I know I'm not the only one who took up open water swimming this year, due to pools being closed. So a weird thing happened to me. I don't prefer it, but I see a lot of value in it. Getting in and maintaining a pace for over 3000 yards without stopping I think will help with stamina. Also since I can't make regular Masters practice, I'm finding a nice social group. So much so that I'm now thinking about doing a 10K in September.
Alright, so here is what I have been able to do:
Once per week, swim with group, upriver for about 30 minutes, then downriver. Current has gone from obscene to managable. I'm generally with the "lead" group, or the "long distance" group, however you want to describe those who go farther. Right now, we've been hitting 1600 yards upstream, and then returning. About 30 minutes up, 22 minutes back. In addition, I go do point to point swims, roughly 500 yards apart, once, maybe twice per week. Total distance average 2000 yards. A second distance swim per week is not coming into play, Saturday night it was 3500 yards.
In addition, I've been running 1-2x per week. Up to 4.5 miles on flat land, 3.5 on courses that require hard climbs. Try to get in a 13 mile single track mountain bike ride once per week, but that is weather dependent.
Anyway, I still like the regular workouts, and I still follow the ones that Swimdogs (how do you "tag" people so they see they are mentioned - I'd like his input) used to post a few years ago (okay......well I did until early March). I may be able to gain access to a pool in the next couple of weeks.
So....anyone else trying to mix both open water and regular workouts? If so, how do you balance? I'd like to displace my running
Side note....there is a 100M pool I will be able to swim in occasionally. So, if I'm tracking my workouts, is that a "pool" swim, or an "open water" swim :) Really only half kidding.......
Again, for thsoe who like both, how do you balance the two? Should I be punting on conventional workouts for now and try to focus on open water workouts to prepare for the 10K?
Prior to this year, most of my training was in pools (depending how you define Barton Springs I guess :) ), and most of my events were open water. Yea I'd usually end up doing a meet every now and then (last year I did 2), but they are more the exception than the rule.
But this year, after pools shut down, I took a ~2 week break to figure out what I was going to do, then jumped into open water. Once the pool near me reopened, I've been back. But I still end up doing open water about once a week.
For me there's much more value in open water than just sighting (but that is a good point). You usually can't just stand up and stop whenever you want, or at 25 yards (or 25m/50m). There could be other people/animals in the water with you (some good, some not). Water temperature varies wildly in open water (I just swam in 62F this morning, but had I gone downstream a few miles it would be 80-85F). There are currents, there is chop. I don't think anything prepares me for open water quite like training in open water.
Prior to this year, most of my training was in pools (depending how you define Barton Springs I guess :) ), and most of my events were open water. Yea I'd usually end up doing a meet every now and then (last year I did 2), but they are more the exception than the rule.
But this year, after pools shut down, I took a ~2 week break to figure out what I was going to do, then jumped into open water. Once the pool near me reopened, I've been back. But I still end up doing open water about once a week.
For me there's much more value in open water than just sighting (but that is a good point). You usually can't just stand up and stop whenever you want, or at 25 yards (or 25m/50m). There could be other people/animals in the water with you (some good, some not). Water temperature varies wildly in open water (I just swam in 62F this morning, but had I gone downstream a few miles it would be 80-85F). There are currents, there is chop. I don't think anything prepares me for open water quite like training in open water.
