A few friends of mine do the Bay swim which is 4 very choppy miles, and the Potomack swim which is 7 miles. Obviously less than 25k but here is what they do. 2-3 gels per hour with a little water to chase. Some switch to sports drink later, and even the occasional half can of red bull from one of them for some caffeine. The switch to sports drink comes because they don't want to drink water to chase the gel. I have run into that in long pool workout myself. For some reason when i'm in water and need something to drink water is a big turnoff. I need something with some sweetness.

Now, if she's an efficient swimmer as it sounds like she must be, because I can't imagine a non swimmer type signing up for a 25k swim. 105 lbs= very small. 1.5 -2 gels per hour may work. I can't imagine someone of that size needing more than 150-250 calories per hour. Ultimately she needs to expirement with this during long swim workouts to find what works best for her. Once discovered don't tray during event. Stick to the plan.

bump for the daytime crowd

You might have some luck doing a search on "Alexandra Paul" (yeah, the Baywatch chick). Her SO posts here occasionally and I think she's done a few of the big Hawaiian OW swims, although none approaching 25k (IIRC). Might find some info that way...

---

---

blood, sweat...and big gears

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ''Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.''
- Muhammad Ali

Try PMing Kevin in MD . He does those kinds of races.

Every 20 - 30 minutes, as many calories as you can manage. Depending on the size of the person it will be 8 - 16 ounces of liquid. Maxim is what the channel swimmers use since it has no electrolytes. Due to lower work rate and lower body temps you won't need as much salt in the long distance swims as the bike or run so using gels for 6 -7 hours gets to be a lot on your stomach. But this race being in fresh water it will be less of a problem. I'd use carbo pro as a starting point and modify from there.

Start practicing her feeds now, the frequency and what she plans to eat.

She needs to work on her feed technique most of all. Water bottle or bottles on a rope that you throw to her is the easiest way to do it.

Don't forget that YOU need to be able to kayak for 6 - 7 hours and you need to have enough food for 6 - 7 hours.

For more specifics see Penny Lee Dean's "Open Water Swimming" available just about anywhere. There are also more in depth discussions on the topic at the usms.org open water discussion board.

Oh, learning to pee while swimming is an awesome skill to have.

Although your post is 6 years old, it was the best I could find quickly. For the benefit of others I reply and add some additional thoughts

I swam a 26km distance a few days ago and was looking for a feeding plan last weekend. I am a very experienced swimmer and Louisville Ironman, but never swam that kind of distance. I could not find much on the internet, and this came close to what I used during the IM. It was an open water ocean swim in the Caribbean, over 100 degrees and blasting sun. It took over 8 hours, this is what I did based on your advice (with success)

Feeding stop every 30 min: one hammer gel and 10 oz of water. At the 3 hr mark I did a double dose.

After 6.5 hours I had to take the gels very slowly to avoid gagging, but once swallowed, no problems with the stomach.

Because we did not swim along a shore and crossed, a boat is important in case of yelly fish or sharks. (kayak is not enough in that case). Another consideration is to learn how to swim with mouth closed (many swimmers like myself have open mouths, but on the long stretches the salt really start getting to you mouth and tongue. I used liquorice during the last hour to compensate the saltiness.

Finally, use sunscreen that sticks for a long time. I could not touch the boat and could not put on more sun screen in the water. I used special sunscreen from Australia that also contains anti-histamine agains yellyfish stings.

Congratulations on your swim, nice to know I helped in a small way. I also worked on swimming with a closed mouth this past summer due to salt water.


In the 6 years since I posted this, marathonswimmers.org has come around and has a forum that is full of people with more experience than me on the subject dishing out helpful information every day.

Thx Kevin, I'll take a look at it

i don't swim distances like you but i do swim in teh sea every time and find a milkish (i'm allergic to milk thus the caveat) product like horchata or something like that works best to deal with the mouth saltiness.

---

http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katasmit