I'm a 61 y.o. still-practicing physician. I've done a 1.5 mile lake swim in Maine for the last 3 years. I was able to reduce my time to 48 minutes this past summer from 49 the two previous summers. I've increased my workouts to include three days in the pool and two in the gym with a slave-driving trainer. I swim around 2500-3000 yards in the pool. I'm seriously considering the FKCC Around Key West Swim this June. It is 12.5 miles, though some of that is with the tidal current. Suggestions for training other than seek psychiatric help?
Parents
Former Member
Doc - I would encourage you to start upping your training immediately. 9,000 yards a week is not enough to prepare you for a 22,000 yard swim. You should start incrementally increasing your yardage each week by 5% and every 3rd or 4th week taper off for recovery (perhaps half of whatevery you did that last week of training).
If possible you would want to be up to 30,000 yards by the end of May and then have 3 weeks of tapering built in before Key West (20,000 the first week in June, 10,000 the second week in June & around 5 to 6,000 yards the week leading into the event).
I would also encourage to gauge whether your training is on track by doing a 3 mile swim in or around March, a 6 mile swim in April & a 9 mile swim in May.
The best thing to do is to prepare a training plan so you know how much you need to swim each week, to build in the taper / recovery weeks and to build in that last 3 weeks of tapering before the swim. (Most important is to listen to what your body is telling you so as not to overtrain, i.e. if you're supposed to swim 15,000 yards some week & your body is screaming at you, listen to it and back off).
You also should begin experimenting with nutrition during your swims as you will need to hydrate & eat during your Key West swim (e.g. electrolyte replacement drink such as Cytomax and nourishment such as Clif Shot gels and / or bananas. As Chicken of the Sea notes, the water is hot! It was 87 degrees this year and you need to be hydrating at least every 20 - 30 minutes during the swim.
Doc - I would encourage you to start upping your training immediately. 9,000 yards a week is not enough to prepare you for a 22,000 yard swim. You should start incrementally increasing your yardage each week by 5% and every 3rd or 4th week taper off for recovery (perhaps half of whatevery you did that last week of training).
If possible you would want to be up to 30,000 yards by the end of May and then have 3 weeks of tapering built in before Key West (20,000 the first week in June, 10,000 the second week in June & around 5 to 6,000 yards the week leading into the event).
I would also encourage to gauge whether your training is on track by doing a 3 mile swim in or around March, a 6 mile swim in April & a 9 mile swim in May.
The best thing to do is to prepare a training plan so you know how much you need to swim each week, to build in the taper / recovery weeks and to build in that last 3 weeks of tapering before the swim. (Most important is to listen to what your body is telling you so as not to overtrain, i.e. if you're supposed to swim 15,000 yards some week & your body is screaming at you, listen to it and back off).
You also should begin experimenting with nutrition during your swims as you will need to hydrate & eat during your Key West swim (e.g. electrolyte replacement drink such as Cytomax and nourishment such as Clif Shot gels and / or bananas. As Chicken of the Sea notes, the water is hot! It was 87 degrees this year and you need to be hydrating at least every 20 - 30 minutes during the swim.
