I am a seasoned swimmer and have done many open water swims but nothing like the race I have scheduled for August 10th. The Horsetooth is in a cold resevoir in Ft Collins, CO. It will be a non-wetsuit event with water in the 60's and the race will be at altitude.
I am in the pool 3-4 sessions per week and I am swimming pretty well for the amount of time I have been out of shape. Stroke and speed are good but endurance is not anything like what it needs to be.
I need some advice about the kind of swims I will need to do to prepare. I have protected ocean water to swim in and a great pond with a 1.5 mile out and back.
Starting with August 10th as the swim date and working backwards when should I be putting in my longest swims and what should they be.
Any 10K advice would be appreciated.....
Former Member
Rob's advice is spot on.
Another piece of advice is to do workouts where you swim continuously, but every so often throw in a hard spurt. For example, do 1 hour at a decent pace and every 5 minutes throw in a fast 50 or 100, then go right back to pace.
Also, find out if they will have any sort of feeding provisions and, if so, be sure to do some trial feeding during training that mimics what you will do in the race.
-LBJ
A couple bits of advice,
Get in some cold open water swims. You’ve got great opportunities at the cape.
You should try to get in a few 2 hour swims by late July.
In the pool try to get in between 5K and 7K at least once a week.
They allow the new suits that are being worn by competetive swimmers but not wetsuits. Would the full suits that are allowed help at all with the water temp?
In a pool I could do this swim in under 3 hours and maybe under 2-1/2 hours if well trained. What should my longest pre-race swim be time wise?
Thanks
The longer suits won't really help with the water temp - at least not to any degree that I think you'd even notice.
The best way to deal with the cold water is to get in and do some training in cold water. Start with, say, 15 minutes and work your way up to whatever you can, although I think that you will find that you adapt faster than you think you will. (Unless you are very lean.) However, since you will probably be doing cold swims in open water, be safe and have someone with you.
Like Rob said, some swims in the 2 hour range would be good as a longest swim. If you can stand to do longer than that, fine, but it's not really necessary.
-LBJ
