I can easily do a 6K (yes 6) in the pool (25 Yd) non-stop. Yes I’m tired, but can basically keep a steady pace. I’ve probably done about 10 of these, one time per week with speed work the other two workouts each week. I realize there is a rest at each turn so it’s not like doing open water where you just go. This morning I did my second 5K open water swim and was not able to do the crawl all the way. In the last 2K it was 20 strokes breast and 30 crawl until I finished. What can I do to better prepare for the open water? I’m not out breath, my arms are tired. Is it just more time in the pool? More speed work, more distance? Or do I just need to suck it up? Unfortunately, I don’t have access to open water to train. I’m 60, been swimming for about 10 years, but still feel like I’m learning. By the way, my pace was 2:07/100 yds this morning. Why the 5K, had knee surgery last year and can’t really ride yet and running is still sorting itself out. Swimming is the only thing I can do completely pain free. Any suggestions for an old timer?
Why do you swim 6k straight? This is the cardinal triathlete pool sin in my opinion.
I suspect you’re either going faster in the open water or it’s that the sighting etc is taking its toll.
I’d try to work up to longer swims with more moderate intervals throughout the workout.
Were you swimming just to finish or racing? If the former, you might have just been out there a long time.
Also, did you have any water or energy drink? You might be at the point where it could be helpful.
Open water is hard, for sure.
6 k straight is the problem… your longer day is in the range but it’s the wrong way to approach a 5k. I did the USMS hour swim in a 25m pool and was 59:52 for 5000m. In the 3 months leading into that I did a 1500m and 800m test at pace but mostly the longest I swam straight was 300m. The 1500 was because I had not swam a 1500 in a meet in 2016 (but had a good 800)and I was coming off a meet where I swam really fast and there was no 1500 on the program.
I did a mix of work at mile/1500m pace on some days and some at 5k pace. The longest 5k pace set was 40x100 @ 1:25 holding 1:11s.
I can guarantee at over 2:00 / 100 you are breaking down technically after the first 2k. You can’t approach this like a half marathon or a century ride.
80X50 on 1:30 will get you far more gains than a 6k, work towards sub 60 on all of them, then sub 55. Once at you are solidly under 55 drop the senf off to 1:20. Checking your average pace every 500 or 600 is useless… getting your 50 and 100 times consistent is more beneficial. Any stroke technique fixes won’t take hold on a long 6k, your need to switch strokes is proof. Take an extra minute or 2 after every 20 …
Plenty of 10k open water swimmers train 99% in the pool.
There are a couple of reasons to swim 6K. It’s relaxing. It’s me time. It’s good exercise…I am tying to out swim/run/bike away from old age. Neither of my parents exercised and I watched as they declined…that’s not for me. And the biggest reason, up to now, is it gave me confidence that I could actually do a 5K open water swim.
Overall I’m not going faster, but it’s sure hard to tell in open water how fast you are actually going. It certainly may be that I’m going out fast and losing it. Perhaps I need to slow down the perceived effort early on.
At this point I’m swimming just to finish, but want to work on slowly getting better.
There was nothing to drink on this course. This may have contributed. 2 hours is a long time with no drink. During my first 5K, it was an out and back and there was water at the turn. On my long pool swims I’ve been training were I would only drink at the 3K mark to simulate race day.
Thanks realAB.
Progress requires change. I will give your suggestion a go and add it into my mix instead of the long swim and report back next summer. I’m only doing one more swim this season, a 2.4 mile river swim in a couple weeks and probably won’t see any benefit yet. However, my pace will be better due to the current. 
There’s no real substitute for training in the open water. I always do one ows workout a week leading up to an ows race. Also, 5k is a long distance when starting out. My arms and shoulders were totally trashed after my first couple 5ks. Training and racing builds on itself the longer you do it. You become more proficient year after year.
I can easily do a 6K (yes 6) in the pool (25 Yd) non-stop. Yes I’m tired, but can basically keep a steady pace. I’ve probably done about 10 of these, one time per week with speed work the other two workouts each week. I realize there is a rest at each turn so it’s not like doing open water where you just go. This morning I did my second 5K open water swim and was not able to do the crawl all the way. In the last 2K it was 20 strokes breast and 30 crawl until I finished. What can I do to better prepare for the open water? I’m not out breath, my arms are tired. Is it just more time in the pool? More speed work, more distance? Or do I just need to suck it up? Unfortunately, I don’t have access to open water to train. I’m 60, been swimming for about 10 years, but still feel like I’m learning. By the way, my pace was 2:07/100 yds this morning. Why the 5K, had knee surgery last year and can’t really ride yet and running is still sorting itself out. Swimming is the only thing I can do completely pain free. Any suggestions for an old timer?
No one has mentioned this so I will. Open water equals no pushoffs from the wall. A good pushoff gives you 3-4 m or more of free distance. So maybe it is just more time in the pool. If guess the other thing was if there were waves/currents it can make it more difficult. I was doing about 6000-7000 m a week in the pool in leadup to 5K m open swim about a month ago and could have done crawl the whole way. At one point I got nauseated so I did breast stroke for about 50 m and it seemed to settle my stomach. I am 52 so a bit younger. Also were you wearing a wetsuit. It restricts the recover phase so if you don’t train in it those muscles can suffer. In lead ups to open water swims I will swim with it for about 800m in the pool at beginning of workout past that point I get too hot.
I realized the “free” push off the wall and a small rest every 25 yards is what allowed me to do 6K straight in the pool. I’m not at all surprised that I got tired in the actual open water swim. Just surprised how soon and how much. The swim was in a fairly small lake in two loops, so the waves were not bad and current would offset. I think I’ve got my sighting down fairly well and can swim a fairly straight line for 6 to 7 strokes between sightings. Heck I’ve never been able to do the 1.2 mile open water swim for the 1/2 IM distance in a tri without doing some breast stroke (I’m a runner.) The rational was just get to the bike. This is the first year I’ve ever attempted a 5K. So far I’m pretty happy just to finish the first two this summer. My goal is to work towards doing the entire distance in the crawl. I have a ways to go, but something definitely to work towards.
Bottom line, I need more time in the pool.
Thanks all for the feedback.
I can easily do a 6K (yes 6) in the pool (25 Yd) non-stop. Yes I’m tired, but can basically keep a steady pace. I’ve probably done about 10 of these, one time per week with speed work the other two workouts each week. I realize there is a rest at each turn so it’s not like doing open water where you just go. This morning I did my second 5K open water swim and was not able to do the crawl all the way. In the last 2K it was 20 strokes breast and 30 crawl until I finished. What can I do to better prepare for the open water? I’m not out breath, my arms are tired. Is it just more time in the pool? More speed work, more distance? Or do I just need to suck it up? Unfortunately, I don’t have access to open water to train. I’m 60, been swimming for about 10 years, but still feel like I’m learning. By the way, my pace was 2:07/100 yds this morning. Why the 5K, had knee surgery last year and can’t really ride yet and running is still sorting itself out. Swimming is the only thing I can do completely pain free. Any suggestions for an old timer?
Do you do flip turns? It’s been so ingrained in me that you start the whole thing over if you didn’t do dolphin kicks off the wall, that I actually find open water swimming easier.
The turns shouldn’t be a break, if you are swimming for time (long or short).
Also, 6K for time isn’t really a once a week workout (I used to do 5k maybe twice a year). Longer sets of 100’s or 200’s so your form isn’t going to shit at the end of each swim.
No flip turns here. I actually try not to do a hard push off the wall to keep the “breaks” to a minimum.
Last week, we were out of town in Rochester NY and I found a 50 M pool in Webster. It was my first. I got the $3 senior drop in rate. What a deal. After a warm up I did ~ 25 x 100M @ 2:05/100m per leaving on ~ 2:45. I’m going to try a find a 50 m pool here in Atlanta and try to do my long workouts there. That would cut the number of breaks in half.