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!
The more I think about this the more I think it is a bad idea. I have been to a number of age group open water swims. Here are a few of my thoughts.
All the kids start like they are shot out of a cannon and it makes it hard for the adult escorts to stay engaged.
Having a parent there is fine but it isn't a safety device. Safety comes from the race organizer. An adult and a kid can get into trouble in the water.
You have him training without fins. So, when he gets in the race he is going to feel supercharged, until he runs out of gas cause fins wear out the legs in a hurry.
One month is not enough time to train for anything, especially if he has to "increase his yardage fairly quickly."
Like knelson said, the open water is no place to mess around. And, it doesn't matter if the race is 1 mile or 1000 miles or .1 mile, if you get in trouble the distance becomes irrelevant.
There's a reason the ow sanctioning document is 20+ pages.
The more I think about this the more I think it is a bad idea. I have been to a number of age group open water swims. Here are a few of my thoughts.
All the kids start like they are shot out of a cannon and it makes it hard for the adult escorts to stay engaged.
Having a parent there is fine but it isn't a safety device. Safety comes from the race organizer. An adult and a kid can get into trouble in the water.
You have him training without fins. So, when he gets in the race he is going to feel supercharged, until he runs out of gas cause fins wear out the legs in a hurry.
One month is not enough time to train for anything, especially if he has to "increase his yardage fairly quickly."
Like knelson said, the open water is no place to mess around. And, it doesn't matter if the race is 1 mile or 1000 miles or .1 mile, if you get in trouble the distance becomes irrelevant.
There's a reason the ow sanctioning document is 20+ pages.
