hi all - a question. i'm considering a marathon swim of 20 miles next july, and believe I can put in the training to be successful at it (prob 11 hours in the water). My concern is this: i've lived the last few years at 200 feet elevation and the lake is at 6000 ft. I'm sure in the months as I train i can get some time in at higher elevations, but they would probably be no more than 2000 feet. How significant is this change in elevation and would it drastically affect my ability to swim for 20 miles, even if i have the endurance? I'll only have a couple days to acclimate to the elevation. Thanks.
The higher the thinner the
The higher the thinner the air becomes...
That is for sure that swimming that huge distance is going to be a husle to say the least at altitude, but when it comes to endurance the impact might be less if you compare it when doing an activity that requires speed, explosive movements and short distances; that is when, under such urge of oxigen in a little burst of time, you might feel it worse.
If you try to do some trainning at altitude even if is not swimming, maybe some running or biking, are going to be a good stimulus for your body to produce a bit more of hemoglobin to carry more O2 during your competition.
Also improving your anaerobic capacity doing fast sprints, will help. For example high mountain climbers use track work, doing fast 100mts drills to adecuate their lungs to get the most O2 under stressful situations, improving O2 delivery and comsuption by muscle tissue.
Being very very well hydrated, the days before your competition also will expand your intravascular volumen that will translate in better O2 delivery to your muscles during the competition.
Hope this helps a bit...and the very best to you on your 20mile swimm.
wow! I don't have any
wow! I don't have any altitude info for you, but that sounds like a cool race! Not one that I'd do, but cool nonetheless. How does that work? How do you fuel/hydrate- 11hrs in the water?! do you get called Aquaman when you finish?
Holy crap! What race is
Holy crap! What race is this? There are alot of other threads on this site regarding training and racing at altitude you should check out. For a race that long at altitude in the water, my biggest concern would be hydration. I live in Denver (5280 ft) and the most important thing when people come here from sea level is hydration, hydration, hydration. The air is so thin and dry. So I would worry about getting enough water during a swim race, since 1) Usually you don't hydrate much while swimming 2) can't tell that you are sweating so don't get thirsty 3) with the length of the race it is going to be so important to stay up on hydration. There is a 10K swim race out here that some of my friends just did and they had canoes next to them for race support. Hopefully you will have that, or something similar to help out with your race nutrition. Good luck!
thanks everyone for the
thanks everyone for the comments - very helpful! it's not a race so much as a personal challenge to swim a lake from the south point to the north point, which is about 20 miles. I've been researching English Channel swimmers and those guys are pretty amazing, so since I'll be at this lake in July for a family reunion thought it might be good to take a day and attempt a swim to get experience for a possible future Channel swim.
Would definitely train to hydrate/feed during swim and have an escort boat throughout.
Best of luck man...!!! There
Best of luck man...!!!
There is an endurance swim race here in Ecuador at a lake located almost 3000mts high, and it goes from the north end to the south...it is about 5km....but nothing like your swim...that sounds just awesome long....hahahahahahaha...
I have seen that some swimmers get next their escort boat to get some gels or other forms of liquid fuels....I am sure that a good nutrition and hydration strategy will make a big difference in your endeavor....
Mucha suerte amigo!...and try no to swallow to much water... :-)
Best of luck man...!!! There
Best of luck man...!!!
There is an endurance swim race here in Ecuador at a lake located almost 3000mts high, and it goes from the north end to the south...it is about 5km....but nothing like your swim...that sounds just awesome long....hahahahahahaha...
I have seen that some swimmers get next their escort boat to get some gels or other forms of liquid fuels....I am sure that a good nutrition and hydration strategy will make a big difference in your endeavor....
Mucha suerte amigo!...and try no to swallow to much water... :-)