New 'Swimmer' seeks advice on future goals

RE: New 'Swimmer' seeks advice on future goals

orca1946 — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:44:32 GMT

With this type of base , try anything you want ! WOW !

RE: New 'Swimmer' seeks advice on future goals

Former Member — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 09:18:20 GMT

**With regards to number 5, I understand that organizing and running a 24 mile swim race would be MUCH more expensive than, say, organizing a 26.2 running marathon (swimmers must have escorts, etc.). Nonetheless, I don't understand why the 12.5 miles race around Key West costs 135, while 24 miles costs 750 (slightly less than twice the distance but almost 6x the cost?). no doubt that the race organizer can give you a better idea of the cost factors, but i will say this: the tampa bay entry fee gets you a motorized escort boat and pilot who will be committed to you for 12 hours of swim time. additionally, many of the pilots have their day start much earlier, as they need to get their boats to the start and home after the finish..... 1200 bucks is a bargain (the 2010 cost of a tampa bay entry) i am not sure why more people don't sign up for this event. it is an excellent early season marathon opportunity... warm (not hot) water, well organized, and easy to enter (MIMS fills up an hour after the entry goes online, Catalina pilots need to be booked about a year in advance to get the date you want, and the EC requires booking at least 2 years in advance if you want to get a prime slot.

RE: New 'Swimmer' seeks advice on future goals

Jeff Maydak — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:11:22 GMT

Are you currently swimming 6 miles each practice 2-3 per week or 6 miles total per week? If you are swimming 6 miles at a time you won't have any problems taking on either of the distances you reference. I swam a 25K (15.5 miles) race in 2008. I had a base of about 9K yards/week before starting my training for that race. I trained for about 14 weeks increasing from 15K yards/week to 30K+ over the first couple months and holding steady at 30K+ for a month. I managed to squeeze in 43K two weeks before the race but a lot of that yardage came during one 15K training day. Prior to that I never exceeded 10K (or 40% the race distance) in a day. It's mind over matter with most marathon swims. My biggest advice would be to incorporate open water swimming into your training regimen. OW is nearly a different sport than pool swimming. Once a week in open water would be good but even once or twice per month will help you get used to the intricacies of OW swimming (navigation being the most critical.) Also, make sure you "practice" hydration and nutrition while treading. I didn't realize how different this can be rather than taking breaks during practice on land while drink or eating. During my 25K I got nauseous from many factors but one was swallowing too much air while drinking and treading. You should try your best to replicate race conditions with navigation, glare, turbulence, drafting, etc. Good luck!