Ok so I am not doing any racing for 2 years, in tri, so I don't get to write any race reports that are corroborated on sportstats....so you have to rely on my honesty on "reports" from my own self concocted swimming events.
Below is a summary from today's 10000m swim of modified "IM" (like not much back and breast....that comes next year, but a ton of fly).
Here is the rough report for today's swim:
In the last 2 days I did almost 10,000m after the Dec 25/26 forced shut down taper where I went out on my snowshoes. So since I have a business meeting on Dec 30th during pool hours and on Dec 31st I hope to meet up with some friends who are not swimmers who are running and XC skiing (I want to try to get out on skis and just use my arms mainly), I decided to joing SLOgoing on giving the 10K a go on Dec 29th. Scott Boyd who posted above along with his friend Greg joined. Scott was hung over from his brother's 50th birthday....probably being hung over before a 10K swim is not the best way to start (later in this report, you will read about Scott's dehydration issues, but he did break 3 hours doing all three strokes).
Setting out on the adventure
I decided that my plan should be to do butterfly for 25% of the swimming and add back and breast during my 400 legs.
so each kilometer looked like this
This was my plan for the first half. In the second half, I would reassess and maybe take out the second 50 fly during the 400m and just do free.
I figured that if I averaged 20 minutes with breaks, stops, nutrition and added 10 min of buffer, then 3:30 for the entire swim would be possible, without killing myself.
During the first half, what I decided to do on each wall push off was to get into a tight streamline and with light push try to emerge just past the flags and rest as much as possible moving no body parts. The down side to this is that you lose too much momentum. In any case I stuck with that.
I was departing each kilometer under 20 minutes total. I was not checking my times, in between, just went on a pace for all 4 strokes that I felt I could sustain and stay in a fat burning zone. I have done enough marathons, half IM's and 50K XC ski races to know how to pace anywhere past 2.5 hours up to 5 hours. Its all pretty well the same thing, but I have never swam longer than 2:14 in my life. That was during an 8K Lake swim this winter, where I bonked in the final 1K or so due to lack of nutrition.
In any case, for nutrition I had two bagels with peanut better and jam and coffee for breakfast. For the 10000m, I had one large bottle of gatorade with added salt, and another bottle with ramen noodles (you know, those noodles you get for 39 cents and add water), in which I added extra salt.
Starting at 300m, every so often I would take a sip of gatorade along with a sip of the noodles liquid. I left the actual noodle part for after 6000m.
For the first 6000m I was holding back on all strokes trying not to pull too hard and focused on streamline in all strokes. I thought about Mark Spitz talking about turning your body into a torpedo, so that was my focus for 6000m...and energy conservation.
Scott was doing 400s as 25 "stroke" and 75 free times 4 and then short break and next 400, 25 times, so we were out of sync and he is a faster swimmer than me at free and back. I think we are on par in breast, and I am faster at fly...in any case, a few times, I took a longer break at the wall so that my fly leg starting my next interval, I could draft his free and then hammer to hang on to his feet for free....typically that did not work because when I tried to draft him doing fly, I was scared I was overcooking myself.
In any case at 5000m, Scott was already at 5700m.
(as it turns out, never ate the bananas nor gels, so my 2+ years of gel free living is still alive)
By the time 6000m came around I popped the lid off my bottle with ramen noodles and that was like turbo fuel....I gradually ate my ramen noodles between 6000m and 9000m. The first time I ate them, I made the mistake of leaving a few chunks in my cheek....dumb dumb mistake, because now you're hammering fly and breathing so hard that air is going through your mouth like putting an F-18 in a windtunnel picking up ramen noodles and shoving them down your wind pipe....but somehow I survived. This wasa the high comedy point of the 'event'
I supposed the other comedy point of the event was when I was around 8500m and Scott was at 9400m or so and he was stopped dead in the middle of the pool like Christiano Renaldo having his worst soccer cramp. Not sure when Scott's "all 4 strokes" ended, but I know the fly disappeared out of the repertoire early. Breast and back dissappeared quite a while later and the use of his legs had already died some time before the FIFA world cup extreme cramping. Out came the pull buoy, but he was getting it done.
When I was some time past 5000m, I felt my legs were good and could assist more. So rather than the slack push off the wall, I started blasting the push and then went with 5 dolphin kicks....soon as my arms got heavier this turned to 7 kicks and sometimes even 10. I realized I had another "tool" in my kit and with all my dolphin kicking drills, I could actually save my arms a bit and at time found myself shooting out past 8m to 10m. Suddenly my arms were getting rest, and could hammer harder, and my legs that pretty well have infinite endurance were contributing more. Suddenly somewhere between 6000m and 7000m using my legs more and more especially off the wall, I felt my speed going up.
My check ins at each kilometer confirmed that departures were getting closer to 19 minutes than 20 minutes.
Once I got past 8000m I realized I was into uncharted territory in the longest swim of my life. That actually forced me to hold back "AGAIN" much like when I got past mile 125 of my first Ironman and I got scared I would blow, so I pulled back the pace. But I did not need to. By 9000m, I knew i would have plenty of juice to give the final kilometer. I basically did my last 800m like I was in an open 800m, not that I was going fast, I just paced it that way.
Final elapsed time was 3:13
2300m fly, 300 breast, 250 back, the rest free, one bottle of gatorade, 1 bottle with ramen noodles with extra salt.
No cramps.
Scott got done in 2:59 with cramps, more free, less fly, more back, I think more breast, and some pull buoy.
7500m into today, I crossed 1250 km of swimming for the year, so clearly the "work was done" for today.
Next year, I would like to do 2500m fly, 1250 back, 1250 breast, 5000m free. Can I do all that and break 3 hours? I don't know, but maybe that is the "A event" that I train for next year. I need to do a lot of work on my back stroke to get to the level that I can do that much and break 3 hours. My breast stroke is not that far from where it won't turn into a total liability.
Honestly, I don't know how you guys do 100x100m free and not lose your minds or lose count. Keeping track today was pretty easy...and not being a slave to the time clock other than checking it at each 1 km marker was nice.
Below is a summary from today's 10000m swim of modified "IM" (like not much back and breast....that comes next year, but a ton of fly).
Here is the rough report for today's swim:
In the last 2 days I did almost 10,000m after the Dec 25/26 forced shut down taper where I went out on my snowshoes. So since I have a business meeting on Dec 30th during pool hours and on Dec 31st I hope to meet up with some friends who are not swimmers who are running and XC skiing (I want to try to get out on skis and just use my arms mainly), I decided to joing SLOgoing on giving the 10K a go on Dec 29th. Scott Boyd who posted above along with his friend Greg joined. Scott was hung over from his brother's 50th birthday....probably being hung over before a 10K swim is not the best way to start (later in this report, you will read about Scott's dehydration issues, but he did break 3 hours doing all three strokes).
Setting out on the adventure
I decided that my plan should be to do butterfly for 25% of the swimming and add back and breast during my 400 legs.
so each kilometer looked like this
- 100m fly free free free
- 200m 50 fly, 150 free
- 400m 50 fly 25 back, 25 breast, 150 free, 50 fly, 100 free
- 200m 50 fly, 150 free
- 100m 25 fly,75 free
This was my plan for the first half. In the second half, I would reassess and maybe take out the second 50 fly during the 400m and just do free.
I figured that if I averaged 20 minutes with breaks, stops, nutrition and added 10 min of buffer, then 3:30 for the entire swim would be possible, without killing myself.
During the first half, what I decided to do on each wall push off was to get into a tight streamline and with light push try to emerge just past the flags and rest as much as possible moving no body parts. The down side to this is that you lose too much momentum. In any case I stuck with that.
I was departing each kilometer under 20 minutes total. I was not checking my times, in between, just went on a pace for all 4 strokes that I felt I could sustain and stay in a fat burning zone. I have done enough marathons, half IM's and 50K XC ski races to know how to pace anywhere past 2.5 hours up to 5 hours. Its all pretty well the same thing, but I have never swam longer than 2:14 in my life. That was during an 8K Lake swim this winter, where I bonked in the final 1K or so due to lack of nutrition.
In any case, for nutrition I had two bagels with peanut better and jam and coffee for breakfast. For the 10000m, I had one large bottle of gatorade with added salt, and another bottle with ramen noodles (you know, those noodles you get for 39 cents and add water), in which I added extra salt.
Starting at 300m, every so often I would take a sip of gatorade along with a sip of the noodles liquid. I left the actual noodle part for after 6000m.
For the first 6000m I was holding back on all strokes trying not to pull too hard and focused on streamline in all strokes. I thought about Mark Spitz talking about turning your body into a torpedo, so that was my focus for 6000m...and energy conservation.
Scott was doing 400s as 25 "stroke" and 75 free times 4 and then short break and next 400, 25 times, so we were out of sync and he is a faster swimmer than me at free and back. I think we are on par in breast, and I am faster at fly...in any case, a few times, I took a longer break at the wall so that my fly leg starting my next interval, I could draft his free and then hammer to hang on to his feet for free....typically that did not work because when I tried to draft him doing fly, I was scared I was overcooking myself.
In any case at 5000m, Scott was already at 5700m.
(as it turns out, never ate the bananas nor gels, so my 2+ years of gel free living is still alive)
By the time 6000m came around I popped the lid off my bottle with ramen noodles and that was like turbo fuel....I gradually ate my ramen noodles between 6000m and 9000m. The first time I ate them, I made the mistake of leaving a few chunks in my cheek....dumb dumb mistake, because now you're hammering fly and breathing so hard that air is going through your mouth like putting an F-18 in a windtunnel picking up ramen noodles and shoving them down your wind pipe....but somehow I survived. This wasa the high comedy point of the 'event'
I supposed the other comedy point of the event was when I was around 8500m and Scott was at 9400m or so and he was stopped dead in the middle of the pool like Christiano Renaldo having his worst soccer cramp. Not sure when Scott's "all 4 strokes" ended, but I know the fly disappeared out of the repertoire early. Breast and back dissappeared quite a while later and the use of his legs had already died some time before the FIFA world cup extreme cramping. Out came the pull buoy, but he was getting it done.
When I was some time past 5000m, I felt my legs were good and could assist more. So rather than the slack push off the wall, I started blasting the push and then went with 5 dolphin kicks....soon as my arms got heavier this turned to 7 kicks and sometimes even 10. I realized I had another "tool" in my kit and with all my dolphin kicking drills, I could actually save my arms a bit and at time found myself shooting out past 8m to 10m. Suddenly my arms were getting rest, and could hammer harder, and my legs that pretty well have infinite endurance were contributing more. Suddenly somewhere between 6000m and 7000m using my legs more and more especially off the wall, I felt my speed going up.
My check ins at each kilometer confirmed that departures were getting closer to 19 minutes than 20 minutes.
Once I got past 8000m I realized I was into uncharted territory in the longest swim of my life. That actually forced me to hold back "AGAIN" much like when I got past mile 125 of my first Ironman and I got scared I would blow, so I pulled back the pace. But I did not need to. By 9000m, I knew i would have plenty of juice to give the final kilometer. I basically did my last 800m like I was in an open 800m, not that I was going fast, I just paced it that way.
Final elapsed time was 3:13
2300m fly, 300 breast, 250 back, the rest free, one bottle of gatorade, 1 bottle with ramen noodles with extra salt.
No cramps.
Scott got done in 2:59 with cramps, more free, less fly, more back, I think more breast, and some pull buoy.
7500m into today, I crossed 1250 km of swimming for the year, so clearly the "work was done" for today.
Next year, I would like to do 2500m fly, 1250 back, 1250 breast, 5000m free. Can I do all that and break 3 hours? I don't know, but maybe that is the "A event" that I train for next year. I need to do a lot of work on my back stroke to get to the level that I can do that much and break 3 hours. My breast stroke is not that far from where it won't turn into a total liability.
Honestly, I don't know how you guys do 100x100m free and not lose your minds or lose count. Keeping track today was pretty easy...and not being a slave to the time clock other than checking it at each 1 km marker was nice.
Last edited by:
devashish_paul: Dec 29, 17 18:49