Working and training (long distance and marathon swimming)

Hello,
long distance swimmers and marathon swimmer what is your job ?
How do you organize between work and swimming in open water ?
Thanks !

miklcct

Comments

  • evmoevmo SydneyAdmin

    Wait, marathon swimming isn't a job?

    loneswimmerThéobulleslknightwendyv34gregocIronMikej9swimbluemermaid9Theodpm50DanSimonelliSydneDtortugaChrisgreeneKatieBunsuziedodsMaryStella
  • timsroottimsroot Spring, TXCharter Member

    I get up very early and swim before work. My wife and son aren't generally morning people anyway, so they are happier in the evenings. My wife is very understanding, and has paddled for me on numerous occaisons, and is encouraging of my swimming. That does mean I go to bed as early as my toddler on a lot of nights, but that is the way that seems to work best with our family.

    Now that we are about to have our second child, I'm sure that will need to be adjusted some, but we'll have to figure that out when the second little one shows up.

    Théobulleflystorms
  • wendyv34wendyv34 Vashon, WASenior Member

    Working at a pool helps, but work can get in the way of swimming sometimes. I usually have to do my long open water swims on the weekend.

    Théobulle

    It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.

  • dc_in_sfdc_in_sf San FranciscoCharter Member

    I travel for work a lot (mon->thur) which gives me three nights a week I am free to do long workouts, though this is subject to finding a pool (my current Monday potential workout is blocked by an Aqua zumba class at the pool I have access to)

    Théobulle

    http://notdrowningswimming.com - open water adventures of a very ordinary swimmer

  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    If I don't swim in the morning (weekdays) then I don't swim. I do get to swim on a weekend day here and there, and when summer approaches I get more of those in. My wife is very understanding. But weekday evenings and most weekends are for family. As for work, I'm military so I get to use 3 hours a week for "PT" which means when I don't feel people will judge me I'll actually swim an extra hour in the morning and arrive an hour later...to 100s of emails and people standing on my desk. ;)

    I must say though: unless you're actually racing and trying to win, you can swim long marathons on a lower training volume. Not ideal of course and you'll probably hurt for a while after, but it can be done. My philosophy is to try and do at least as many hours for several weeks prior to the event that I'll swim during the event. For instance, my last one I figured would take me 5-6 hours to complete. So for about 2 months prior to the event I made sure to do AT LEAST 5 hours of swimming a week. Doesn't sound like much but it was a lot for that period of time in my life. About a month out I did 6:02 for a week, which is ironic because the marathon swim (~14k) ended up taking me 6 hours 2 minutes to complete!

    I'm thinking of writing a book along the lines of: Marathon Swimming for Mortals, or How to Swim a Marathon in Seven Short Years (while balancing job, a spouse, 4 kids, 3 pets, 4 international moves and arthritis). No one will read it except my mom, but that's ok. ;)

    timsrootJSwimj9swimThéobullethelittlemerwookiedpm50DanSimonelliCathyInCAtortugaSarah4140Chrisgreenesuziedods

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • j9swimj9swim CharlestonSenior Member

    I agree with IronMike, nothing interferes at 5:30am. When i was working (IT job for JCrew) i'd swim 2 hours 4 mornings a week, the weekends i would plan longer swims and on mondays i would take the day off. Its also depending on what you are training for and how deep is your swimming background. Is this a 10k, 10mile, or a 30 mile swim? Were you a competitive swimmer in school or an adult onset swimmer? My biggest recommendation is if you are serious, get a coach to help you plan your yards per week and work up gradually to avoid injury. Happy Swimming!

    ThéobulleMaryStella
  • ThéobulleThéobulle FRANCEMember

    Thank you for all your interesting answers.
    But in some cases the marathon swimming can become a job ? I think of the high level competitors, are they able to live it ? Because in the history of open water there existed a professional marathon swimmer federation, why it disappeared and by which it was replaced ?

  • LeslieLeslie TexasMember

    "adult onset swimmer"..never heard that. I like it. AOS!

    j9swim said:
    I agree with IronMike, nothing interferes at 5:30am. When i was working (IT job for JCrew) i'd swim 2 hours 4 mornings a week, the weekends i would plan longer swims and on mondays i would take the day off. Its also depending on what you are training for and how deep is your swimming background. Is this a 10k, 10mile, or a 30 mile swim? Were you a competitive swimmer in school or an adult onset swimmer? My biggest recommendation is if you are serious, get a coach to help you plan your yards per week and work up gradually to avoid injury. Happy Swimming!

    ThéobulleMaryStella
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    Oh, @Leslie, that term is one of my favorites, as I started competitive swimming at 35. Definitely "adult-onset." ;)

    Théobullej9swimMaryStella

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • ssthomasssthomas DenverCharter Mem​ber

    j9swim said:
    I agree with IronMike, nothing interferes at 5:30am.

    A LOT interferes at 5:30 am. Like sleep, precious, precious sleep. :-)

    I WISH I could do the morning swims, but they make me miserable. And, I spent so many hours in a pool at 5:30 am growing up and in college that I pretty much refuse to do it unless there's no other option. My issue with morning swims (in addition to the misery they cause) is that I can really only get in about 1.5 hours before I have to work. In the off season, that's more than enough, but when I'm really training, that's not enough. In the off season, nothing gets me up at 5:30 am. And if it happens as part of training in the summer, it's usually part of a double for the day.

    DanSimonelliwendyv34curlytortugaKatieBunThéobullesuziedods
  • dc_in_sfdc_in_sf San FranciscoCharter Member

    ssthomas said:
    A LOT interferes at 5:30 am. Like sleep, precious, precious sleep. :-)

    This is truth

    Honestly I actually prefer working out at the end of the day anyway, as it will energize me, while getting up at o'dark thirty makes me cranky

    pavlicovtortugaThéobullemiklcct

    http://notdrowningswimming.com - open water adventures of a very ordinary swimmer

  • DanSimonelliDanSimonelli San Diego CASenior Member

    Live to work or work to live...
    I choose the latter.
    \m/

    KatieBunThéobulleMaryStella
  • timsroottimsroot Spring, TXCharter Member

    Honestly, I like swimming early in the morning. Perhaps that makes me weird, but especially living in Houston, is nice to have some calm tune with a mostly empty pool, and a calm drive. My wife has also noticed, and I agree, if I do get to swim before work, I'm in at least a bit better mood through the day.

    I also understand early early mornings aren't for everyone. I have those hours blocked on my work calendar, and when people notice, I get a lot of questions as to why so long, and why so early.

    j9swimThéobulle
  • wendyv34wendyv34 Vashon, WASenior Member

    Yeah, mornings....Ugh! :-& I envy people who can function at 5:30am.

    ssthomastortugaThéobulle

    It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.

  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    Leslie said:

    "adult onset swimmer"..never heard that. I like it. AOS!

    @Leslie, check out this thread.

    Théobulle

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    I used to work near an outdoor pool. I would swim on my lunch hour. In the summer it was like having recess. I was really sad when the main office shut our location down. Didn't care about losing my job, but I was pretty sad that I wouldn't be able to swim at that location any more.

    Now I still swim mid day. In winter I swim at my local pool. In summer I go to the lake. My wife sits on the beach under an umbrella and reads a book while I go out and thrash around. It's pretty idyllic.

    Théobulle
  • SydneDSydneD Senior Member

    I am perhaps an oddity in that I have a lap pool at my home, where I teach and coach full-time. I am NOT a morning person, but because I also homeschool our son, I have clients starting at 6:30 in the morning, and work as much as I can in the mornings, then do things for and with my son
    My swims get tucked in whenever I can, and I swim with a Masters team

    I will say that having swimming as my job is sometimes tough with regards to my own swimming. I tend to be extremely self-disciplined, but after 6 hours in and out of the pool with clients, it's tough to spend another two hours swimming. For the past many years, I have been working 6 days a week, so my one day "out" of the pool is the only day I really have for uninterrupted long swims.

    All of that said, I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to share something I love with others, and to be able to turn my passion into a career is something I never anticipated.

    curlytortugaThéobulle
  • ChrisgreeneChrisgreene Mercersburg PA/Atlanta, GAMember

    I greatly prefer mornings before anyone is up and no matter how the rest of the day goes I accomplished something that day. At home I belong to a 24/7 club with an alwayso open pool. When necessary I've gotten there as early as 3:30 AM to fit my swim in. I swam through college and hated morning workouts especially getting in the water. Now, I still hate getting up, but when I get in the water is get energized. I also travel a lot and enjoy finding new places to swim. A few times I even get to meet fellow forum members for those swims! Last year I swam a workout in 26 states. Really breaks up the monotony swimming in new places, one of the main reasons I love OWS. No two OW swims are the same.

    ThéobullessthomasSydneD
  • MoCoMoCo Worcester, MASenior Member

    I'm not a morning person, so all my workouts (I'm a wetsuit-hating triathlete dipping her baby toe into marathon swimming) are after work. It's helped by no kids, and a spouse who also spends a significant portion of his "leisure" time training for things, usually ironman. I've had to get creative with a crazy pool schedule, but it's my time to focus on myself and wind down/let go of aggravating work things.

    One thing that was really successful for me this spring was taking advantage of my paid time off and super awesome boss to work half days on Fridays leading up to my goal race. I used them for long bike rides, but someone could just as easily use them for long swims if you have that option.

    Théobulle
  • miklcctmiklcct London, United KingdomMem​ber

    Anyone here who has a full time job in London and do long pool swims after work? Let's say e.g. 3 x 3-hour swims after work every week.

    I'm still thinking if there are any ways for me to train for marathon swimming while having a full-time job to build my career and to do my other sports in the weekends. If I can do 3 x 3-hour long pool sessions and 1 speed session in the working week, and 1 OW session on the weekend while leaving the other weekend day to do orienteering, I may still achieve all my targets to become a good marathon swimmer while remaining competitive in orienteering. However if it's not possible I will have to drop swimming to save my career and my other sport.

    I'm not a morning person and, as I'll need to pay peak train fare in the morning which is about double the off-peak fare, I'll avoid morning travel and morning sessions to the maximum extent - a 19:00 - 22:00 session is a perfect after-work session for me which allows me to have a dinner before workout. Anyone here training on a similar schedule?

  • AzskiAzski ArizonaMember

    Sounds like you just answered your own question. Everyone on this site who is currently preparing for a big swim is training on a similar schedule(many do much more)
    Now GET TO WORK, man!!!!

    j9swimYorkshireTom
  • abeabe australiaMember

    Mornings are much better get the 2 - 3 hour swim then try to work and eat for all the rest of the day

    ruth
  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    Quality of the training is far more important than how many hours you train. One hour of highly targeted and thought out training is vastly superior to three hours of slogging along swimming laps. Yes, you will need to be able to sustain effort for many hours, but that is part of targeted training.

    Building a schedule where you can use your time effectively is pretty much a life skill as well as a training skill. Sometimes that requires moving things around that maybe wouldn't be your first choice (i.e. early morning swimming.)

    If everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority...

    KatieBunevmomusclewhale89IronMikeCazzwim
  • musclewhale89musclewhale89 Alberta, CanadaMember
    edited April 2022

    I am currently training for an Ironman 70.3 in July and a 20km swim in August. I work Mon-Fri 9-5 and my pool has lane swimming at 6:30 AM. I definitely am not a morning person but it has gotten easier and easier to wake up at 6 and go swim during the week. We still have ice on the lake but once its gone I will be adding a longer OW swim on Sundays. Saturday is for long runs, bikes, or brick workouts.

    I am going to run into the issue of where to schedule rest. Luckily I work in an office so my job is not manual or tiring. Once I start doing swims on Sunday though, the only rest I will have is Friday evenings. Hopefully I can stay healthy and keep my training strong without having a complete day of rest.

    I will have days of the week with less intensity as well as deload weeks to help keep all my joints happy.

    Cazzwimmiklcct
  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    That sounds like a really good plan. Deload weeks is a good concept because you can keep training, but you reduce your need for full on rest. Good luck on your races. That's a pretty impressive undertaking.

    musclewhale89
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