So I’m planning on participating in a 5k open water swim next year in the end of April. I have never trained for this kind of race distance before, let alone in open water. Any idea of a swim training plan that I can carry out over the next seven months to be competitive in such an event? It is the Nanticoke River Swim in Maryland, they haven’t posted the exact date yet but last year it was around the end of April.
What would be a good progression over the next seven months for yardage and intensity? I know it’s a long time, but I know that I have a lot of work to do.
I was hoping to do this race to push my swim to the next level in triathlon as well- swim is about 22 and change (slow), bike is usually 57:00-58:00 for 40k and run is sub-35 when in shape for oly.
I currently swim 3 times a week but am game to do what it takes to push to the next level if that means more time in the water. Currently T-test 10x100 on 0:10 rest is 1:13/100 yds, so nothing special.
So you’re going ~1:54-1:55 for an Olympic? That’s really solid. Not a ton of agers doing that. What races have you done?
I would think 4-5x4k per week would do the trick. Hitting 15-18k a week will up your swim game (assuming you’re also running/riding throughout the winter). Best if you could swim with a masters team, and then get a bunch of long ows in once it warms up. Will it be wetsuit?
It will be wetsuit i believe- if masters is not an option, what do you think is a good regimen for intervals over the next seven months? Should I build up to that 18k a week before going hard? I am doing about 9k a week right now.
I’ve done the Nanticoke River Swim and found it choppy, but fun! The water was beautiful. There weren’t many competitors and I got a little lonely in the middle of the wide river.
Sounds like you’re already prepared to finish this swim competitively. Just keep up the good work and add more long distance swims.
I don’t think you need to be as careful adding swim volume as you do for running. Thinking about hs and college, I literally finished xc on a saturday and went straight to 35k a week on monday once swim season started. Once the soreness passed, I was fine. The biggest thing won’t be risk of injury, just sheer exhaustion, and your stroke falls apart - which i guess is bad - but not the end of the world. Maybe try adding 1-1.5k a week to be safe.
In terms of intervals… my masters club breaks days up into a different focus each day… and I think that helps break up the monotony. So maybe a have a speed day (lots of 50’s and 100’s), a mid-d day (200, 300, 400 repeats), a long-d day (500-800 repeats), and something else - another long day, a straight swim, ow, or im just to break it up.
You’re in pretty decent shape. You don’t have to be terribly careful about adding yards with swimming; your shoulders will adapt quickly and you don’t have to worry about the pounding.
Get the threshold set to 20-30 x 100
Do vo2 max intervals
DO NOT DO really long slow “intervals.”
DO NOT DO really long slow “intervals.”
But maybe some really long fast “intervals”
My 2k and 3k straight hard swims really helped me swim the Tiki at a pace I’ve never achieved before. I probably could have done it, but lacked confidence. Those long hard swims gave me that.
agreed - but you knew the pace for those swims from your other fast stuff
I think lots of triathletes get in and do like 4 x 1000 and think it’s getting them somewhere
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agreed - but you knew the pace for those swims from your other fast stuff
I think lots of triathletes get in and do like 4 x 1000 and think it’s getting them somewhere
agreed that is not a good set for most triathletes … my new years set from this year would be a good set for 5 k prep
I swam this SCM but the OP might want to try this in Yards
20 x 100 @ 1:25 (av ~1:14) 30 second break after 10
200 easy
20 x 75 @ 1:05 (av ~ :54-55) 30 second break after 10
200 easy
20 x 50 @ :50 (av ~ :33-34)30 second break after 10
200 easy
He needs both intervals and long endurance workouts. It’s a 3.1 choppy river swim with a very strong current. 4X1000 (fast pace)/per wk would be a great workout for him and a few straight swims.
Agree on problems with the slow 4x1000. Need to be fast race pace. Check out an excerpt from an article on Mark Warkentin during his buildup for Beijing 10K…
“Mark did a pulling set where he did a 1000 in 10:49, took a 10-second rest, did a 2000 in 21:15, took a 20-second rest, then did a 3000 in 31:14 where his last 1500 was a 15:32 - or a 1:02 pace per 100 at the end of a 6K set.”
Why do some people that race Olympics in under 2 hours make a point to emphasize how they are so slow and average. Why do that? It’s a really strange habit.
Warkentin trained 10 miles/day (5 hours each day) for this race. Sounds like endurance training to me.
Also, the Bejing Olympic marathon swim took place in an artificial lake, calmer conditions than the Nanticoke River. The 3.1 Nanticoke swim will feel more like a five-mile swim when completed.
Yes, that workout was endurance oriented. He also did a lot of fast shorter rep speed sets with phelps and other pool swimmers. The point I was making is that these were done fast and hard as well, as can be deciphered by his other times. Although he admits he is a much better puller. He also liked to do 10x1000 pull on 11:00 and said the most painful set he does is 8x800 swim on 9:00. Below are also a couple faster sets he did that summer
Monday afternoon was a good practice. The main set:
2x400 moderate on 4:40 went 4:28, 4:22
2x300 moderate/strong on 3:30 went 3:15, 3:12
2x200 strong on 2:20 went 2:07, 2:07
30 seconds rest
10x100 strong on 1:30 started at 1:01 moved down to 1:00 towards the end
5x100 almost fast on 1:40 went 59, 58, 58, 59, 58
5x100 fast on 2:00 58, 58, 58, 58, 57
Did the first part of the set with Erik, Pete and Larsen. When we got to the last 2 sets of 5x100 Larsen and I were the only ones still swimming and we had a fairly good audience of swimmers and coaches watching us go head to head on fast 100’s. It was simultaneously very painful and exciting to be doing all out 100’s next to America’s best distance swimmer (and holding my own) in front of an elite coaching staff.
I was pretty beat up after Monday and Tuesday, but I fought my way through a tough Wednesday morning practice with Larsen even if I didn’t feel top notch. Here’s the set and my times (all swim):
3x400 on 5 went 4:19, 4:15, 4:13
3x100 on 1:20 went 1:02, 1:02, 1:01
1 min rest
2x400 on 5 went 4:17, 4:15
5x100 on 1:20 went 1:02, 1:01 remainder
1 min rest
1x400 on 5 went 4:15
7x100 on 1:20 went 1:03, 1:02, 1:02, 1:01, 1:01, 1:00, 57
Got them from his blog on swimroom.com from the months leading up to Beijing 2008. There is some more great stuff in there as well as some great insight and even race reports…