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training for a 5km swim
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Hi all. I’m very new to swimming. I started training only last year August and my longest open water swim to date has been 1.6km. My goals for the rest of this year are to do a 1km open water swim in under 20min and then a 3km in under an hour. On my current training I don’t think this will be a problem but next year I’d like to move up to a 5km by the end of February. So they’re not marathon type goals but with the training time I have available I’d be very happy to just achieve that for now. I’m managing to get about 4 sessions a week totalling only around 10km / week at the moment. I manage to the get the odd 3km – 3.5km session in every now and then I am planning to do quite a few more 4km and longer swims in prep for the new season in November. I’m fairly disciplined at swimming and doing the training and reading up on technique etc but my problem is I don’t have any overall training plan to follow. I’m making up sessions as I feel and getting a bit bored with options I have. Does anyone perhaps have a nice training program than spans over a number of weeks that they’d be willing to share with me. I’m just looking for something that would take me from a comfortable 1.6km to 5km swim by next year feb. Maybe one day in the future I’ll set my goals on the really long distances I’ve only joined this form yesterday but have enjoyed reading some of the threads, quite motivational.
Thanks guys.
Glenn
Glenn.watson(at)Santam.co.za
Thanks guys.
Glenn
Glenn.watson(at)Santam.co.za
Comments
For a weekly plan I'd suggest aiming for a target yearly, monthly and weekly mileage, then varying each day so you have endurance, threshold, speed and active recovery days with some technique work fairly constantly (I do my tech work during warmup). Most of us here will have our own training plans that we work out as we go along.
About.com does a 5 week training plan, you have to sign up to the about.com swimming section & they email it to you.
loneswimmer.com
My training (previous 6 months) would basically have consisted of 3-4 sessions per week in the pool of 2.5-3.5km. My shortest session was 2k and my longest was 4k. Training was centred mostly around 100m and 200m intervals, with some drill work. There were no paddle sets, and a relatively low amount of pull sets. My highest weekly total was 14km and I had 200km total for the 6 months. Obviously you need to get plenty OW training in similar temperatures and conditions as you intend to swim in as well.
Best of luck and let us know how you get on.
I tried to convince myself, but, orange flavour electrolyte, mixed with hot chocolate,
tastes nothing like Terry's Chocolate Orange ....
1500m easy in 19minutes
The a set of 10x100m on 2 minutes. I managed to maintain 1m35 per 100m which for me is fast.
500m warm down
Was completely stuffed at the end but I enjoyed it and will definitely see the value of it. Am planning to build up to 200m and 250m intervals and increase the overall distance of the set
Maybe you meant 29 minutes?
I was thinking of the1km I did the day before.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
1500m Easy
500m Pull
250m (25 butterfly / 25 breast stroke)
125m backstroke
125m freestyle
400m fast (7m02) - fast considering how tired my arms were
300m easy
200m (4x50m sprint on 1 min)
600m moderate
1000m easy - 20min
was very happy overall. 1h42
After 5k in a pool the same distance in open water is an absolute joy. This goes double (naturally) for 10k
Have to do it now as my wife is pregnant so from April next year things change.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
I'm a total beginner, and the longest swim that I've done was a 1.1km in the pool which took me roughly 25min, so I'm wondering if I should increase my volume before I work on anything specific?
I can only swim twice a week just now so I was thinking Day 1; endurance, Day 2; strength/speed?
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
But I didn't eat enough. I drank two bottles of powerade during the swim which seemed to be enough. But after the swim I didn't eat properly until later in the evening when I had a huge braai. But I did some more manual work straight after the swim and I felt really bad most of the day and yesterday. Only today am I feeling well again. SO lesson learnt. Eat and drink loads straight after the swim to replace what I've lost
But I'm just happy I've down it and I now know I can Doing 3km tomorrow is going to seem too short:)
I was going to ask folks for some help with training plans for this years goal, a 4.8mile dog-paddle in a chilly Colorado lake. Bit of a weird distance but its a 1.2 mile loop. But this thread and others have helped immensely. Im up to a max of 3500 yds so far but building nicely.
http://gordsswimlog.blogspot.com/
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
Thanks for the encouragement to mongoose. It's encouraging to this noob too.
Not too sure how to post a new discussion thread so ill post here, I've never swam distances in my life, i know how to swim but that's it, I hoping to do a 6km OW swim in malta in June so i have around 4 months to prepare, im a full time student so i have time to train, my stamina isnt very good, largest distance ive ran is around 5km. Am i being too optimistic? Is this even possible, thanks
It really all depends on your swimming ability. Assuming you've got some background, 4 months with time to train would be fine. But there's only one way to find out. How bad can it really be?
I don't wear a wetsuit; it gives the ocean a sporting chance.
@saadreh The short answer is yes you can.
A somewhat longer answer is that you really do need to be pretty dedicated about the training and do your research about the open water conditions and practice in open water when and where and as often as you can.
FWIW, I can certainly swim 6K and I CAN'T run 5K. There is a correlation between running/swimming ability and raw cardiovascular fitness (A good runner will learn to be a much faster swimmer than I am pretty quickly, ferinstance) but swimming is so much more about raw swimming ability that regular practice is quite necessary.
As @malinaka so wisely said, there's only one way to find out. Get in the pool!
Yes, you definitely can!
If your personal challenge is to complete the 6K distance then yes you can do it. If you want to swim it at race pace then you will need to put in a lot more training.
If you can already swim and want to swim 6K in 4 months' time then get in plenty of swim practice over the next 4 months, but also practice for it mentally. Break it down into chunks. Once you've swum 1K, you can swim another 1K, then another 1K, and so on. If you start out saying "I'm going to swim 6K", it will be really hard.
Malta is a gorgeous place to swim. I would love to go back there and swim.
Good luck! :-)
Ok this makes me feel a lot better about the whole challenge, Thanks for the comments, I read a few guides on training for 5K OW swims and the main idea seems to be to complete the desired distance every week, I would like to finish in a respectable amount of time, just as some benchmarks what would be some average 1K times, also would it be advisable to invest in some training gear such as a Pull buoy or should I just jump into the local pool and swim till i cant swim no more
Don't waste your money on a pull buoy, most pools have those available for swimmers to use as part of the admission fee. Although a pull buoy is intended to isolate the arms, many people (over) use them to correct body position.
Your money would be better spent getting a few sessions with a coach to make sure you are swimming as efficiently as possible. Swimming is about 85% technique, so being able to maintain good form over time is more important than having strong arms. Strength and endurance will come along with the hours you spend practicing good form.
Like Niek says, practicing in OW is critically important. Plenty of swimmers who rule in the pool really suck in open water. Getting in some long swims is also important for building endurance (mental and physical) and understanding what your body will require (nutritionally) to complete the distance. The more experience you get, the more resilient you will become at dealing with whatever nature throws at you.
Starting off, don't worry about comparing your times to those of others. Niek mentioned times that are elite, (College/Olympic/FINA); I know a guy who's that fast, he's in college. An average time for masters swimmers for 5K might be more like 80-90 minutes, with winners coming in at 65-70 minutes. Check results of your (larger) local races if you are curious about what your competition is doing. Water/weather conditions and the number of swimmers have so much effect on times that you can't really make a comparison to pool times.
You might want to do a 1K time trial every few weeks to set a benchmark for yourself and to track your improvements. Ultimately it's about doing your best, challenging yourself and learning from your less-than-ideal performances. I don't mind getting stomped if I gave it my best effort, but I hate walking away knowing I could've done better.
It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.
With the caveat that I am probably the least experienced in this thread so far:
6K in OW, in the sea really, is not like 6K in a pool. @Niek mentions pool times being faster. You must also take into consideration your navigation. Beginners rarely swim straight in open sea, so your 6K may end up being 6.6K. Which will add to your time. Is this the Gozo-Malta swim?
Cardio-wise, I'd prepare for a swim that is longer than what's on paper. In addition to all the great advice above.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
There was a thread in here about a year ago called "Adult-onset Swimmers Unite!" wherein @ironmike proposed (and I believe consensus was reached) that 20 minutes per kilometer was the standard benchmark for adult-onset swimmers. Certainly there are many who can exceed that pace and some who never will, but I think that's a good rule-of-thumb, @saadreh.
Like @wendyv34 said: its all about technique. If you can't do 20 minutes per K after a month or so in the pool, its probably not because of fitness or strength. More likely, you're squandering your effort with inefficiency. Your best use of money is in coaching, not toys. And surround yourself with good swimmers and try to imitate what you see.
"Lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have brought be down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead..."
Hi guys ,
I am very new in swimming, I've just started to go swimming in the last two weeks. But I really like it and next year I want to go on a 5km swim. So I would like to ask for some advice how to swim, I mean which from, and some kind of plan or how to do a plan for this.
Thanks a lot
@Trabirider have a look through these forums, check out some peoples' blogs, and then come back with specific questions. That's my recommendation, anyway. And we would need more from you: what do you mean "just started to go swimming in the last two weeks." Do you mean lap swimming, or do you mean three weeks ago you didn't know how to swim? Where do you swim now? Have you ever swum in open water? Where are you? Do you have a specific 5K swim that you would like to do next year?
5K is a wonderful distance (my preferred distance to race) and a good goal to shoot for to start.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
Hello fellow swimmers, i am 35y.o. with only limited open water swimming experience (two times swims of 3-4k range). My goal is to build up slowly for a 10-15k swim next summer. Nowadays i swim 4-5 times a week with a weekly distance of about 12-16km. I try to encorporate two main sessions per week: one of fast (for my standards) swim 20x100 or 10x200m with a pretty mediocre pace of 1.55/100 and one aerobic session like 3x1000 or 2x1500m with a 3-5secs slower pace. The remaining sessions are mainly paddle, fins and some drills. Unfortunately i do not currently have time for gym/ strength work, although i know its significance. I wonder if this plan seems reasonable to more experienced swimmers and i would gladly hear any suggestions for current training and ideas for build up. Thanks a lot!
@Talsfan see the following threads for some discussion and advice.
https://forum.marathonswimmers.org/discussion/20/weekly-training-volume-for-completing-marathon-swims#latest
https://forum.marathonswimmers.org/discussion/1811/training-plans-for-marathon-swims-10k-and-up#latest
Good luck!
I am going to revive this old thread because I think a lot of people probably stumble on the site when they decide they want to try a 5K for the first time. (I even wrote a thread about how a 5K is the gateway drug to marathon swimming.) Anyway, I still love to swim 5Ks because they are fast and fun. I did one yesterday that is kind of an old standard in our area. It hadn't been run in a few years and so turnout this year was great, with a fully sold out race. Everyone was super excited and the weather and water couldn't have been better.
I also noticed there were a lot of younger participants which means two things. Open water swimming is attracting more young people, which is great. I'm getting older, which is not so great, but I guess it's kind of inevitable.
Based on my second observation, this year I decided to modify my training for this swim, and I guess for all my swimming in general. My general pattern in the past has been to work on technique for a few months in the winter, start to build up speed and yardage in the spring, get outside and paddle around lakes all summer, relax and ease back into the pool in late fall and then repeat the cycle.
This year I decided to modify my spring and summer routines. I didn't build up yardage as much as in the past. My longest pool workouts were around 4000 yards. I did work on speed (which is pretty darn relative, so maybe I should just say, increased effort). I also did a bunch of stretching and muscle care, like rolling etc. Normally when I prep for a 5K, I increase my workout distances so that a week or two before the race, I'm knocking out 5Ks just as a workout. Then I lightly taper and go for it on race day.
It started to occur to me that I'm no longer 19 and this routine wasn't really helping me. So instead my outdoor workouts were limited to 2.5 miles maximum. The week before the race, I did an easy mile and a half on Monday, took Tuesday off, easy 3/4 mile Wednesday and then totally rested and relaxed before race day on Saturday. My logic was that I've been swimming since I was a kid. My muscles and build have been developed over 50 to 60 years, so at this point, big heavy training isn't going to teach my body anything it doesn't already know. At my advanced years, really what my body needs is care and rest. So that's what I did.
Then end result was more than I had hoped for. I felt great throughout the race. I had power to turn on the jets when I needed to. I was able to swim long and strong. I gave it everything I had at the end. I'm sure my sprint to the finish didn't look all that impressive from shore, but I really was able to blast it and I felt when I finished that I didn't have anything left. However, I didn't feel ruined. So all in all, it was a really fun day and I think my training routine paid off.
So I guess the data point here is that as one ages, it pays to look at your training routine and listen to what your body is telling you. What is a great training routine for an Olympic level sprinter, might not work so well for a 45 year old marathon swimmer. And what is a great routine for a 45 year old, might need to be reviewed by a 68 year old. And the fun part is if you do this right, that 68 year old can still smoke the 45 year olds...