ditto with the swimswimswimswimswimswimswim
Try to get some of your long swims in the open water. Life as a fish is different when they take your black line and walls and blocks away.
I’ll buy the swim,swim,swim advice in a heartbeat. What I don’t buy is the practice by swimming long distances over and over.
A year ago january we started training for sprints. Whatever the schedule called for, I would swim the total yards straight and ignore all the warmup, drills, and intervals, crap. I swam a pretty steady 3:00 per hundred pace.
In March, we received a flyer for an OLY in Jekyll Island, Ga. that was held the first weekend in May. I immediately jumped my swims up to 1650 yards. By the race, I was highly trained to swim a 3:00 100yd pace. As a side note, this was wetsuit legal, and I cut the arms off an old scuba suit to swim in. The horror this caused me in the race has been related time and again by others on this forum. I was last out of the water after spending a lot of time swimming on my back, side stroke, dog paddle, and whatever else was necessary for me to finish.
After this one, we started training for the Hammerhead Oly in Starke, Fl held late August. Again, I swam the total distances called for in the schedule and again ignored all the ‘how to swim faster, better, more economically’ crap. Same result. My total time in the water was 1:07 minutes. Even though I had trained to where I could freestyle for a solid hour plus, I was still last out of the water by 12 minutes.
So this year, we upped our schedule to a 1/2 IM schedule for the swim and bike. The other two big changes were first to incorporate a lot of balancing and form work in the warm ups and cool downs, and second to always do my best to swim the main sets that are virtually all intervals at various distances. The longest mainset, non interval listed is 800 yds even though I kicked it up to a 1000 a couple times when it just felt good. Today, I can hold just under a two minute per 100 pace swimming 1000 straight; still not as fast as I’d like but a 33 % improvement regardless.
Jekyll this year was just plain fun. The surf was rough. 3 to 4 ft waves coming steep and fast. That coupled with no glasses made visibility a joke for me. What saved me was the guy swimming next to me that was an accomplished breast stroker. He could sight the bouys and I could see him. (threw this in for you breast stroke haters to jump on) The month before the race my mantra was: In the race, think Form,Form, Form. During the race it was: Breathe, Breathe, Nope!.
So my argument is to spend lots of time in the water, do lots of yards, do some of them fast as you can, do lots of them as comfortably as you can. Break it all up (except the mainsets) with all the toys: kickboard, fins, pull bouy, hand paddles. Swim on your sides, back, breast stroke, just glide as far as you can kicking off the bottom. Swim one hand only, Swim with your head totally out of the water some.
If all you are doing is just pounding out the yards, you might never get to feel how good it can feel to be a swimmer. When I was a kid, my brother and I swam 1 mile across a lake then back just for grins. Our only tools were dog paddle, side stroke, and comfort being out there. I’d lost that till this year.
Oh, and if you can breast stroke, (which I totally suck at), have at it. After all, Terry Laughlin says it is the most popular stroke used. And… Buy the Go Swim Breaststroke with Amanda Beard. Helluva good watch.
1:07 minutes meant 1 hour seven minutes.
Have a really good swimmer or knowledgeable coach look at your technique.
One thing that has helped people I’ve coached (informally coached mind you). Try building up to swimming 1500yds nonstop----this should help your confidence.
I swim at the Y 2-3 times a week in the morning from 7:00 to 8:00. If you ever swim there I’d be happy to help you out. I’m by no means a couch, but I know a thing or two.
If you’re not a Y member, fuller pool is the best and as close as you’ll get to swimming in open water in a swimming pool. And like others have said swimming with the masters would be a good idea as would doing some 1500m confidence builders.
BTW, if I didn’t already say it when I was going by, thanks for volunteering at the Ann Arbor Triathlon and making sure no one turned left instead of right onto Doyle Rd.
I totally agree, Go swim like 1500 to 1750 straight, go as slow as you need to to finish withought stopping, do it once a week along with your other workouts and you should be just fine.
You can always use this progression:
http://ruthkazez.com/SwimWorkouts/ZeroTo1mile.html
.
If you read her post you will note that basically said she was scared about the distance. That is her first issue, she needs to be confident she can do it. While I totaly agree that swimming 1500’s day in and day out won’t get you faster, I don’t think faster was her goal. I took her post more as “get me through this”. The fact is unless you are crazy talented 8 weeks is not enough time to make and serious headway into major technique and overall swimming speed and the muscular endurance to maintain that speed. Those are skills developed over years, not weeks.
Like I siad swimming multiple 1500’s will in fact get her past her biggest problem which is in her head- Can I do it? Why becasue she did it already!
Oh, and if you can breast stroke, (which I totally suck at), have at it. After all, Terry Laughlin says it is the most popular stroke used. And… Buy the Go Swim Breaststroke with Amanda Beard. Helluva good watch.
Just caught this part of your post- NO try not to kick breast stroke ever. Unless you like kicking people in the head with a chance to break their nose or jaw or orbital socket or worse kill them. And Yes I am serious- breakstroke kick should be an auto DQ in all mass swimming events
I personally think that being able to swim 1500m in an open water race comfortably. i.e., not being miserably out of breath for 30 minutes in water, takes a LOT more swim training that swimming 1500m in a pool.
That said, if you rely on your wetsuit for buoyancy and basically burn almost no oxygen kicking, maybe you won’t get out of breath and your swim will be slow but comfortable.
Still, if someone has never swum 750m in an open water race, I think the only answer is to overcompensate by swimming a lot before a 1500m open water race. The potential downside of having a horrible experience in the water that ruins the entire race for you is just too great, imo.
You are correct, I am a bit freaked out about the distance. I feel like a strong freestyle swimmer – not fast, just strong 
So absolutely no breast stroke for me. Yeesh, it’d take me 2 hours to swim 1500.
I’m sensing my conversations at home are gonna go something like this for the ensuing weeks “where ya going?” “I’m going to the pool.” or “whatcha been up to today?” “Oh, at the pool/lake swimming.” 
So with all this advice, I’m guessing my new scent will be eau de chlorine! Not to digress, but egads, it takes me two showers to get that smell off my skin!
I’m a poor but improving swimmer so I feel your pain. I would focus almost entirely on technique. If you can find a coach get some lessons. If not, have the most qualified person you can find look at your stroke and find the biggest flaw. Work on correcting that. I find that i am really able to focus on only one correction at a time.
I understand the confidence building that comes with a continuous 1500 practice swim but I would not make a habit of. As you get tired and your form deteriorates you will probably just reinforce bad habits. I have seen the most improvement by doing mostly 50-100 yd intervals trying to maintain the best form possible.
Finally, wear a wetsuit if possible for your race. You will want to try it out prior to race day. If you are like most people you will swim much better in it.
"I’m sensing a trend here: Swim, swim, swim. "
Well, that is certainly the trend based on answers so far. But what you should do depends on your goals really.
If all you want is convince yourself that you can swim that far in preparation for your first Olympic distance, and just want to finish, then OK, do what some have said and go do your 1500m straight swims 4 or 5 times a week.
If your goal is progress long term, then why not starting right from the beginning and work solely the first few weeks on technique and stroke improvement. You can still go 5 times a week if you want (the more the better), but do not just go swim without a purpose. Work on your technique, do drills, attempt to not repeating your previous flaws, etc.
Enjoy.
I personally think that being able to swim 1500m in an open water race comfortably. i.e., not being miserably out of breath for 30 minutes in water, takes a LOT more swim training that swimming 1500m in a pool.
That said, if you rely on your wetsuit for buoyancy and basically burn almost no oxygen kicking, maybe you won’t get out of breath and your swim will be slow but comfortable.
Still, if someone has never swum 750m in an open water race, I think the only answer is to overcompensate by swimming a lot before a 1500m open water race. The potential downside of having a horrible experience in the water that ruins the entire race for you is just too great, imo.
I agree- OW vs Pool two whole different things, which is why I suggested for her to get some OW swims in. Also as I suggested I think the Wet Suit is a great idea, they really help. She can rent one if she can buy one.
You can do this, you are taking a sensable approach, by first getting some advice. I think if you can get a few 1500-2000M non stop swims under your belt you will be in a better mind set becasue you know you can do it. If you can get a open water swim in even better. I would really look into getting a wet suit, if you can not buy one I think you can rent one, or ask around maybe some one will loan you one. Think of a wet suit as a full body life preserver that helps you swim faster with less effort.
The chlorine smell- well the good news at least for you is that you won’t be able to smell it. For me the chlorine killed my sense of smell. But what I found is the best way to rid yourself of the chlorine smell is a good heavy sweat after you swim. That means either a long super hot shower- or a a nioce run or ride after you swim. in eaither case your pores get flushed out and the smell goes away. Also be prepared for some seriously dry skin. it is far worse in the winter so you may not notice it during the summer.