What do you do (or suggest doing) for long swims in training? My weekly long swim is currently over 10,000m and 3 hours (and increasing).
I don't have a regulation pool I can go to here; currently I'm doing the long swim at a hotel on the beach that has a 30m pool, and wind up doing an hour or so in the pool, an hour or so in the ocean, then the rest in the pool again.
Mostly it's moderate-effort freestyle sets of the pyramid variety, every so often a length of stroke or a short (meaning up to 10min) IM set, sets like 800, 2x400, 4x200, 8x100, etc. Usually some kick and pull as well. Anything to get the distance in.
Any other suggestions for structuring the long swim, or is it really just about getting the distance in however I can?
Of my other swims during the week, two are interval-based (pretty much like a structured Masters workout) in the pool, one is interval-ish in the ocean (minutes of effort or strokes per minute), one is a steady ocean swim, one is an hour or so recovery swim.
I usually structure mine in 30 minute chunks that correspond to the time I would feed in an open water swim.
For me 30 minutes is around 2,000 long course.
So 2 x 2,000 of course, I usually do those early in the workout
a 2,000 where on thew first 100 I do 2 fast strokes, on the 2nd 200 I do 4 fast strokes, on the 3rd 100 I do 6 fast strokes, and so on until I hit 2,000.
Ladders where on the way up I work on focusing on a single specific point of technique, like entries. I call it associating practice. So 100, 200, 300, 400 working on thinking about nothing but that single thing. If my mind starts to drift i bring it back to that one emphasis.
Then i go back down dissociating, practicing distracting myself. Good practice for late in the swim when your shoulders, head, or something else is really painful. I usually pick a song and work on singing it in my head uninterrupted for the whole swim. If I start to think about my stroke or how much something hurts I go right back to the song.
40 x 50 or 10 x 100 are some sets I will do on short rest looking for a good pace.
I'll do some pulling to change things up as well.
Hopefully you get some other comments soon from others.
I usually structure mine in 30 minute chunks that correspond to the time I would feed in an open water swim.
For me 30 minutes is around 2,000 long course.
So 2 x 2,000 of course, I usually do those early in the workout
a 2,000 where on thew first 100 I do 2 fast strokes, on the 2nd 200 I do 4 fast strokes, on the 3rd 100 I do 6 fast strokes, and so on until I hit 2,000.
Ladders where on the way up I work on focusing on a single specific point of technique, like entries. I call it associating practice. So 100, 200, 300, 400 working on thinking about nothing but that single thing. If my mind starts to drift i bring it back to that one emphasis.
Then i go back down dissociating, practicing distracting myself. Good practice for late in the swim when your shoulders, head, or something else is really painful. I usually pick a song and work on singing it in my head uninterrupted for the whole swim. If I start to think about my stroke or how much something hurts I go right back to the song.
40 x 50 or 10 x 100 are some sets I will do on short rest looking for a good pace.
I'll do some pulling to change things up as well.
Hopefully you get some other comments soon from others.
