You peeps are a great resource so I would love your input for the last 2 months of training before my first 10k (roughly) in Oct. I've done a couple 5k's now this year and am loving the distance and OW swimming!! My background is (was) in ultra running so I figured I'd apply similar logic to buildup and taper for this distance in swimming as well (several buildup weeks, a lower week, then build again to almost the race distance). Also, I'm doing 4-5k, 3-4x/week with the team during the week on regular drills etc. These Sunday swims I'm just doing the mileage, learning the best time to drink/eat, etc. Thoughts? Am I over-thinking? Any other advice? Thanks in advance. :)
I did 7k (longest to date) last Sunday and felt pretty good. Here's the rest of the Sundays until 10/5
8/11 7.5k
8/18 8k
8/25 6.5k
9/1 7.5k
9/8 8k
9/15 8.5k
9/22 9k
9/29 5-6k
10/5 Race
Good luck!
A couple of additional suggestions when swimming with a kayak escort…
The 3 main responsibilities of the kayaker are to 1) keep you safe, 2) keep you fed and 3) keep you on course. Make sure you and your kayaker are on the same page on these and communications.
Safety is paramount, but I’ll focus on 2 and 3 in this post.
Keep you fed –
I find water bottles on a string work best for feeding from a kayak. A feeding stick can be problematic for a solo kayaker. Have the water bottles premixed and if you are really OCD labeled/color-coded with the feeding time for each. Have your kayaker keep them out of sight until feeding time, I had one kayaker who started getting ready for a feed 5 minutes in advance, and so I spent the next few minutes focusing on when he was going to feed me instead of the swim. It’s much nicer when a feeding is a pleasant surprise.
Keep you on course –
Figure out where you want your kayaker positioned relative to you and stress with then then importance of staying there. You set the speed the kayaker sets the direction. I prefer the kayak at my 3:00 (I’m a right side breather) and 10-15 feet away. If I drift right and get to close to the kayak I the the kayaker it’s okay to hit me with the paddle and if I drift left then whistle to me come back right. I’ve learned that if you don’t go over this then you might have a kayaker who will follow you all over a lake rather than navigate a straight line. I’ve also had a kayaker who kept pulling 10-15 yards in front of me, and while it isn’t a huge deal after 8 hours of swimming it doesn’t take a lot to tip a generally cheery disposition.
Other things you can work out with your kayaker are tracking stroke rate, position in the race and distance to go.
Good luck!
A couple of additional suggestions when swimming with a kayak escort…
The 3 main responsibilities of the kayaker are to 1) keep you safe, 2) keep you fed and 3) keep you on course. Make sure you and your kayaker are on the same page on these and communications.
Safety is paramount, but I’ll focus on 2 and 3 in this post.
Keep you fed –
I find water bottles on a string work best for feeding from a kayak. A feeding stick can be problematic for a solo kayaker. Have the water bottles premixed and if you are really OCD labeled/color-coded with the feeding time for each. Have your kayaker keep them out of sight until feeding time, I had one kayaker who started getting ready for a feed 5 minutes in advance, and so I spent the next few minutes focusing on when he was going to feed me instead of the swim. It’s much nicer when a feeding is a pleasant surprise.
Keep you on course –
Figure out where you want your kayaker positioned relative to you and stress with then then importance of staying there. You set the speed the kayaker sets the direction. I prefer the kayak at my 3:00 (I’m a right side breather) and 10-15 feet away. If I drift right and get to close to the kayak I the the kayaker it’s okay to hit me with the paddle and if I drift left then whistle to me come back right. I’ve learned that if you don’t go over this then you might have a kayaker who will follow you all over a lake rather than navigate a straight line. I’ve also had a kayaker who kept pulling 10-15 yards in front of me, and while it isn’t a huge deal after 8 hours of swimming it doesn’t take a lot to tip a generally cheery disposition.
Other things you can work out with your kayaker are tracking stroke rate, position in the race and distance to go.
