Ideal temps & times

NZL1

I’m contemplating a long (for me) ocean swim which will be around 22km and probably take 7-8hrs depending on conditions and tides.

Assuming I start early eg 7am, I’m hoping to finish by mid-afternoon.

My normal eating habits are eating nothing all day and then starting to graze on fruit, nuts & cheese around 3-4pm followed by one evening main meal around 6-7pm. And that’s it until the same time next day. In other words my body is used to eating no breakfast or lunch and only eating during a 4-5hr window starting mid-late afternoon.

This is true even if I do an hour of swimming in the morning - I still don’t feel hungry until my normal time of around 3pm.

BUT. Will this change on the day I start swimming at 7am and try to keep going? Do you think I’ll run out of juice and need to eat at various intervals?

I presume I’ll need to takes breaks to drink water but not so sure about food if I can finish swimming before my usual ‘hunger window’ starts.

Final question, what’s the ideal water temp to do a 7-8hr swim (no wetsuit or hat or goggles just swimmers).

I was thinking to wait until we reach about 21C which will likely be early / mid summer here in NZ.

BillyChambers

Have you done some longer swims before? Knowing your history would be helpful to know! Hopping right to a 22km open water swim can be a big jump for some people I'd imagine. Ramping it up a little might be a better move beforehand.

And in my opinion, you definitely should be eating during your swim with that duration (as a good place to start, every 30 ish minutes is generally recommended from what I've read. Plus or minus 15min depending on the person).

I can burn pretty close to 800-900 calories an hour of open water swimming, so replenishing is very much needed. You die pretty quickly if you are not gaining back those calories you are burning, especially for that long of a swim! There are some really good threads on here with nutrition and what other people take. It's a little different for everyone so experimenting during practice is helpful.

NZL1

Thanks. I’ll search for nutrition-specific threads in that case.

My longest non-stop swim to date has been 90 mins / 4.5km so I’m planning on slowing building over the next few months to increase that steadily to hopefully be ready in time for NZ summer in about 6 months from now.

And by then the water temp will probably be around 21-22C which feels about right for a longer swim?

BillyChambers

If you are acclimated that kind of temperature I'd be cautious but it should be ok.

For your training I would definitely look at this thread for your training. Like I said before, that distance can still be quite a bit for some people, especially for their first big swim.

LakeBagger

I agree with @BillyChambers— swimming = burning calories. Some of those can be from fat stores, but you need some sugar to act as a spark to get those going.

You don’t really need to “eat” per se, just drink something with carbs on the go every 30 mins or so. Here’s the nutrition thread:

https://forum.marathonswimmers.org/discussion/11/nutrition-feeding-mega-thread/p1

Hypoglycemia is one of the most likely causes of hypothermia. Even well acclimated swimmers can get very cold in warm water if they are under-caloried. Plus, you will have a lot more fun if you are adequately fueled!