the speed of the swim

Thanks EC for the reply. I'm going to try and mix it up for some more speed building sets. I like the idea of the 6 x 1000's. Your workout sounds pretty cool. Wish I lived closer because I've become interested in channel swims as well. I was interested in being on a crew at some point helping out. Have you thought of a Catalina swim?

If you never got to the pool 6000 yds would take forever, so give yourself credit for a great start. However to get speed you must train speed which means longer rest interval sets. I use long swims for 2 reasons. It helps me develop the necessary focus required in longer races and gives me lots of time to work on my form. There are people on this forum that know a lot more than me about training, all I can offer is my thoughts. If you working toward the open water season then feel free to continue the long swims if you'd like. Just remember to pay attention to your stroke and not the person next to you. No junk yards allowed. They may be training to race 50's and 100's. However it wouldn't hurt to add some shorter sets to your workout even now. You could start including them every other workout. However once you feel you can swim 6000 comfortably and focused for the entire swim it's time to move toward 6 X 1000, 12 X 500 and 30 X 200 and ultimately 60 X 100. You can drop your workout distance to 4K or 5K as your intensity increases unless you plan on swimming a number of 10K or longer races. I am just now returning to the water after a 3 month layoff. To start building a base, work on my stroke and increase my flexibility I am doing 5 X 500, 5 X 200, 5 X 100, 5 X50. In the past I have also used continuous 4K or 5K swims. I am trying to swim 4X a week. The most important determining factor for me in choosing a workout is never swim a set where I can't hold proper form for the entire time. If I am having problems then I just shorten the distance in each set or increase the rest. Under my plan I am trying to slowly increase my intensity in the month of January and add some harder interval sets in February. However, even in the middle of the season I will race a 5K in the pool from time to time to try and create the same stresses on my body that I will experience on race day. Again this is just a program that has worked for me.

I'm preparing for my 4th open water season which will include my first 10K. I came back to swimming after a couple of long periods of hiatus about 4 years ago with open water in mind. At start I could barely finish 1000 yards. Then I settled into longer swims to prep for 3K-5K swims. I plateaued at about 1:30 per 100 pace or about 15 min per 1000y. Late last season I began working in more timed sets of 100's and 200's with my long swims. (I still do one swim of at least 3500 yards per week) Since then, I've watched my per 100 cruise pace drop to about 1:25. So the others have the right idea on increasing pace. That said, open water swimming seems to be an open and accepting community. Regular posters on this poard alone include former college distance swimmers who can make pretty quick work of 6K. And then there are some who cruise mixing in breastroke and take 2 hours to do 3K. It all depends on your goals for the swim.

Thanks EC for the reply. I'm going to try and mix it up for some more speed building sets. I like the idea of the 6 x 1000's. Your workout sounds pretty cool. Wish I lived closer because I've become interested in channel swims as well. I was interested in being on a crew at some point helping out. Have you thought of a Catalina swim? Yes in fact i am still considering it. My only concern is that I'm afraid there is a chance that I may have only 1 channel swim in me. I also plan on trying to raise money as part of my swim for the American Cancer Society and the EC is well known by non-swimmers and it might be easier to raise money.

I'm mainly a pool swimmer (who happens to do OW too) and I have "some" speed, but not great speed. Like others mentioned you have to train for speed to have speed. If you only do a workout or two a week focusing on speed/sprints and the rest your normal distance stuff you will see improvment. In order to compare apples to apples and the word "speed" we'd need to know what kind of time you can hold for 10x100's on 3:00 or something like that. Then you know where you stand and can figure out where you want to be. Right now I'm the opposite, focusing on speed for Masters Nationals in May, with distance practices/sets thrown in. Generally I do 5000 SCY a workout and it takes me about 90 minutes give or take a little. Once Nationals is over I'll concentrate on OW. Here is a good, long set for you that I did on New Year's eve. You can find more on my blog if you want: 100 x 100 -10 @ 2:00 warm-up -10 @ 2:00 kick -10 @ 1:25 Pull (Buoy & Paddles) -10 @ 1:30 Free -10 Free (odds @ 1:30, evens @ 1:15) -10 @ 1:30 Free -10 @ 1:30 Kick w/ fins -10 @ 1:45 IM -10 @ 1:25 Pull (Paddles & Buoy) -10 (odds Free/Bk by 25’s @ 1:40, evens Free @ 1:15) 200 EZ Warmdown _________________________________ 10,200 SCY About 2 hrs 45 min jeffpalm-swimming.blogspot.com/

I'm mainly a pool swimmer (who happens to do OW too) and I have "some" speed, but not great speed. Like others mentioned you have to train for speed to have speed. If you only do a workout or two a week focusing on speed/sprints and the rest your normal distance stuff you will see improvment. In order to compare apples to apples and the word "speed" we'd need to know what kind of time you can hold for 10x100's on 3:00 or something like that. Then you know where you stand and can figure out where you want to be. Right now I'm the opposite, focusing on speed for Masters Nationals in May, with distance practices/sets thrown in. Generally I do 5000 SCY a workout and it takes me about 90 minutes give or take a little. Once Nationals is over I'll concentrate on OW. Here is a good, long set for you that I did on New Year's eve. You can find more on my blog if you want: 100 x 100 -10 @ 2:00 warm-up -10 @ 2:00 kick -10 @ 1:25 Pull (Buoy & Paddles) -10 @ 1:30 Free -10 Free (odds @ 1:30, evens @ 1:15) -10 @ 1:30 Free -10 @ 1:30 Kick w/ fins -10 @ 1:45 IM -10 @ 1:25 Pull (Paddles & Buoy) -10 (odds Free/Bk by 25’s @ 1:40, evens Free @ 1:15) 200 EZ Warmdown _________________________________ 10,200 SCY About 2 hrs 45 min jeffpalm-swimming.blogspot.com/ 100 X 100 free is my favorite workout followed closely by 5 X 1650. Nice website. Awesome lifetime best times. Swimmers like you should have to wear weights around your ankles in races

100 X 100 free is my favorite workout followed closely by 5 X 1650. Nice website. Awesome lifetime best times. Swimmers like you should have to wear weights around your ankles in races Thanks! The longest I've done was like 10 x 1500 LCM in college (not including warmup and warmdown)....something like 16,500 LCM. Even in the condition I was in back in college I was sore and tired for several days after.

You do need to mix your long swims with speed/ interval sets to try to pick up the pace. If you do the 6 X 1000, try to descend each one. My coach had me do 5 last mo & the last one hurt! When you were asking how long it takes, everyone is different. Last sun my 10k set was just under 3 hours. I am not a real fast swimmer, but have a very consistent pace.

I usually figure about 20 min. per thousand. However, it totally depends on your ability. A base set of 10 x 100 on 1:30 is 15 minutes. Then I add some transition time to get the 20 min. Set your goal based on your abilities and just keep working to better your accomplished goals.

I did an Open water swim with Sheila Taormina a few years ago in the Detroit river..she went by me like I wasn't moving . After the swim ..I had the same question...she broke it down to.. burning through 100 s.