First open swim, need workout plan help

Erin lots of repeats necessary at race pace, I like lots of 50s 100s and 200s. But we also need some open water swimming to get the feel for a no turns swim. When we practiced for open water swims it was not convienient or practical to swim OW. Pools were the only places you could train.

Erin if your going to swim the 1 mile, you may want to train daily by swimming a 1760 yard straight, either every other day or once a week, it really depends on you, and what your comfortable with, try it for a week and see how you do, maybe try to break your 1 mile swim up into 3 x 550 yards maintain pace on numbers 1 and 2 and then kick it into overdrive for the last 500 the last 150-200 yards try to push 100 %, open ocean swim is so much more different than pool, 1 - you have about 200 swimmers in a pack, 2 - there are no lane lines to keep you on track so you may end up following someone way off course, 3 - you want to get used to porposing - popping your headf out of the water about every 10 strokes to see where you are at, there is a gal from Kona Hawaii Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen, she puts on a outstanding long distance swimming clinic, she holds numorous world titles, I went to one of her seminars and it was awsome, she has a DVD out, and you may be able to contact her somehow and get some info from her as well. Also they have open water clinics - this website is great for that info. zac

Thanks so much -- the quick response is very much appreciated. Daily, really? I like both ideas -- sounds like I was a bit more on-target than I thought! I have been alternating my workouts -- I do sets of 500 at a good pace, nothing all out, working it though. Next workout is short sets, some declines, 50s 100s w/no more than 15 sec rest. I have a number of friends who do tris. They've been helpful with similar tips to yours -- porpoising, etc. I do have opportunity to do some practice swims in the open water -- the Chesapeake Bay is about 100 yds from my backyard. Not waterfront, but close! I just have to get the nerve to get in! Very cold here!! I think I'll wait another month or so! This is a great start, thank you! Erin

Perhaps I need to find the "not so hard-core" section of this site!! The water here is probably about 40 degrees. My husband did a Polar Bear Plunge (insane!) in Jan and the Bay was 32 degrees. It's probably warmed up a bit since. Since you mentioned a wetsuit -- what do you recommend for an early June swim? I've never worn one. Avg water temp is 69, still pretty chilly, right? Considering my body likes 98.6 or the lovely 82 in the indoor pool at my health club, 69 might require a wetsuit for this newbie. Thanks again! I'm very happy I found this site. ~E

I have been in some pretty cold water and have trained in a river with a snow pile on the side of it. I also trained in a small lake that had sheet ice on it and broke very thin ice with my hands. However I did wear a 5/8th inch neoprene cover to keep the body warm.

Nevermind the wetsuit/water temp question. I don't pay attn to these things typically. I just compared early June Chesa Bay temps w/ocean temps where I go to the beach. 69 for the Bay in early June and 70 for Ocean City in July. Same thing. No wetsuit needed!:doh:

what kind of time are you hoping to swim the mile? you mentioned 22 min now, that roughly 1:20/100. are you hoping to get down to 20 minutes? that would be just over 1:12/100. since you have just over 2 months and suggested swimming 3 days / week that you try swimming for distance once a week. swim 20 minutes and see how far you can swim, or swim a mile and try to beat your time. but on the other days swim set of X x 100 or X x 200. after you know what you want for a split time, try swimming the 100's or 200's holding that split time with 5-10s rest. I just swam my first ever 800m short course in march. I was hoping to hold 1:25/100m but was happy to see I had 1:18 average. if you get a wetsuit, I suggest you swim in it a few times before the race, and rub vaseline around your neck so you don't get a "rub burn". swimming with a wetsuit helps too, because it keeps you body on top of the water. someone else mentioned swimming in open water, if you have the opportunity I say swim as early and often outside. In sweden we have a 3km river race water temps mid to lower 60's. I swam in a near by lake to get the feel for swimming in open water, it was harder than I though to swim 500m in one shot. and it was even harder to swim in a straight line. no black line to follow on the bottom. so unless you plan on following the people in front of you, get some practice lifting your head up to breath every 5-10 strokes. good luck

Thanks Rykno -- that's really helpful, to break it down to the 100 - 200 timing. I don't really know how pool swim times translate to open water. In good conditions, I would imagine they're pretty similar? I think 20 min is reasonable. I do have opportunity to swim in open water prior to the race, definitely need a wetsuit for that - water hasn't warmed up much yet here. Thanks all -- I'll definitely keep you up on my progress. BTW - funny story, was in the middle of my workout yesterday, swimming 100 back to stretch out b/w long sets -- I thought someone shot me in the forehead w/a beebee or something. I jumped, had no idea what happened, looked around, nothing out of sorts. So I finished up my lap and my cap popped off my head! It had split in the front while I was swimming w/such force that I thought something hit me. :laugh2:

Erin, Good luck with your first open water swim. You might want to visit some triathlon sites like beginnertriathlete.com or triathlonweek.com to see what those folks say since open water swimming is intergral to the sport. I'm new to open water swimming and have to say it is really different, and imho much more difficult than swimming in a pool. The hardest thing is keeping a straight line so learning to spot is important. You didn't say where you were swimming but if the water temp is going to be below 70 you might want to consider a wet suit designed for swimming. You might also check to see what the race rules are regarding wetsuits as they may not be permitted above certain temperatures. A lot of triathletes that compete here in Ohio use the sleeveless kind since the water temp isn't that low in summer. Another advantage to wearing a wet suit is buoyancy. If you don't want to buy a wetsuit the local tri shop might rent them. And don't use vaseline. There are special antichafing products you can buy that won't damage the neoprene. And practice in it before your swim. Sounds like the distance won't be a problem for you. But if you want to get faster you'll need to do some interval training mixing short very high intensity intervals with longer moderate intensity ones. Hope it goes well.

Hi Erin, I have just joined & saw your thread. 1st well done on going back to the pool & now wanting to do open water ! I have been doing open water for 2 years now and it is very different to the pool. You need to do the longer swims keeping an eye on the pace clock per 100 splits. I find you soon get a feel for pace. I feel withe long distance you need to swim 5 times a week with higher milage. The first week you can get thru then the naxt week is harder as you start on tired arms then the following 2 weeks are even harder then after that you will catch up & become accustom to the sessions. I'm 50 year old masters group & doing around 30 000 yards a week. Have just returned from the world masters swimming championships in Australia and managed an 18th in the 2 mile open water event. Good Luck and let us know how you progress. Roger