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).
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.
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.
