OK I got in. The most I have swam is 2 miles open water. I swim about 10K yards a week with 2 masters workouts a week. Now what. This race is 4.4 miles.
The race date is June 8. I think I can answer my own question... double (or triple!) my weekly yardage, hold yourself back on the start, finally, grit your teeth and "enjoy" gutting it out.
Ideas for training?:confused:
Treebox makes some great suggestions about swimming IMs. I think the worst thing for someone to do is train all freestyle. Not only is it monotonous, but the massive amounts of repetitive motions do not do well on shoulders. Think of swimming fly as having done twice the workout in half as much yardage.
As for seeing straight, the 4.4 mile swim is one of the country's easiest open water swims... its one lap, and you have two huge lane ropes (the north span and south span) to swim in between. You start on one side of a body of water and finish on the other side.
For all those hearing about this swim for the first time, this event is like a popular Triathlon - entry is months in advance, there is a process behind it, and for 2008, the event is closed. They do, however, run a 1 mile version that is a good event to help you qualify for the 4.4 miler and also help familiarize you with the bay and OW events.
Wetsuits do help with bouyancy and body position, but the bay has been in the 70s the last several years. As David mentions, most people, including myself, wear the wetsuit, but I may leave mine behind and swim "naked" with David in '08 (may take some of last year's Tequila to make that happen, but still!). It is certainly doable. There are always several top 10 finishers overall (male and female) who go sans-rubber.
Treebox makes some great suggestions about swimming IMs. I think the worst thing for someone to do is train all freestyle. Not only is it monotonous, but the massive amounts of repetitive motions do not do well on shoulders. Think of swimming fly as having done twice the workout in half as much yardage.
As for seeing straight, the 4.4 mile swim is one of the country's easiest open water swims... its one lap, and you have two huge lane ropes (the north span and south span) to swim in between. You start on one side of a body of water and finish on the other side.
For all those hearing about this swim for the first time, this event is like a popular Triathlon - entry is months in advance, there is a process behind it, and for 2008, the event is closed. They do, however, run a 1 mile version that is a good event to help you qualify for the 4.4 miler and also help familiarize you with the bay and OW events.
Wetsuits do help with bouyancy and body position, but the bay has been in the 70s the last several years. As David mentions, most people, including myself, wear the wetsuit, but I may leave mine behind and swim "naked" with David in '08 (may take some of last year's Tequila to make that happen, but still!). It is certainly doable. There are always several top 10 finishers overall (male and female) who go sans-rubber.
