I have a question for marathon swimmers...
I've been prepping for a 10k swim that I'll be doing this coming Saturday. I live in coastal southern New England. I really began training in late Feb or Early March by doing longer pool swims. Once the open waters warmed up enough for wetsuits, I moved outside in late May/early June. I completed a full 10k+ with my kayaker today and practiced feeding/drinking him. I feel ready. In the future, I'd like to maintain fitness for doing swims of this long, and longer. But my question is...how do you maintain fitness for doing swims of this distance through winter? I just don't know if I can handle six months of long pool swims.
Dan
Dan,
How long did your 10K swim take? That will be part of the determining factor.
It is not necessary to do alot of non-stop swims as you lead up to 10K or longer. BUT, you do have to put in the volume. When I was training for 10Ks, most of my regular practices were 5-6,000. I would do a longer practice every other week (20 x 400, 40 x 200, 80 x 100) taking only 15-20 sec rest between repeats. This was more than adequate to have my body ready for the distance. You can also do timed swim sets like 4 x 30 minutes w/ 1 minute rest which mirrors your feeding times as well.
Then, 1x per month, I would do a 2 hour non-stop swim (my 10K time was around 2:20 at the time). This worked even for the 15K swim I did back in 2011.
If you can find someone to do these with, it will be easier and more enjoyable.
Good Luck this next week.
Dan,
How long did your 10K swim take? That will be part of the determining factor.
It is not necessary to do alot of non-stop swims as you lead up to 10K or longer. BUT, you do have to put in the volume. When I was training for 10Ks, most of my regular practices were 5-6,000. I would do a longer practice every other week (20 x 400, 40 x 200, 80 x 100) taking only 15-20 sec rest between repeats. This was more than adequate to have my body ready for the distance. You can also do timed swim sets like 4 x 30 minutes w/ 1 minute rest which mirrors your feeding times as well.
Then, 1x per month, I would do a 2 hour non-stop swim (my 10K time was around 2:20 at the time). This worked even for the 15K swim I did back in 2011.
If you can find someone to do these with, it will be easier and more enjoyable.
Good Luck this next week.
