Hi all
I have a question about swimming long as part of my training for my first Ironman distance race this September. So far so good with training. Biggest problem is trying to fit it all in, but so far (touch wood) no major issues. My life/work schedules dicates that I run long on a Thursday evening, ride long on a Sat/Sun and swim long on the non- riding weekend day. I come from a running / cycling background and am confident in my training in those areas.
My long swim is a sea swim. I try and get 3/4 other swim pool sessions in during the week. (One spped focused, one technique focused with drills etc and the other 1 or 2 mixed speed/tecnique. If I can I try and get a pool session in where the emphisis is on yardage but at a moderate pace - but focusing on form especially as I tire.)
I am not a swimmer. I could always "swim" but have only every really learnt about stroke mechanics etc in the last couple of years. I'm slow but am improving and realsise that I can only gain so much over the next four months. For the IM I'd be delighted with around 1.20 and think it's a reasonable goal given my current pacing.
My question is this - is there much of an advantage to ge gained by building my long swim up to distances beyong the IM distance - say 5k/6k plus. As I mentioned above I swim long in the sea (without a wetsuit). My IM distance race will also be a non-wetsuit race. My sea swim times are a good deal slower than my pool times. When I'm in the sea and going long I find it difficult to dial spped into the workout. However I'm quite comfortable and maintain a more or less consistent speed throughout the workout (Depending on the tides/current this can be anything from 2.15 - 2.50 p/100m. (Goal is to get this to 2.00 - my fastest pace in the pool would be 1.30 p/100 m although I would tire of this after 5 - 6 sets at this pace and my times would gradually start pushing up to 1.45/1.50. I find if I push it a little faster I begin to lose my form.)
I suppose what I'm asking is should I focus more on building power/speed up in the pool or would it be better to keep on plouging away in the sea once a week. Should I cap my sea swims at say IM distance and just focus on getting my time down?
I should add that after long swims at present I feel pretty wasted. Not, in pain, or uncomfortable, but put me on a couch and I am asleep in no time.
All help much appreciated.
Thanks
A
I did IMFL with my longest
I did IMFL with my longest swim 2.4 miles in training. I think i hit that distance 3 or 4 times. Swim time was 1:17. Not sure what more swimming would net you time wise as speed takes more time to develop on the swim and is more about technique. If you are comfortable with the distance already, I'd spend more time developing a stronger bike to maximize your race.
If you can go 4k in open
If you can go 4k in open water now and want to get faster, your time is much better spent hitting drills and intervals hard in the pool rather than adding on an extra kilometer or two at sea. Find a coach if your pace isn't below 2 minutes/100m, as that indicates that you may have some technical flaws that can be corrected for free speed.
Once you get your speed up and your technique improved, don't sweat your time on race day. Swim at a pace you can comfortably sustain. There are lots of factors that can slow your time, and blowing yourself up to gain 5-10 minutes in the water may cost you far more time than that later in the day.
+ from above. You can gain
+ from above. You can gain more by working on technique, than doing more open water swimming. That is a huge drop off in pace between the pool/open water. Total guess here, since I can't see your stroke, but based on my experience with folks, that is usually do to a long "glide", in which there is a delay out in from of your stroke. You can get away with this in the pool, to an extent, but in open water it does a number on you.
++ there is little to be
++ there is little to be gained from taking your long swims further, especially if you have even a hint that you might not have really good stroke mechanics.
++ on vjohnson's comment about the long glide. Works great for the 1500M pool swim, but it's not a good way to fight through sea chop and current.
swim is all about technique. Yes, you need some swim endurance, but I have yet to meet anyone who completed an IM swim with great form but was disappointed because they didn't feel that they had the endurance. I foget who said it, but "swim fitness occurs while you focus on your technique".
Thanks for all the feedback.
Thanks for all the feedback. Definitely some food for thought.
VJ/dkhartung - yes you may be right re the long glide. Have not really considered it an issue before, but have been wondering whether in open water I should be churning my arms more - I would guess that stroke cadence is roughly the same in open water as it is in the pool (that's only a guess - it certainly feels the same). When I started to "build" my stroke I took all the power away and focused on technique. I slowed down completely but then gradually (without adding power) became faster. This has been very satisfying but I suppose I need to mange the addtion of power without jeprodising the improvements I have made in my stroke.
I suppose the main reason I was considering extra yardage was that I feel so tired post a long sea swim now. I was approaching it from an endurance perpective akin say to bike or run endurance fitness, whereas I suppose they are not really comparable.
Thanks for your comments.
It's good to occasionally do
It's good to occasionally do more than your IM distance in training. With the type of training, I get my swimmers to do one ocean swim a week and the rest pool sessions. One pool session should be technique focused, where you run through drills, body position, stroke count, etc and do some slower swimming.
It's good to swim a few sets where you're targeting your race pace. So if your race pace goal is 1.40/100m you might do 12x100 on 1.55 holding 1.40. Then another 12x100 on 1.50, then another set on 1.45. Do some recovery between sets. This will help keep your stroke together.