Just a thought/request:
At some point in the future, it would be nice to have workouts posted by someone who specializes in LONG distance coaching with an eye on open water distances (1 mile "death sprints" to ??? miles). The workouts provided are generally excellent, but since open water distances basically start where pool distances leave off, it would be great to have something a bit more specific. This is especially true since there is a relatively small body of printed work on longer distance/open water training and coaches for LONG distances seem few and far between.
Would anyone else be interested and would this be possible?
-LBJ
Parents
Former Member
Just thought I could add a little knowledge/experience to the subject of distance training, particularly for open water events (say 5K, 10K's or more.)
I've done my share and all of which I have trained for in a pool (mostly short course but long course is better!) I am coached by a very successful Open Water distance swimmer who has National recognition and many records posted!
Of course first off, you have to "go the distance". The trick is to maintain quality as well, i.e intensity. For example if you are training for a 5K swim, one would presume is to do some 5K swims (5,000 meters) in the pool. Well, that might be ok to do periodically but its hard to keep the intensity. Typically, going this distance in a pool, swimmers tend to go to easy and do not maintain a steady pace. I (and my coach) agree and have demonstrated results that it would be better to go 50 X100's holding a goal pace with limited rest (about 10-15 sec.)
Another way to look at distance training is to do a typical interval workout but really limit the rest. Your body (cardio. system) needs to be accustomed to what it will experience on race day where your heart rate will be elevated for 1 or 3+ hours at a time (depending on the distance.) So, cut your intervals down to limit the rest period.
I just got done training for a 10K and what I did was a lot of typical sets/workouts but only gave myself 10 sec. rest between each interval (whether it was a 50 or a 1500) AND, only about 10-15 seconds rest between sets! The goal being to keep your heart rate elevated during the entire workout.
You should build up so that at your peak training period (which should last several weeks) you are mixing in workouts with limited rest that last as long as your projected swim time. For example if your projected swim time for the 5K is 1 hr. 30 min., this is how long a lot of your workout should be lasting not letting your HR drop to much!!
Don't be afraid to mix in some easy long swims, drills (mostly stroke count) and kicking!!
GO FOR IT!
Just thought I could add a little knowledge/experience to the subject of distance training, particularly for open water events (say 5K, 10K's or more.)
I've done my share and all of which I have trained for in a pool (mostly short course but long course is better!) I am coached by a very successful Open Water distance swimmer who has National recognition and many records posted!
Of course first off, you have to "go the distance". The trick is to maintain quality as well, i.e intensity. For example if you are training for a 5K swim, one would presume is to do some 5K swims (5,000 meters) in the pool. Well, that might be ok to do periodically but its hard to keep the intensity. Typically, going this distance in a pool, swimmers tend to go to easy and do not maintain a steady pace. I (and my coach) agree and have demonstrated results that it would be better to go 50 X100's holding a goal pace with limited rest (about 10-15 sec.)
Another way to look at distance training is to do a typical interval workout but really limit the rest. Your body (cardio. system) needs to be accustomed to what it will experience on race day where your heart rate will be elevated for 1 or 3+ hours at a time (depending on the distance.) So, cut your intervals down to limit the rest period.
I just got done training for a 10K and what I did was a lot of typical sets/workouts but only gave myself 10 sec. rest between each interval (whether it was a 50 or a 1500) AND, only about 10-15 seconds rest between sets! The goal being to keep your heart rate elevated during the entire workout.
You should build up so that at your peak training period (which should last several weeks) you are mixing in workouts with limited rest that last as long as your projected swim time. For example if your projected swim time for the 5K is 1 hr. 30 min., this is how long a lot of your workout should be lasting not letting your HR drop to much!!
Don't be afraid to mix in some easy long swims, drills (mostly stroke count) and kicking!!
GO FOR IT!
