5500yrds non-stop

I'd say get a couple 1 hour open water swims in and you'll be fine.

Sure, maybe it till take you 1 hour 20 min, but you don't run 26.2 training for a marathon. If you can do an hour solo open water you'll be fine in IM with the pack in my opinion.

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Portside Athletics Blog

4250 yds, 2 or 3 times, during or close to the last week before the race

Three by a thousand meters in the pool, one week out. Easily swam 1:30. I only swim to get to the bike!

i swam 2.5 miles on Tuesday, that will be my longest until Arizona

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Before my first IM I'd never swum the full distance - think the most I got up to in training was about 3000m. That was far enough for me to know that I could do it and my only goal for first IM was to survive the swim - partly because I sucked, partly because I hated swimming and partly because I wrecked my shoulder skiing 8 months before the race and had to have keyhole surgery.

Really depends on goals - the above worked fine for a 1:25 swim and set me up for a solid MOP ~12 hour finish which was all I was aiming for at the time. Suggest quite a lot more if you're trying to get out of the water close to or under an hour.

Oooh - I like the sound of that. I think I will be in the 1:20-1:30 range and that is 100% fine by me. I've done a few over 3000 so far, but I'm just bored out of my mind! Hopefully I'll do a masters workout or 2 during my taper to get some decent yardage in.

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Kathleen
http://kcwoodhead.blogspot.com/

For IMFL I pool swam the distance just to prove I could do it.

For placid this year I will probably do two 2-mile open water swim races, although it really can't be considered racing if I finish last ;-)

For me swimming 100m or 1000m or 3800m is the same thing and the only difference is the level of boredom.

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Swim - Bike - Run the rest is just clothing changes.

I am the poster-boy for somebody who swims cuz I have to. Ask anybody.

I did a 2:05 o/w swim a few weeks before IMLP, but it was totally inadvertant; the plan was to go 1:00-1:10 or so, just to be out there roughly similar time (although I knew in my case my actual IM swim would be longer than that, and it was - 1:19)

I was in the Hudson river, and it turned out I swam the first :35 upriver but *with* the tide coming in, so coming back against the tide was like the world's biggest Endless Pool, and had I not eventually cut over towards shore I might still be out there now.
Long story short - this is not recommended, but it was good for the head to know I could swim for as long as I had to and not drown.

Otherwise, I don't think I did a straight swim longer than 800m in the pool (once), and 1.2m during a HIM.

Dunno what the point or benefit of doing a "decently long" swim the Mon of race week is.
If you were a fish that might be a different story, but for the swim-challenged, you are probably better off doing less volume and just trying to keep the rust off, you'll need all your swim muscles rested for the real thing.
Take anything I say regarding swimming w/ a lb of salt. I am the ultimate rock.
YMMV.

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float , hammer , and jog

I had issues that limited my training severly prior to first IM ( all 3 disciplines, I did not want to no show). I swam 6 times in the 8 wks prior, with four of those swims in the four days prior to IM, Wed 1500 M, Thurs 1500 M, longest swim was 2000M on Friday, about 1000 M sat. then raced on Sun. I have not put in a lot of swim training since returning to tri's 2 years ago after a 5 year lay off, prior to that I taught myself how to swim and raced tris for 3 years (so I had a very limited swim background). I finished the IM swim in 1:35:03 felt it was an easy swim and felt great coming out of the water. I DNF'd after the bike, may have been partly due to my lack of swim fittness but it was at IM WIS this year and I was not prepared at all for the cold weather, I think that was much more of a problem for me than lack of swim training.

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Mike

Thanks everyone - this is exactly what I was looking for...a little confidence in my slacker swim training.

When I say decently long the Monday before - that will probably just be 2000-3000. Anything over 800 seems long to me! I've definitely come a decent way as far as distance is concerned, and think I can probably go for quite a while, I've just had no desire to!!

I have a couple of open water swims coming up, so hopefully those will help get me close enoguh to where I need to be!

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Kathleen
http://kcwoodhead.blogspot.com/

oh,oh, oh,.......a post about something I'm really good at..........a lack of swimming prior to an IM. Please remember...I have zero swimming background, although I was a lifeguard 35 years ago. I do NOT swim train at all. I train the morning of a race when I swim to the first bouy and back. That is considered my "training".

I've done 2 IM's. Both times my training for the swim consisted of 3 trips to the pool. I swam continuosly for 3 miles each time. No speed work, but a few drills, ie catchups, blah blah blah.....

The swim training was to be sure I could do the distance without any problems....sore arms, breathing, etc.

I completed the IM swims in 76 minutes both times with this training program. It was a tough long training program but worth every minute.

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Paul

I did a few open water swims (60 min, and a couple 80 minute). It helped my confidence a lot. The swim is my weakest and I don't enjoy it as much as running and biking. The open water long swims were a lot more fun than the endless laps in the pool. I actually did my last long swim (80 min) one week before IMMOO.

I'm a slow swimmer who was just learning to get comfortable last year in open water. I swam actual IM distance probably 4-5 times before my first IM just so I would know I could do it. These swims were usually in open water at a local swimming hole. My actual IM swim was very low intensity (HR in zone 1), predicably slow (1:30), but quite enjoyable. This year I am trying to get the speed up a bit and am planning to go full IM distance once a week into the race.

70x100y on 1:40 s/o. This took about 2 hrs...

When training a lot for IM, I would swim 5k or 6k once a week from about 12 weeks out. I have found that I can hit the swim volume and intensity pretty hard up to about 10 days out, then I really cut it back in terms of volume but keep the intensity high, lots of 100's and 200's hard but with more rest..

Good luck

I started swimming 4 years ago, so no hs or college swimming for me.

My long swims are usually about 3000m straight. My IM swims are around 1:06. I know I could go faster if I swam more, but I don't care. It would only be a matter of 5 or 10 minutes. I'm one of those people that doesn't like to swim. Its a necesary evil for me, I'd much rather be outside. I find swimming to be a drain on my motivation so I only do it as much as I need to.

If you're having confidence issues regarding the swim, then longer swims of 4000 or maybe just 60mins straight might help you. For my first IM, I felt much more confident knowing that I had done the distance before. Remember on race day, you'll have the benefit of the draft, a wetsuit and its more interesting than looking at that black line on the bottom of the pool. The swim never seems as long for me when I'm racing.

David

I'm pretty confident with where I am now, and will hopefully go the distance in the pool once or twice beforehand, but if doesn't workout that way, I think I'll be fine too.

I just didn't want to show up there and say my longest swim had been 3700 or so and have people say "oh wow, you're gonna die" or something terrible like that that could crush my little confidence!

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Kathleen
http://kcwoodhead.blogspot.com/

Depending on time, conflicts, etc.. I always try to swim and bike more than the actual distance/time (at least once, and as many times as possible)
It does not have to be a lot more but just enough to boost your confidence and teach you body about the distance to cover: "are we done already? I can still do more if you want... Cool what is next?".

Fred.