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:
Lori,
I don't know that I've done much more than ~15,000y average a week when preparing for this event. Judging by your comments, your stroke is probably falling apart. You've trained enough and built enough of a base that a few days off won't hurt, nor will backing off the yardage. When you get back in, I recommend you focus on shorter swims, throw in some other strokes or different (challenging) intervals to mix it up and maintain good technique.
One thing I like to do is to keep doing IM and sprint sets since the "pain" comes quicker, but with less yardage. I find that a 3500y workout with a lot of IM is 5x more draining (and rewarding) than a 4500y nearly all free workout. A 3000y sprint workout is 5x more draining (and rewarding) than the IM workout.
Remember, most casual marathoners rarely do training runs of 26.2 miles when training for their races. They usually end training somewhere around 22-24 miles. It sounds to me like you're doing the equivalent of running 28-9 miles on a regular basis. My experience has taught me that as long as you have the base and can keep getting to a pool regularly, you'll do just fine. Your last 1/2 mile will be all adrenaline anyway!
Lori,
I don't know that I've done much more than ~15,000y average a week when preparing for this event. Judging by your comments, your stroke is probably falling apart. You've trained enough and built enough of a base that a few days off won't hurt, nor will backing off the yardage. When you get back in, I recommend you focus on shorter swims, throw in some other strokes or different (challenging) intervals to mix it up and maintain good technique.
One thing I like to do is to keep doing IM and sprint sets since the "pain" comes quicker, but with less yardage. I find that a 3500y workout with a lot of IM is 5x more draining (and rewarding) than a 4500y nearly all free workout. A 3000y sprint workout is 5x more draining (and rewarding) than the IM workout.
Remember, most casual marathoners rarely do training runs of 26.2 miles when training for their races. They usually end training somewhere around 22-24 miles. It sounds to me like you're doing the equivalent of running 28-9 miles on a regular basis. My experience has taught me that as long as you have the base and can keep getting to a pool regularly, you'll do just fine. Your last 1/2 mile will be all adrenaline anyway!
