Through no fault of my own, for the next two weeks, I’ll be far from my favorite pool and if I want to continue swimming like I have been, (~12k/3 swims/week) I’ll be forced to swim out in the sunshine, in the ocean, off of Harbour Island, Bahamas.
Does anyone have any input on what sort of swim workouts I might undertake?
On the good side, I’ll be able to use my Garmin (in swim cap, of course) instead of counting laps!
That sucks. Maybe you can find a treadmill to run on, or something.
Swim out to sea for a while,find a shark and race it back to shore.
Repeat until the shark loses interest or you get tired.
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Swim out to sea for a while,find a shark and race it back to shore.
Repeat until the shark loses interest or you get tired.
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You can call me chum.
What’s is the water temp?
That sucks. Maybe you can find a treadmill to run on, or something.
Good idea; it’s a very small island.
What’s is the water temp?
Average, February - March is 70º - 73º.
Okay,I’ll be serious.I used to live on a coral cay on the barrier reef off Cairns.It was a mile around and that made for a great swim at high tide.At low tide I would go to the leeward side of the island(where the boats had mooring bouys)and use the bouys to do intervals around.I would simulate a race start and swim flat out to the selected bouy and then hold race pace back to shore.I’d take a little breather on shore and repeat a dozen times or until the staff bar opened…
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Okay,I’ll be serious.I used to live on a coral cay on the barrier reef off Cairns.It was a mile around and that made for a great swim at high tide.At low tide I would go to the leeward side of the island(where the boats had mooring bouys)and use the bouys to do intervals around.I would simulate a race start and swim flat out to the selected bouy and then hold race pace back to shore.I’d take a little breather on shore and repeat a dozen times or until the staff bar opened…
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Thanks for that. What was the water temperature there?
What’s is the water temp?
Average, February - March is 70º - 73º.
ENJOY!
The water on the reef never goes below 20C(68ish F).Most of the time it was warmer than that as the coral cay had a large reef flat surrounding it.
I also use to hitch a ride with the tour boats to the outer reef and go for swims.That was pretty freaky swimming 70k offshore and over a kilometer from the boat.
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I fit quite easily into a suitcase. Actually you could probably fit me in a carry on bag. Which means I get to come with you right?
Oh, I should answer your question. Well I’ll copy a desert dude answer from an email when I asked the same question about lake swim training a couple summers ago
3 min fast 2 min easy, if they have sailboat buoys you can do fast to one,
normal pace to the other. 1min fast 1 min easy, if there are rocks or other
objects you can swim to them the TT to something else then swim and then TT.
Swim it all fly! Just grab some time intervals and go. Or if they have
buoys you can do repeats with :10-:30 rest after each one depending upon
length. It’s a limitless world in the lake.
So when are we leaving 
The water on the reef never goes below 20C(68ish F).Most of the time it was warmer than that as the coral cay had a large reef flat surrounding it.
I also use to hitch a ride with the tour boats to the outer reef and go for swims.That was pretty freaky swimming 70k offshore and over a kilometer from the boat.
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Did you wear a wetsuit?
Oh, I should answer your question. Well I’ll copy a desert dude answer from an email when I asked the same question about lake swim training a couple summers ago
3 min fast 2 min easy, if they have sailboat buoys you can do fast to one,
normal pace to the other. 1min fast 1 min easy, if there are rocks or other
objects you can swim to them the TT to something else then swim and then TT.
Swim it all fly! Just grab some time intervals and go. Or if they have
buoys you can do repeats with :10-:30 rest after each one depending upon
length. It’s a limitless world in the lake.
So when are we leaving
Thanks for that. I haven’t been there yet, but from the picture above, it looks like there aren’t much in the way of buoys, rocks, reefs, or any marker other than the clouds. Maybe I’ll pace off a “race course” using landmarks and swim that.
I have to bring a bit of equipment with me (I’ll be working there) so number of bags and weight are a concern. I might need to fit you in carry-on.
Yeah if you don’t have any rocks just get a watch you can set to beep for intervals. I was at a camp and had buoys and stuff.
Have an awesome trip!
Nope,not required.I don’t know how big the island you are going to is but you can also do some “in and outs” which we do a lot of in the surf here in Oz.Just swim through the waves until you are past the breakers in still water and then turn to shore and swim in.Run around a designated spot on the beach and repeat five or six times.
One time,during a week in Sth Beach, Miami I used the guard towers as markers.I’d swim from one tower to the next and then run on the beach back around the first tower and repeat until I couldn’t swim anymore.Great “bang for your buck” workout.
The guards thought I was nuts.
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I used to live a 10th and Ocean! I think I remember seeing you!
Be prepared to throw-up from the salt water if you are not used to it.
There are a few kinds of workouts that I do in OW.
Despite swimming in a new environment you can make estimates of distances with your Garmin or without. If the shoreline is straight you can measure it with a car driving along the coast on a road. You can walk it with your Garmin apply that distance or you can get a map and just make your best guess.
Once you have a distance you can put together any kind of swim work out you’d like just like in a pool, using a (waterproof) watch to track your intervals.
You can also do your work out based purely on time intervals but you will need a (waterproof) watch that will beep at certain intervals so you know how long you’ve been swimming. You set your speed by your PE for each set. I have done this with a simple watch doing long intervals but it is a nuisance to keep checking the time. I also do all out swims this way for a set time (eg 30, 45, 60 min etc)
And then there is the one I would do in your situation: I’d just go out in the water and swim for a couple of hours just for the fun of it.
If yours was not a serious question but only meant to tease the rest of us, may the jellyfish gods seek retribution on you for all of us.