First Open Water race coming up

I admire your ambition taking on that distance as your first o.w. race. Are swimmers required to have kayak escorts? If so, a good idea to have a feeding /fluid plan, as in how often you eat/drink. I've done a few 5+ mile swims and every 20 minutes seems to work for me. Also a good idea while training to know what agrees w you and what doesn't. I found that Glukos gummies and/or Cliff shot blocks, along w a sports drink (Maxim, Hammer fizz, and/or Glukos) and a protein drink seemed to work. (I liked the Trader Joe vanilla protein shake.) But food choices are a very individual thing. I train w 3-4 shorter swim workouts a wk (masters practice) and an increasingly longer swim. Last couple I maxed at 10000 yds. I've had a coach set up my schedule. ... same guy who coaches my master's group. Benefit of that is that he sees me swim regularly so gives me great feedback on technique and can tie in the long workouts I do on my own w what he's observed. Last year, even at 64, I got a personal best. Other training: yoga and TRX (one session of each per week). Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

PS I wish you success! Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

I am impressed. Five miles is quite a distance for a first open water swim. I agree with previous advice on a feeding plan. A five miler will at least require a couple of gels tucked in the suit if no kayak escort, and I understand that different people react very differently to different feeding substances. In addition to the types of training recommended, I'd also suggest just getting in open water and swimming. Practice sighting on objects. Learn which goggles work best for you. No lane lines and no line on the bottom of the lake can be disorienting if you try it for the first time in an event. The open water workouts on this forum are great especially in training for the longer swims. I mix them up with a couple of workouts from the other sets and make sure I'm swimming 4-5X per week at least.

I'm a newbie as well and just did my first ow in MD end of May-Ft Ritchie Swimfest Relax in the water. Race your own pace. Breathe-Exhale. Swim straight. Sight till you develop a smooth rhythm and Tarzan drills. Get some shaded goggles, I like amber. Cut back on the training the week before.

I too am looking toward my first OW race, first swim race of any kind. Unlike NickgOW, I always enjoyed running and have run close to 500 races lifetime. Swimming was strictly cross-training. Unfortunately, at 68, arthritis now prohibits running, so I am setting my sights on the Lake George, NY, OWS in late August (2.5K). I began the year with a goal of a 40 min mile, even signed up for a masters swim class last winter and was progressing well, but then lost 2 mos of training to arthritis again. I'm now back into easy swims and feel I can begin to crank up both intensity and distance, but I don't know how to approach it. Whereas I had been swimming 2000-2500 yds 3-4 days a week, now I'm doing 1000 yds in about 26:40. What sort of yardage do I need to be doing regularly and what intervals might be best? I have access to both a 25yd indoor and 50m outdoor pool.

i hope you realize that a 5mile swim will take you way over 1.5hrs and closer to 2hrs. and thats if you can hold let's say 1:10 100yd splits you may be looking at 2.5hrs prepare mentally and nutrionally for that Primer Lugar

Hey guys thanks for the advice. I believe you are allowed to have a kayak escort with you, but I think there are multiple kayakers throughout the tributary that have food and water from what I understand. And as for water training I have been toning it down to try and lose weight running, but I generally do a quick 200 free warmup, and then go 70 laps in the pool, take a 5 minute break, then do 70 more if I have time in between jobs. I rarely have time to do more than 2 sets of 70, but I always end with another 200 free.

I read something wonderful, somewhere about long swims. The swimmer said that whenever s/he got tired, discouraged, and thought of quitting, the thought that there was nothing else s/he would rather be doing aside from swimming kept them going. I'm glad to say I haven't needed that dose of medicine yet (longest swim was 4 1/2 hours of pure pleasure) but I probably will sometime this summer as I stretch my limits.

the thought that there was nothing else s/he would rather be doing aside from swimming kept them going. Great idea!

As srcoyote advised, if you can get into open water, it definitely helps your prep. I do 1-2 open water swims per week. Even better, tho not always feasible depending on where you live... swim in a similar environment to the one you're racing in. If your race is in salt water,it's a good idea to do some swimming in salt water and vice versa. My race is held in the same body of water where I learned to swim, so I had the benefit of knowing what it was like to swim there. I should note that I did my 1st 5 mile race on exclusively pool training and finished better than I expected....though w some seasickness. Since then I learned to feed more frequently. Also I put a few drops of ginger extract in my water. But really crucial were the more frequent feedings. You might want to check out also the Marathon Swimmers Forum: marathonswimmers.org/.../ Lots of great tips, as well as fabulous stories! Also, good stuff on open water swimming Facebook groups. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk