Ironman Swim Distance

Laughlin has a plan in Triathlon Swimming Made Easy to progress to an Ironman-distance swim.  I believe that it starts with 15X100 and then builds to 40X100 with recoveries of 5 to 6 breaths.  Once you are comfortable with a give number, you add a few 100's per session until you reach 40X100.  I did a similar approach the the Half-Iron swim.  I built to the total distance, then I also did a 2400 meter nonstop swim.  I suppose that I will try to at least do a continuous swim of 4000 meters at some point.  My experience was that the continuous swim was not any harder than the multiple 100's with the six-breath rests. 

I do all my swimming, for the moment, solo.  So I usually do one drills workout per week, one more focused on speed and the last one focused on the main, long set.

You Americans with your 'inches', 'feet', 'yards' and 'miles'...when on earth will you catch up to the rest of the world!?!?

It's much easier!! 10mm = 1cm, 100cm = 1m, 1000m = 1km, 3.8km = Ironman swim!!

When I trained for an IM a few years ago, I had an 18-week program I followed and did well with.  I swam 3x/week and my long swim day started out at 2500 yds (probably averaging 3-3500 overall), and worked up to several workouts of 4000 yds, 4500, 5000, and once even 5500 yds.   Bear in mind, I didn't do all that in one workout.  The 4500+ days were split into early morning alone and then again at noon with my masters group.  I read somewhere that as long as the workout is in the same day, your body sort of considers it as all one workout.  I'm relatively slow for a swimmer (~2:00 per 100) and still did just under 1:06 for the race swim (aided by the fact that the swim was measured ~500 yds short!).  I would really recommend still using your masters group for at least part of your long session days.   It helps to have others around and a coach who can see if your stroke is going sour as you get tired.

Sharon

Okay, I'll add one question and a nice little web-tool for metric-to-english conversion.

First, what's the difference between doing 40x100 sets versus a straight 4000 yard swim?  I prefer just to go on a long swim (simple minds, simple pleasures) rather than stopping at the 100 mark 40 times.  Regarding a wetsuit swim, I wouldn't "train" in my wetsuit since its actually much easier to swim in a wetsuit than it is without.  On my first wetsuit swim in the pool, I took 5 minutes off my mile time without even trying.  I would, however, do a few test swims since you need to get used to putting the thing on and taking it off as well as understanding how that additional bouyancy will affect your swimming. 

Secondly, here's a website were you can process all those metric to english conversion questions...http://www.psinvention.com/zoetic/convert.htm

Happy training.

I can't really answer what the training benefits of doing a single long swim versus a set of 100's or 200's, but I do know these two things regarding the comparison.

1)  I have never done a long continuous swim without first doing the same distance as a broken set.  For instance, two weeks ago I did a 2400 meter swim, but the week before that, I did 24X100's.  Following this protocol, I have never had any difficulty with the continuous long swim.

2)  While the average time per 100 is slightly slower in the continuous swim, the total time for the set is faster.  Makes sense, I guess.  The rest that you take in between (I usually take about 15 sec) is more than what you lose by swimming continuously.

Also, my SPL is more consistent in the continuous swim.  I'll do just about every length in 17 strokes.  In the broken set, the first 25 will usually be about 15 or 16 SPL.

I'm digging through all the past threads looking for good info....I would think the intervals 24X100 would be good, since you also keep your form....Most articles I read in the magazines always come back to maintain effiency and form.   Get through the water with the least resistance.    

I've tried the continous long swim in training...1000 yds.  But noticed I was getting sloppy.  Also noticed in my race on saturday 1500m..  Got sloppy strokes...    So as I get back into training, More shorter sets.  Keep the breaks short