For instance, if you are focusing on the 5k is your base workout 5,000 M?
How much of the distance comes from the main set?
I've pretty much settled in on the 2000-2500 distance three times a week during the pool season and then switch to longer sets for the summer.
Yesterday I got up to a 2800 yard set consisting of 2x200 on 3:20 and 1x 400 on 6:40, repeat, trying to maintain my goal 1:30/100 pace for a mile. I'm curious how far I away I am from the training I need for a 2 mile or even 5k. Obviously, I'm not trying to win or anything. I'm thinking I could possibly even do it now if I relaxed and went easy, but I don't know. I've never been able to get myself to just do a straight swim, unless I am in a lake (which I haven't been able to do yet this year).
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I've only done 2 to 2.4 miles, but that is based on normal weeks of 2 x 3000 yds in masters plus 1.5 - 2 miles OW (so approx 26-3200), with a max of 4000-4500. If I were swimming 5Ks, I'd probably go 4000 per with a bump to 5K in the big weeks
That's good data ChrisM. It looks like with a couple of lake swims of 45-1hr I would be in shape for a 2 mile.
Then if I want to get crazy and do a 5k I've got to do 10x500 and/or get an MP3 player and give up flip turns. I will stick to finding a 2 mile for now.
I typically train at about 3500 yards 4-5 times per week with once or twice a week going up to 4500-5500 yards if prepping for a 5K. My target per 100 time is about 1:25. So I think you could actually prep for a 5K without too much extra yardage added on.
I swim a wide range of distances, all depending upon how early I've gotten up and how early I have to get to work. The range is 3000-5000. I manage 15-20K a week, when I'm not out for work or sick (currently suffering otitis externa, stupid swimmer's ear).
My OW experience is limited; I completed the Jim McDonald Lake Swim (1-mile) in May and will compete in the Swim Super Series 1500 in London. My longest this year will either be the Christianborg Round in Copenhagen (2K) or the Hellespont Europe-to-Asia swim (3-4K current-assisted). Bottom line: my daily yardage exceeds my race distance.
What you're doing is very reasonable. I have done a few 5K's training very similarly to you (although I never got a shot at the lake training). I do workouts of 3600y occasionally mixing them in with longer workouts of about 5500y. In the month leading to the 5K swim, I tend to mix more of those in. You're way ahead of me on mixing in the an-aerobic stuff. Every now and then I get the hankering to go faster so I mix some of those in, but that lasts about 2 weeks before I revert. I swim at a similar pace per 1500m and finish my 5K's in about 75-80 minutes (I'm sure I've had current assistance in some way).
I'm with you. Lake swimming is much easier for me than pool swimming. I don't handle breath exchanges well in and around turns.
Allright, I've now logged 3 lake swims of 60-70 minutes. I'm thinking I can make a 5k which I think will take me roughly 90 minutes in normal conditions. Does that sound about right if I just swam a 1500M in 25 minutes?
I'm at a 3000M pool set and think I need to bump it up to 4000 within the next 5 weeks. The yardage in the lake actually seems easier than a pool without the flip turns and a pace clock. I almost feel like I can go forever at the right pace but never tested it.
I'll do 1-2 aneorobic and 1-2 yardage sets per week.
Does this sound reasonable?
I swim a wide range of freestyle events from the 50 free to 4.5 mile OW swims. So it really depends on what event I'm prepping for. By nature I'm mid-dist to distance swimmer so I do a combination of "quality" sets and "distance" type sets. By "quality" I mean anaerobic stuff. I believe its also good to mix things up no matter what your specialty. I will still train some IM and some Fly just to break things up. My age group coaches (Olympic coaches) always believed that it can only help you specialty to train some other strokes....IM and Fly always gets my HR up and gives some muscle confusion. Swimming cross training! Occasionally a KICK set may be my main set....not fun walking afterwards!
My distance usually doesn't vary that much (4000-6000 a session), but what I emphasize will. Some of the hardest practices can be the shortest and vice versa.
A little background: I'm more a SCY swimmer than anything but have gotten increasingly into open water swimming over the past five years. I've participated in numerous races from 1 mile to a 25K. I just competed in the 10K National Championship last Saturday in Indiana; our team hosted the event and we had 10 swimmers complete the 10K.
Although each of our training varied somewhat, we generally trained about 20K or so each week spread out over 4 practices usually spending 1 day each weekend completing the 5K course (with some stops along the way). The rest was in a 50m pool. I never exceeded 6500m in a day but routinely swam 5-6K in a 2 hour practice. A lot of the pool practices varied with descending intervals and or distances. We rarely swam anything longer than 500m at a time. I was happy with my performance finishing seconds under 2:30.
Two years ago while training for the 25K (which we also hosted), I swam six days each week slowly building my yardage between short course pools, a long course pool, and open water training. The last month of training I was over 30K each week peaking at 43K two weeks out from the event. That race was more mind over matter and I was simply out to finish the event which I was able to do but my body felt like I was in a car wreck. Should I have trained more? Perhaps, but I was in the water 8-12 hours per week as it was. I'm not sure when I would have found more time to train.
