My son has decided that when we take our family trip to St. Croix so that I can do the lovely Coral Reef Swim (5 miles from Buck Island to the Bucaneer), he would like to do the 1-mile option.
He's got a great stroke, is really strong, but has never done anything like this before. He's going to do the fins option, since it's his first time, and I am wondering about anyone who has trained their kid for something like this.
He's comfortable in open water, and has grown up going to these swims with me, so he's not nervous about that part.
My concern is making sure he can complete the distance. My husband is going to do the mile with him, so he won't be alone, and my husband will pull an open water buoy, just in case. It's from one beach, around a point, and to another beach, so there is an element of being somewhat off shore for a bit.
Right now, he's swimming about 1300 yards a workout, with a combination of distances and intervals in there, and I'm upping it a bit each time. He is training every other day so he doesn't burn out. He's doing his training swims without fins, for the most part, so he can get accustomed to what that feels like.
The swim is in one month so he will need to increase his yardage fairly quickly. I'm trying to go gradual so he doesn't end up hating it.
He has NEVER expressed any interest in a competitive athletic event before so this is huge for him mentally. And he's very psyched for it.
Any tips from other parents? Or coaches?
Thanks!
We have a lot of local OW events that allow kids that age to do swims up to 1 mile. The ones who have trouble usually seem to have one of two kinds of trouble: (1) they freak out about being so far away from anything they can touch, or (2) they get cold.
If your son is comfortable in OW then (1) shouldn't be a problem for him, especially if he and your husband use the buddy system. Get him to practice sighting so that he doesn't get exhausted doing it on his big day. Don't know what you can do to prepare for (2), although maybe in St. Croix it won't be a problem even for a skinny kid. If he can do a 1300-yard workout I am sure he can complete the distance; the extra motivation of achieving a goal would take care of the rest even if he didn't up his workout distances between now and then.
I would think again about the fins. In salt water (as I am sure you know) a little hot spot can grow quickly into a gaping crater. If he really wants to wear fins for the swim I think he ought to train in them to be absolutely sure they won't chafe, or to figure out an anti-chafing strategy.
We have a lot of local OW events that allow kids that age to do swims up to 1 mile. The ones who have trouble usually seem to have one of two kinds of trouble: (1) they freak out about being so far away from anything they can touch, or (2) they get cold.
If your son is comfortable in OW then (1) shouldn't be a problem for him, especially if he and your husband use the buddy system. Get him to practice sighting so that he doesn't get exhausted doing it on his big day. Don't know what you can do to prepare for (2), although maybe in St. Croix it won't be a problem even for a skinny kid. If he can do a 1300-yard workout I am sure he can complete the distance; the extra motivation of achieving a goal would take care of the rest even if he didn't up his workout distances between now and then.
I would think again about the fins. In salt water (as I am sure you know) a little hot spot can grow quickly into a gaping crater. If he really wants to wear fins for the swim I think he ought to train in them to be absolutely sure they won't chafe, or to figure out an anti-chafing strategy.
