Goal this year was to do an organized 4.8 mile OWS, but they moved it from Oct. to Aug. As in this Sunday. Just need a little input from those that have done longer swims (and those that haven't). I've done about 200K yds this year,mostly at masters at 3K a pop. Just getting over an ear infection killed the last couple weeks.
Did our 2 local 2 mile pier to pier without a wetsuit in about 59 a couple weeks ago, but have only swam two miles straight twice this year. Can do 4K in a pool in about 1:15 without too many issues, including some IM and kick work, but that's about only halfway there. My 1.2 half ironman time is 30.
The swim would be in a wetsuit and the format (strange) would consist of four 1.2 mile legs where you have to come in to the beach (and the last two are loops, so we only start a couple miles down the beach). that's good and bad, I can rest, get fluids, etc., but getting in/out off the beach is where the effort comes in. But I can also bail every 30 minutes or so
There's a 2.4 mile option that I can fall back on, but I wanted to do the 4.8....
Just looking for objective advice whether this is stupid? go for it? It's not a typical safety open water question with the leg format. If it were a straight 4.8 I wouldn't consider it.
Excellent job, and thanks for the race report.
I'm not surprised that you were able to do the distance, but I'm amazed at your time. I would have expected you to be slower than your 2-mile pace (1:32/100 yards), but you were actually faster (1:29/100 yards).
Can anyone explain that? Do most people expect to hold a fast pace for longer distances than they've trained for?
I'm doing the 5K Postal Swim this Sunday. I've been concentrating on shorter races this year (1K), but I log plenty of yardage during the week (usually about 20,000).
I want to get a shockingly good time too--is ChrisM's wild success an anomaly or would you have expected it?
Congrats to ChrisM on a great swim! It sounds like a lot of fun.
Not to take anything away from that, but I wouldn't pay any attention to the per yard rate. There are a lot of things in the open water that make it virtually impossible to compare speeds from one race to another. Between current, inaccuracies in measuring distance, etc., a per yard rate can vary wildly from one race to another.
For instance, I did two 2.4 mile races in the ocean this year, exactly one week apart. One took me 62:41. The other took 47:30. These were both point to point races, so there was little difference in the actual distance swum. There was a big current assist on the second, while the current was actually against us a little on part of the first.
Excellent job, and thanks for the race report.
I'm not surprised that you were able to do the distance, but I'm amazed at your time. I would have expected you to be slower than your 2-mile pace (1:32/100 yards), but you were actually faster (1:29/100 yards).
Can anyone explain that? Do most people expect to hold a fast pace for longer distances than they've trained for?
I'm doing the 5K Postal Swim this Sunday. I've been concentrating on shorter races this year (1K), but I log plenty of yardage during the week (usually about 20,000).
I want to get a shockingly good time too--is ChrisM's wild success an anomaly or would you have expected it?
Congrats to ChrisM on a great swim! It sounds like a lot of fun.
Not to take anything away from that, but I wouldn't pay any attention to the per yard rate. There are a lot of things in the open water that make it virtually impossible to compare speeds from one race to another. Between current, inaccuracies in measuring distance, etc., a per yard rate can vary wildly from one race to another.
For instance, I did two 2.4 mile races in the ocean this year, exactly one week apart. One took me 62:41. The other took 47:30. These were both point to point races, so there was little difference in the actual distance swum. There was a big current assist on the second, while the current was actually against us a little on part of the first.
