Hi All
Does anyone have a training plan for doing long open water swims?
Thanks
What's your training plan currently?
What's the longest OW swim you have done?
Are you training to complete the swim or training to race the swim?
How long do you have to get ready?
I would search for training advice on the Marathon Swimmers Forum. There are dozens of articles, comments and suggestions on the topic, it's an invaluable resource for open water swimmers.
I worked w/ a coach for the Great South Bay Swim (~5.5 miles). I might have had lower yardage than some here, but completed the 2015 event w/ a personal best (though I didn't beat Lyn!) :)
My training consisted of
--a mix of team practices and on-my-own workouts (team practices supervised by the guy who wrote my training schedule, and the workouts on my own were his creations). The latter involved longer and longer distances until I got to 10,000 yards in the pool;
--regular open water swimming (ideally I'd have liked more time in salt water, but I don't live that near the ocean--however, there were twice-weekly group river swims plus a series of open water races.)
--Two Bridges Swim in the Hudson--this one was brutal! Although I chose the 2.5k (there was a choice of 2.5k or 5k), I found the Great South Bay Swim a LOT easier going; latter had a current assist pretty much the whole way, whereas Two Bridges was partly against and partly w/ the current--and going against the Hudson River current--if that doesn't prepare you for any adventure, nothing will! (BTW, as hard as it was, the organizers totally rocked, so I have no complaint on that score.)
--Lots of great feedback on technique
--A nutrition plan that involved regular feeds and testing those feeds prior to the actual swim. I did decently w Hammer products but also Glukos gummies (similar to Clif shots). My Glukos sports drink--probably okay but my review is inconclusive, since the bottle fell overboard partway through the bay swim (I think the bay must have found it energizing b/c toward the end of the swim, I hit some chop, lol), :) so after that it was the Hammer powder, water, and the above-mentioned gummies the rest of the way. These proved just fine!
Good luck in your swim! Which one are you planning?
