal, I recover a LOT faster from long swims than from long runs.
So, some similarities, some differences... Great to try both... we're all experiments of one!
I beleive that is the best way to pick a course.
:laugh2::agree: Beer does wonders for decision making!
As for equivalent distances, my training for a 5 1/4 mile swim was equivalent, timewise, to my marathon training--shorter swims during the week, longer swims on weekends, until I reached the race distance, then backpedaled last three weeks in a taper.
But as Slowswim says, the big challenge with an open water swim that long is there's no easy way to just step off the course. Literally "sink or swim." Although there were official boats patrolling, and one could presumably hitch a ride on one of them if things got dicey, I was grateful I didn't need to.
In terms of the time for the actual race... A marathon in my swim time of 3:25:12 would be pure daydream... I'd entirely LOVE such a running marathon time! My fastest marathon (over ten years ago) was just under 3:55.The one drawback on the run is that you don't get a current helping your speed, as I did in my swim--in my swim, they have it set up to start when the tide comes in and the current is behind swimmers. I'm EXTREMELY grateful for that!
Running (except for trail running, especially for longer distances) doesn't pit you against the elements in as intimate a way--any weather or water condition can affect a swimmer much more directly--you won't get tunnels, bridges, trees and other temporary wind/rain blocking. There isn't the chance to talk to other competitors in a swim... even couldn't talk that much with my kayaker. Often it felt like me and the water.
I was surprised not to feel any need to take refreshments during my swim (well, should say by the time the need arose, I felt too seasick to take in anything, just wanted to keep swimming). But during a marathon, I always have gels, maybe about every five miles. Never could find any gel that agreed with me when I'd do long training swims. But normally have no problems with them when I run. Wonder if that has anything to do w/ body position in swimming....
Also... except for the actual bay swim when it took me about 4-5 days to recover and feel normal, I recover a LOT faster from long swims than from long runs.
So, some similarities, some differences... Great to try both... we're all experiments of one!
