Dominion's Sprint/Oly/70.3 Group--Closed (Page 16)

You shouldn't be swimming 2000m (straight through) on a regular basis. Do it once as a confidence builder to know you can do it, but otherwise you can make better use of your pool time doing shorter more intense sets. Now I know that it may seem counter intuitive to be swimming fast 50's and 100's and 200's because that is not what you will be doing in an Olympic or 70.3 race, but that is how you build your swim engine. Hard, short sets will increase your swim fitness much faster than longer steady swims.  Most people once they have the basic swimming down, can swim longer distances at a slow pace without getting "exhausted" as you put it. I once read, If you can run a mile, you can swim a mile". In many ways its much less taxing to swim a mile once you have a basic arm/stroke endurance. So continuing to swim these longer/slower distances isn't really bringing any change or adaptation to your fitness. Take a step back, start some shorter more intense workouts and do a longish continual swim maybe once a month if you want to just to know you can do it. Give it time and you wll see improvement.

Start with this 1000m workout

6 X 100 @ 2:00

8 X 50 @ 1:00

That is 6 sets of 100m leaving for the next set every 2 minutes. 8 sets of 50m leaving for the next set every 1:00.

You can decrease the time between sets if this is too easy. (For example 6 X 100 @ 1:45)

 Hopefully this will leave you somewhat exhausted and a little out of breath in half the time of your 2000 set. More workload, half the time spent.

Haha!  She took a pic with her phone before I realized what she did.  I really expected it to be on Facebook, knowing her.  I informed her if she sent the pic I was wearing them out in public and not under my jeans!

Don't forget drills.  Drills are very important!  The better your stroke, the faster, and more efficient you'll be.  Google "Swim Drills" and click on video.  Here's one.  There's also good drill videos here on BT but I think some are level specific.  Look under the Articles/Training/Swim here on BT.  You can do drills as warm ups, mix them in the middle of your workout, or at the end.  Personally I like drills at the beginning and again at the end when I'm tired.

Here's my last two swim workouts.  Both from my BT training plan.

Nice, Race Day!  Post the report for us when you're done.  And yes, the weather was GREAT!

You said it yourself in the bold above. You've reached the Olympic distance and gone beyond that to 2000.  You feel more comfortable about your endurance, and you should. There is nothing to be gained by continuing to swim monotonous lower intensity laps for 40  minutes straight.  The workout example I gave is as basic as it gets.  A 400-500 warm-up, 1000 main set, and 100-200 cool down.  That's 1700 meters of higher intensity swimming in under an hour. So you start doing this workout and after a few sessions, you can make the 6 X100 on 2:00 and add a couple more to it. So now it is 8 X 100. A few more sessions and you are now making 12 X 100 on 2:00. Add a few extra 50's and now you have a 2500m workout.  Let's say you start the 12 X 100 coming in around 1:50, so 10 seconds rest. As you fatigue that fades to 1:55 and then 1:57 or 58. You're touching the wall, turning and taking 1 good breath, maybe 2 and then it's another hard 100. You're probably holding on for dear life. But you make it back to the wall in under 2 every time with a hard effort. When your done, you've basically just swam 1200m almost straight through at a fast hard effort with only a breath or 2 of rest every 100.  A hard 1200 will do so much more for you (and your confidence) than an easy 1500 or 2000 that you've already done multiple times. Then add the 50's and it just keeps getting better. Make it through that workout and you'll absolutely know you have done something. It will make a moderate 1500 Olympic swim seem like child's play. 

Randy, everybody's fitness and training is a constant evolution. And where you are now is a normal step in the process . But I have a feeling from what you have posted that you are ready to move beyond the steady-state "long swims" to prove to yourself that you can do it, and move to the next level of training. You're ready, you just don't realize it yet. 

Originally posted by burner2 Time: 1:26:46 Spokane River Run 10K. Not quite 10K, but rather 5.9 miles. This was the first time I'd ever run this distance, even as a training run. This was a very tough course, entirely off road on gravel and dirt paths, with a 509 foot gain in elevation. The first half of the race was primarily climbing, and in some places, the trail was pretty eroded with lots of exposed and/or loose rock. Because my left foot still doesn't quite clear the ground, I walked wherever I was concerned about my footing. However, I still tripped a lot, and sometimes fell, but I was able to catch myself with my hands. The second half of the race involved a pretty daunting combination of ascents and descents, and the trail quality really deteriorated. At one point, we descended to the river and were actually climbing over boulders to get to the trail on the other side. Seriously! Climbing over huge boulders! This was pretty scary for me, and I was afraid I was going to fall over the edge into the raging river. But, I made it, and then around mile five, I took a header into some thistles and brambles. A whole wad of the nasty things got embedded in my shirt and shorts, and I had to stop to pull them out. I finished the run OK and still running, and I think considering the circumstances, I did well, except for the rash and blisters on my arms and back. But, for personal safety reasons, I don't think I am going to do this race again. Trail races are not for me! I have the Lilac Century Ride next Sunday, which is a 25-mile ride, followed by a 5K run, and then Bloomsday 12K Run the following Sunday. The Lilac Century Ride is really just an opportunity for me to train with a group of people; it's not anything officially timed. Bloomsday is HUGE--more than 50,000 racers are expected. After today's run, I feel pretty confident I can do the distance. I also feel pretty confident about the Olympic triathlon I signed up for in August. I think by then it will be a piece of cake! Oh, yeah, around mile five, I saw Bigfoot. Two of them. No, I wasn't hallucinating--my friend saw them also! (I have no idea why two guys dressed as Bigfoot were running around in the woods, but hey! It's Spokane! What can I say&hellip

That sounds like an awesome race! Way more than just your average trail run. A river crossing and bouldering sounds like a lot of fun to me. Not sure if I've mentioned it on here before but I would like to try some adventure racing. Offroad stuff that includes biking, running, and kayaking. Finding checkpoints, 24-72 hours of racing. Kind of like that Ultimate Alaska show, but wouldn't be near as extreme here in the Southeast. 

Adjust your time as necessary. The first time you try this workout you may want to do 6 X 100 @ 2:10.  Make that and go for 2:00 the next time. Like running or biking, set a goal/ benchmark and work towards it. Once you reach it move the bar again. So maybe 2:10 until you get it, then 2:00. Then start adding sets to go to 8 X 100, etc. 

And to address your other point, you won't be losing conditioning for a longer swim. You will be gaining conditioning.  This "speed work" as we are calling it is not just to increase your speed over 100m. Trust me, it is building fitness. It is teaching you to swim harder, but will translate into being able to maintain a faster pace over a longer distance. 

Ease back into training that first week. By your second week back you should be able to jump back into your plan where you left off.  You won't lose much fitness in a week and should easily be back in stride by race day.

Heading out for a 5K, high school band fundraiser.  Figured I'd make a training day out of it.  45 minute run to the event, 5K, 45 minute run home. 

Have a great weekend!

Nice race! Sounds like a great swim and bike. Keep working on that run, it will come along with consistent work.

I have a bit of a rant.  Twice now, with the same race company, I have watched awards given out based on gun time and not chip time.  It cost me the Male Masters award a few weeks ago and maybe the same thing this weekend.  I started my Garmin on the START line and stopped it 10-15 seconds after I cross the FINISH line.  I had 22:26 which really would be 22:16 or so if I would've stopped it at the line.  The timing company has me at 23:00.  That's a lot!!  On their website a few weeks ago they had the results listed by gun time and then changed it a few days later to sort by chip time.  Too late!!  The results from this weekend are in a pdf type format and in gun time.  I have an email into them to see if it's something they do or if it's something the event host requested.

What do you guys usually see in race results, gun or chip?

WOW!  A person from the race services company just called me to talk about my questions regarding gun or chip!  On a Sunday evening!!

He said it's a US Track and Field rule that usually the gun time decides overall and masters winners.  Chip time is for age groups.  They made a mistake and started the race a few weeks ago four minutes early.  I wasn't at the line during the start, thus a slow gun time.  This weekend was on me, I was at the back of the group talking to my wife when they started.

Most of you probably know this already.  News to me, lol.