5k deload weeks and taper
metricfrog
FranceNew Member
Hi everyone -- I'm a beginner who will be swimming his first 5k in ~ 16 weeks.
Two very simple questions, with apologies if those have been answered elsewhere:
- My current training plan aims at increasing my swimming volume every week, with a 'deload' week every 3 weeks or so, where I plan to limit my volume to 70% of that of the previous week.
The above is inspired by running training plans, but does that make sense within the context of long-distance swimming, and is the deload percentage reasonable or not?
- Should I include a proper taper prior to the race? Right now, I have planned a 'deload' week (see above) the week before the race (so, Week 15), and two very short sessions prior to the race on race week (Week 16).
Same as above -- does that make any sense, or shall I swim a normal training week on Week 15?
Thanks in advance for any help 
P.S. I understand that 5k is a pretty short distance for most readers here, but 5k was more or less my weekly swimming distance not so long ago. I'm currently at 8k, planning to push to 11k towards the end of my training schedule.
Comments
There are many people on here with far more experience than I do but thought I'd comment.
It sounds like you have a background in distance running which benefits you in designing your training program. The way you have it will work very well for your first 5K. If you can make it up to 10-12k per week you should be fine. I would incorporate some 2-3k open water swims if your race is in open water. There are a lot of things to practice in open water that you dont get in the pool.
Your training program seems pretty reasonable and if you are running half marathons, you already are fit. So now you get to learn how to swim a 5K, which is kind of a similar mentality to the HM. My sister is a marathon runner and she swam her first 5K last summer. She was really nervous about it until I broke the swim down like she would break down a run. Once she saw the parallel, she was off to the races.
I think the only useful advice I could give someone who is swimming their first 5K is to seed yourself in a slow group and swim outside the main pack, whether that is to the side or to the rear. Get comfortable being in a group of swimmers. Get comfortable navigating. And sort of go along for the ride.
Don't be all nervous about how well you will do. You'll do fine. Make sure your first 5K is a fun, learning experience and then you will be excited to do your next one, and your next one and...
Thanks very much to both of you for your feedback -- and thank you especially for the additional recommendations that you provided.
I'll stick with progressively increasing my weekly volume through long swims, with a few OW swims that I'll try to make 2-3k+.
The race I'm looking at can be broken down to 3 x 1500m segments + a final sprint, so that's how I'm visualising it right now.
… And the advice on swimming outside of the main pack is duly noted!
Personal profile
5K is a fun distance. Enjoy it!
I noticed in your intro post that you're considering wetsuit. If you've got access to open water prior to your 5K, try now to get acclimatized to the water temp. It is so much more freeing to swim w/o the suit.
If not, or if you're sold on using the wetsuit, then you definitely should get into open water with the suit on because it is a totally different experience. Your legs will be quite high (or feel that way) compared to when you're swimming in just trunks. You'll almost feel like you're swimming downhill.
You also mention your 1500 resulted in 1:53/100, and your goal is to finish the 5K keeping to the 1:53. I think for your first one you should just enjoy the swim. If you try to keep to your 1500-hundred pace you may wear yourself out with 3500 still to go.
Other suggestions:
-Drink a lot of liquid prior to the swim. You don't need a kayaker to stop you and feed you on a swim that should last less than 2:00, but you do need liquids.
-Get comfortable peeing horizontally: thus you need to practice in OW prior. Peeing while horizontal is totally different than vertical. Try to avoid stopping to go vertical just to pee. Any time you stop, your forward momentum stops and you have to build up that flow all over again when done peeing. Keep moving forward!
-Get in open water and practice navigation. Bad sighting can add as much as 10% to your swim. (Since I'm not the best navigator, I always train as if my swim is 10% more than it really is.)
-When you lift your head to sight, lift just enough for the eyes to break the surface ("alligator eyes") and up your kick tempo. You're trying to avoid your lower back lifting your head (human heads are heavy) so much that by the time you're done with the swim your lower back feels like you did 1000 deadlifts.
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
How much are you training right now?
As a beginner I wouldn’t rest too much and only do a crash taper the week of the swim. Get to your max weekly yardage and maintain that to the end.
The taper you’re talking about is akin to what pool sprinters do. You’re not one of them and won’t need much rest.
I was a 25K+ specialist and often racing for money or spots on a team, so a taper was important for speed. I averaged between 80-100K/week (at least a 10K each workout). Ten days or so out of the swim I’d start off knocking off 1000/down to a minimum of 3000. For my English Channel swim I was in Dover for a week leading up to my swim. I went 2h30m my first day there and dropped 30m each day until the race (I got in for a little every afternoon just to keep loose and acclimate).
Chris
@IronMike -- Thank you so much for your detailed reply, this is immensely useful!
I will, hopefully
In fact, the rest of my replies below will show that I plan to mostly enjoy it, and less race it than initially planned.
I'm unsure whether I'll really need a wetsuit for swimming 5k in the Mediterranean sea by late June early in the morning, and I also know that open water swimmers (not necessarily you!) have something against wetsuits in general.
However, a friend just told me to Google the name of the race plus a frightening keyword: jellyfish. The race was actually stopped last year due to 80 swimmers getting stung on the way. I'm hoping the wetsuit might bring some useful protection if I find myself in that predicament.
Apologies for being unclear in my introductory post -- 1:53 is my 'cruise' pace, which I can hold over long distances. My 1500 personal best is roughly 10" lower (I never test properly).
Still, I've revised my initial plans and am now aligned with your advice to just enjoy the race, and not try to pursue a precise time goal. I was initially planning to do so because I was hoping to do some speedwork and improve my pace, but I also run, and having intensity sessions in both sports is too much for me.
Your other suggestions are all down in my race prep notes, thank you again so much!
Will do!
Personal profile
I'm currently training 8k per week over 3 sessions, which is the maximum training load that I can practically afford to take, due to work and training in other sports (running, first and foremost). I'm planning to increase my swimming mileage only very gradually, to finish at 11k per week. All weeks include long, continuous swims, the longest of which will be 6k.
Thanks a lot -- duly noted.
Here's my training plan. Columns 1-2-3 are my three sessions, in meters. Column 4 is the weekly mileage, in kilometers. Weeks without a blue background are my 'deload' weeks where I drop 30% of the mileage, but if I understand you well, I should modify the penultimate week to have a much higher mileage of around e.g. 9 to 10k.
Thanks again for your advice, Chris. I'm sure the stats above are ridiculously low for someone who trains for 25k races, but to me, it's already a huge bump!
Personal profile
Honestly, I think you’d be better served prioritizing your time swimming and doing as much as you can if you have pool time available.
I did a quick look at your training plan. Just my opinion here, but you need to increase your distances for each session. I'd get that yardage (meterage?) up to 4K by the end of March and 5K by the end of April. Then make your 5K workout sort of your "par" and throw in some over 5K workouts when you can. You need a little over distance just to prep you for swimming a 5K. You shouldn't be swimming any less than a 3K workout at this point.
Right now there are a whole lot of 3K and 2K workouts and you only have one day a week where you are kicking up the distance. If I was to look at your training plan without knowing the goal, I'd figure you were planning on racing a 3K. As swimmer 25K says above, you need to get distance in your workouts and forget about the tapering. The way you have the taper set up actually might hinder you rather than help you.
Even with only swimming 3 times a week, you can totally do this. Think of it this way. If you add 500 meters to your distance every two weeks, in a month, you have added 1K to your workout. So in two months you can add 2K. Then you have a couple months where you are regularly swimming 5K workouts, with maybe a 6K workout tossed in every now and then when you're feeling frisky.
Do this and you will enjoy swimming the 5K on race day. If you are generally doing 3K workouts with occasional forays into longer distances, it will be a tough race day. The adrenaline, sun, other racers, wind, waves, navigational errors and your mind will conspire to make 5K seem a lot longer than it was when you were doing your pool workouts. If you're knocking off 5K workouts every other day, it will be a fun day at the beach.
Little by little... step by step...
Thanks @curly
The 2000m sessions you spotted are my Friday sessions, which are squeezed between two work meetings. Unfortunately, I won't be able to increase their length before mid-April, but after that, I should be able to add some mileage to them.
Personal profile
Ah yes, the conflict of work interfering with life. Unfortunately I have no brilliant solutions for that one.