I'm 2 weeks away from my first 10k swim, and it will be my main swim of the summer, so I'm trying to figure out how/if to taper for it.
I've been averaging ~20k meters per week this summer, mostly long course and some open water swimming. Normally, as a mostly middle distance swimmer, my taper is about 10 days and gradually drops down to ~1000 yards per workout during the last week. For this event, though, I'm afraid that I'd lose some of the distance base I've gained over the summer.
Do any of the experienced OW folks have hints/advice on a taper/rest plan for a 10K?
Many Thanks in advance.
a few weeks back I did a 5km on friday and a 3km on sunday. Both times were faster than my goals, even faster than my training partners expected.
only once in the month of June did I swim more than 4km. it was the one time I wanted to see what it felt like to swim 5km with out stopping. I swam for the most part between 2500-4000 three times a week. all of June. both in the pool and in the lake. the first week in July I swam on monday, tuesday, friday, saturday and sunday. the week before the races I swam monday, tuesday and wednesday taking thursday off only because I wanted my wetsuit to dry before the long drive.
I increased the number of times I swam the last two weeks. I needed to know how my body would handle swimming friday night and sunday morning. I did however reduce my training distances the last week. the last 2-3 swims were not much more than 2000m 30-40 minutes in the water.. I worked speed and teknik, breathing and swimming in a straight line. wanted to make sure I was relaxed and rested.
the only thing I would have done differently is I did not swim on saturday, between my races. I now wish I had just jumped into the river and swam 1000-1500 to losen up.
good luck on your 10k.
Thanks Rykno.
I'll probably be getting in for most of the days in the last week before the swim and dropping down to 1000-2000m on the last few practices.
Straight line swimming in OW is something I haven't mastered and that I'm working pretty hard on :). Fortunately for this swim we have kayakers, so hopefully that won't be as much of an issue as it was in my first OW race.
a few weeks back I did a 5km on friday and a 3km on sunday. Both times were faster than my goals, even faster than my training partners expected.
only once in the month of June did I swim more than 4km. it was the one time I wanted to see what it felt like to swim 5km with out stopping. I swam for the most part between 2500-4000 three times a week. all of June. both in the pool and in the lake. the first week in July I swam on monday, tuesday, friday, saturday and sunday. the week before the races I swam monday, tuesday and wednesday taking thursday off only because I wanted my wetsuit to dry before the long drive.
I increased the number of times I swam the last two weeks. I needed to know how my body would handle swimming friday night and sunday morning. I did however reduce my training distances the last week. the last 2-3 swims were not much more than 2000m 30-40 minutes in the water.. I worked speed and teknik, breathing and swimming in a straight line. wanted to make sure I was relaxed and rested.
the only thing I would have done differently is I did not swim on saturday, between my races. I now wish I had just jumped into the river and swam 1000-1500 to losen up.
good luck on your 10k.
