Hey guys,
I’m going to be racing some olympic distance this season, but am also thinking about trying out a 10K swim event. Is there a significant conflict between training for speed in the short-course and putting in milage for a long swim event like that? My gut says no but I appreciate any input.
Thanks
How fast do think you can swim 10k?
Hey guys,
I’m going to be racing some olympic distance this season, but am also thinking about trying out a 10K swim event. Is there a significant conflict between training for speed in the short-course and putting in milage for a long swim event like that? My gut says no but I appreciate any input.
Thanks
I think the answer depends on how much extra effort you put into your swimming for the 10K swim, which would take away from your ability to train hard on the B and R. If you just do your normal swim training, e.g. say 10-15K/wk, you can prob finish the 10K swim, but if you want to swim a faster time obv you must swim more:)
The faster your 1500 the less of a specific 10 k build will be needed. I can probably go under 2.15 for 10 k without training for it… if I added some volume I could shoot for 2.00 to 2.05.
Or if I could afford to quit my job 1.55 would be possible.
The faster your 1500 the less of a specific 10 k build will be needed. I can probably go under 2.15 for 10 k without training for it… if I added some volume I could shoot for 2.00 to 2.05.
Right, this is what i was getting at, that the OP could prob complete the 10K w/ no extra training per se, but he/she would need extra swimming if wanted to go faster.
It depends on what your goals are and how much of a stretch a 10k swim is for you.
I am coaching a couple of people doing similar things.
Depending on the timing, you might need to decide which one is a goal race and which one is a race you just want to get through.
If 10k isn’t a big stretch for you, maybe you’ve done several 5 miles swims in the past, then you can just add a little extra to your normal 3 or 4 swims per week and make your way through the 10k swim.
If you’re a more typical triathlete, you would probably need to decide which one is the key race and make some sacrifices with the other one. If it is your first go at anything close to 10k, or you aren’t a particularly strong swimmer then you have a good bit of long swims to do, and that can cut significantly into your training time. For a 10k swim, several weeks of 20k per week is in order, and possibly a lot more than that, so you are most likely looking at a big jump in your swim time, and if you’re like most a pretty good decline in the others.
So, in short, it depends?
You can do it, definitely, just need to consider your goals and follow them through to the plan.
Kinda what I was getting at. I could go out and do a decent 10 k next weekend if I had cash to fly out and find a race. If I want to do well…
Swimming a 10k at the peak of ones ability would take a ton of volume and a ton of intensity.
The same is true for an Olympic distance tri.
On the other hand, one could probably do pretty good in a 10k swim with moderate volume, good form and a little intensity.
That could leave sufficient volume and intensity for a strong oly tri.
I think we’re all hitting around the same thing.
Assuming a relatively fit person with some ability to swim bike and run; a person can DO both of those races in relatively close proximity. And if you put together a reasonably smart program do reasonably well at both.
But to really perform at the top of your ability in one, the other one is going to take a bit of a backseat.
There would be no real conflict with regard to what type of swim training in terms of speed versus distance work if that is what you are asking. In very general terms, at the top level, its pretty much all speed work, even for a 10K open water swim. For the rank and file, its pretty much all endurance work for anything over 400m so this is not like jumping from a 100m on the track and going to a marathon. If you do any type of increased volume to train for the 10K it will help your tri swim and thus help you if you are not sacrificing the bike and run to find that time.
It really comes down to how much time you feel you have to put in to be able to swim 10K. If the thought scares you, you might need to cut into your tri training to get the volume in. If someone told you that next Saturday you were going to double up and do 2 5000m workouts that day and your reaction was I’d rather do something else but if I have to, I can do it, than you can finish the race doing what you are doing now.