Hi all. I am about 8 weeks out from a 5K Lake Swim. I am a strong pool swimmer but never done this distance in "open" water - pretty new here. I am convinced I can muscle though it if need be, but would like to make a competitive age group showing.
I am training almost exclusively in pool, so looking for advice, links, or books on workouts, distances, pace, taper (?), etc. Thanks for any advice.
Former Member
Do you breathe primarily to your left, or were you breathing more to the left than usual? (just a wild guess)
5000 meters = 3.10685596 miles - not a long swim, not a short swim.
You must learn how to swim a race like that. Your race pace is essentially all out but you have to swim it as continuous swim once a week.
When racing some long swims I have had leg cramps, arm cramps, stiches, you have to be able to relieve these thing by changing how you swim on the go. I have never taken a breaststroke sequence during a race. For a leg cramp you ease off or kick harder to get circulation going, for a rib stich you change how you reach, it is a cramp of the muscles between the ribs. You just ease off on the stretch it simply disappears with movement.
Thanks for the feedback E=H2O. I don't think I was amped or excited at all, actually very relaxed and enjoyin the swim. I think I got a spasm/stitch from the sustained exertion; first time swimming over an hour non-stop. My question is why did this stitch radiate up into my right shoulder joint? It was also a numb feeling. This was all on my rght side only, left was absolutely fine. Has anyone had this before or know what it might be and how to avoid it? It really slowed me down for 600m until I worked it out slowly.... The last 400m I actually improved from it a fair bit.
Thanks!!
E=H2O: I breathe bilaterally, every 3 strokes.
geochuck: You present good and bad news, I definitely have not been swimming my race distance once a week. However I have been doing very challenging 3500-4500m workouts 4X/week. Aside from the stitch the 5000m continuous race distance did not make me any more tired than the training sessions, in fact I'd have to say it was easier... (felt less tired after).
The good news is I did exactly that, I worked around the stitch and eased it out. I did have to hit a few strokes of *** a couple of times. It it did improve during the swim, so I sorted it out - mostly by slowing right the heck down though.... The fairly intense numbness up into my R shoulder joint was very weird.
Thanks guys!
Geochuck (George Park)
I read your bio that appears in the link you provided. We have a lot in common. You had mono at 19 in the middle of the swim season. I had mono at 18 in the middle of the swim season. . . . . Well I guess that is not a lot, but it is something.
Bob
