Personally, I did the distance 4x before my first full.

I was (and still am) a terrible swimmer - longest swim before I started training was about 100m. It was a nice comfort knowing for sure that I could swim the distance. 2500->4300 is not much longer in the pool so even with a tough schedule I'd say get up half an hour earlier than usual and do it.

When you say 4x, do you mean you swam the race distance 4 separate times? That way going into the race you knew you handled your business 4 previous times?

---

"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal

Yes, that's right (apols.... edited my post to make it slightly clearer ;) )

Honestly, if you are worried about the swim and just need the confidence, go longer than race distance in the pool.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Thank you both for solid advice. I am working on a plan and I feel so locked in on the bike and run aspects. I will probably be posting a lot of swim questions the next couple months.

I'll make sure I swim the distance at least a couple times and hopefully a couple more.

---

"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal

For both my IMs I swam the full distance a couple of months before, and then a couple of weeks before. I'm pretty comfortable in the water so it was mostly to gauge what to expect time-wise - albeit in a pool environment vs OWS - but knowing you have the distance under your belt definitely helps, IMO.

I agree with Jason; go further than race distance. The race day scrum and the waves other competitors create will make it seem further than a pool swim. If possible do some swimming in a lane or two with others to simulate. Without the proper prep you may not make it to the 2 parts you seem to be more focused on.

There's a big difference b/w stroking in a pool, and popping your cherry in real-life.
(Or so I've heard.)

I'm offended....</pink>

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

If you have swam a half and didn't have problems you should have no problem with a full. Amount of swim training will be bigger issue than longest swim before the full. Swimming in groups, swimming in wetsuit are helpful and can be done in shorter races. I often swim first 800 m of workout in wetsuit in pool leading up to races. After 800 m too hot so that's it. The other thing is after about half of the full swim the crowds thin out etc so not as much of an issue.

---

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I am a mid-pack swimmer and comfortable in the water. I did 1 interval day and 1 long swim per week for my IM training.

The 2 months prior to the IM, I swam race distance for my long swim (which was like 9 times). I started the training doing 2500 yards for my long swim, and adding 500y every month until I got up to race distance 2 months out.

You may not want to do it that many times, but I would do it at least 3-4 times.

yes (short answer)

I think you should know you can do all distances before the event. How do you know - you have to do them. For a marathon 20miles is good enough. for the bike 100 miles is good enough. but for the swim do the whole distance

enjoy the journey.

---

I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
List of what life owes you:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________

When I trained for my first IM I was routinely swimming 4,000+ yards about three times a week, sometimes four and occasionally five. This was of course prior to kids. For an IM I'm doing this July I'll probably get in ten or so 4k pool swims, plus some in the open water as well.

Swimming isn't like biking in that you only do a few of the workouts at race distance (or at least shouldn't be).

---

Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

That's a matter of preference IMO.
I do lots of long rides, because I like them. I do very few long swims, because I'm not a huge fan of very long sessions. Once I've done enough to be safe, the rest is a choice.

My longest swim before my first IM was 3200m. So 84% race distance. Of course since that was a pool swim and without a wetsuit, it's not exactly representative of an open water swim in a wetsuit. Unless you've done numerous open water swims under various circumstances (hot/cold, calm/choppy, fresh/salty, alone/crowded, relaxed/stressed) you haven't really done an equivalent race simulation.
If you're able to do a large proportion of the race distance in relative comfort, you should be okay for the race. That's good enough for me. Of course if you're worried about your time and pacing, you may want to do a lot more, but that's a separate question I think.

If you're in the States consider USMS: http://www.usms.org/longdist/ldnats17/

Try the ePostal swim (3,000 scy or 5,000 lcm). That'll do ya.

---

#swimmingmatters
Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
The Doctor (#12)

Yeah, I did 3000 meters twice largely because I didn’t feel the long swim was an effective workout. I chose 4 x 800 or 8 x 400 with kicking, warmup, cool down if I wanted to do a long swim.

I swam with a masters club so largely I did what they told me.

---

Dan Mayberry
Amateur a lot of things, professional a few things.

That is a more enjoyable plan than doing in the pool.

---

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I went from never swimming a lap in my life to doing an ironman in 6 months and longest I swam in a pool was 2k.

I did a few OWS that peaked around 1.5ish Miles. But I never swam the full distance. I felt confident I had the fitness though and swam the ironman in 1:15 and felt fantastic exiting the water. That’s no fish time, but I felt pretty good about it considering the first 100m I swam “non stop” when I started was ~3:00/100.

YMMV but if you’ve built up the fitness then I think you’ll be fine, especially if you’re not gunning for Kona, etc. But if you need it as a confidence booster then go for it.