Recovery between long swim events

jhutto

I plan on doing two long swims in fall...swim the suck on October 11 and swim around Charleston on October 31. I have done both swims before but never almost back to back, i.e. three weeks apart. With my age at 70 on the Charleston swim....thoughts on recovery time between swims considering my age? I have done massage therapy in prep for both swims in past to help. I train 4-5 days a week with 18-20k yards. Does three weeks give me enough recovery time? Swim times for each swim are about 5:30. So not really very fast.

swimfreeordie

Everyone is different of course and most of us are a tad younger. If it were me, I would keep the training volume very light between the two swims - one week of easy recovery swimming (10-12k?) one week at say 12-15k with just a few higher intensity sets of fairly short duration and a final week of just easy swimming, with stretching and massage to help stay loose. I'd probably do quite a bit of kicking (plus some backstroke and drills) for aerobic maintenance while avoiding too much load on shoulders. I'd be sure to hydrate and keep to a recovery oriented nutrition plan (eg I enjoy my wine, but I'd stay off alcohol until after the second swim). Given your experience and training volumes I expect you'll do great and will be able to make any adjustments you need to get to the start line for the second swim in good shape. Good luck and have fun!

JSwim

You can do it, even at 70, if you've trained enough so that you don't get a repetitive motion injury at the Suck.

I swam all the stages of 8 Bridges in 2018 at age 54. My advice is to compress your training into 3-4 days/week instead of 4-5 days/week (more similar to your swims and longer recovery periods, which are more important when you're older), pay attention to your nutrition and sleep, swim between the Suck and Charleston but don't train particularly long unless you're mentally up to it and you want to, and don't be alarmed if you're "slow' after the Suck. It'll come back.

For me, the toughest part of 7 long swims in 8 days was my mental state. Be gentle with yourself after the Suck, especially if the swim is tougher than you anticipate.

I hope you have great swims!

swimmer25k

I usually swam a little the day after a race to work things out and loosen up. Easy swimming between the two races should keep your fitness up. You won’t get out of shape by taking it easy between swims and help the recovery along.

Laurie

I am also thinking about doing both Swim the Suck and Swim around Charleston. I do not have a ton of marathon open water experience but have done several ultramarathons close together. Any advice would be appreciated!

swimmer25k

@Laurie said:
I am also thinking about doing both Swim the Suck and Swim around Charleston. I do not have a ton of marathon open water experience but have done several ultramarathons close together. Any advice would be appreciated!

Start off easy and slow down.