What can you guys tell me about this swim. 7.5 miles. I will be travelling about 7 hours so I don't have the luxury of going and checking it out. I will be doing all my training in a pool, which is unfortunate. the lakes won't get above 50 untill may. What kind of yardage should i be looking at? thanks all.
I was registered for this swim in 2006 but sadly the weather didn't cooperate the day of the swim so we just swam around the adjacent lake for 3-4 miles. I did feel completely prepared for the swim, if not too prepared, and I had only been in open water once that season before the swim. I wasn't planning on wearing a wetsuit, which makes things easier from a chaffing perspective, but I guess having the extra buoyancy can help.
For training, I usually went to practice 4-5 days/week and stayed after on one of the weekend days and got in a few 1000s or 2000s. Most weeks I trained 15,000-22,000 yards and my longest week was 26,000 where I had set a goal to swim 12000 one weekend day. I ended up doing the team workout (5000 yards) + 1 x 3000 and 2 x 2000 on my own. The long straight 1000, 2000, and 3000 yard swims were good to get a feel for just swimming straight for long periods of time.
Also, practice nutrition when you're at the pool. I always had a bottle of my energy drink and some snacks. And then there are things you just can't really train for...sea sickness. I get it bad in open water, but fortunately know that a coke can work wonders for me and usually makes me feel better, so on the long swims that I have done, I gave my kayaker a coke or two as a last resort.
Good luck! Hope this helps :)
I was registered for this swim in 2006 but sadly the weather didn't cooperate the day of the swim so we just swam around the adjacent lake for 3-4 miles. I did feel completely prepared for the swim, if not too prepared, and I had only been in open water once that season before the swim. I wasn't planning on wearing a wetsuit, which makes things easier from a chaffing perspective, but I guess having the extra buoyancy can help.
For training, I usually went to practice 4-5 days/week and stayed after on one of the weekend days and got in a few 1000s or 2000s. Most weeks I trained 15,000-22,000 yards and my longest week was 26,000 where I had set a goal to swim 12000 one weekend day. I ended up doing the team workout (5000 yards) + 1 x 3000 and 2 x 2000 on my own. The long straight 1000, 2000, and 3000 yard swims were good to get a feel for just swimming straight for long periods of time.
Also, practice nutrition when you're at the pool. I always had a bottle of my energy drink and some snacks. And then there are things you just can't really train for...sea sickness. I get it bad in open water, but fortunately know that a coke can work wonders for me and usually makes me feel better, so on the long swims that I have done, I gave my kayaker a coke or two as a last resort.
Good luck! Hope this helps :)
