Any Open Water Swimmers in Orange County, CA
Hi! Relatively new to OW swimming. It's really a happenstance thing for me as I accidentally dove into ocean swimming when I was trying to escape the pool chlorine. Self-taught, YouTube is my Masters training program. Not a super swimmer, I can somehow hold some distance compared to the mere walking mortals of this earth. However, I am veeeery slow to say the least. My max ocean open swim is a 2K so far, swum in 70mn in a relatively quiet location-- I now swim regularly at CDM beach. I have been swimming 4 to 6 times a week for the last 12 months. I thought I was doing ok until I stumbled upon this forum. I discovered random comments of beginning marathon swimmers whose starting performance were 10K swims. Gasp! If that's the beginning, oh dear, my 2k is indeed insignificant. Anyway, I entertain the dream of becoming a 5 mile swimmer some day. So if you don't mind training with a slower, really rookie OW swimmer, msg me as I'd be happy to swimalize with local OW swim fans.
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I started in 2010 with a 2K swim. A year later I did my first 10K. I trained in a 15m length pool.
Speed doesn't really matter in most swims, as long as there isn't a cut-off. You'll get faster with practice, especially navigation. Unless you had a gps on you for your 2K 70min swim, you cant' be sure you did only 2K. With the vagaries of current and waves, you could have swum 2.2 or more kilometers. So if you look at it that way, your 70min is looking better, right?!
For my money, I concentrate on time vs distance. I found that I can do the distance (so far...we'll see in July if this holds true) if my lower back holds out. So I work on time spent horizontal. If I'm swimming slow one day, I don't care as long as I swim for a long time. I'd rather swim for 2 or 3 hours than swim 6K or 9K and jump out of the pool.
Marathon swimming is addictive. Soon you'll find yourself not even considering traveling to races for "only" a 10K.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
There's a big lively group that swims at Oak Street in Laguna Beach. You may want to join them.
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en-GB&fromgroups#!forum/ocopenwaterswims
I swim at CdM with a couple of other swimmers. We aren't very fast and are only just starting up for the summer with now warmer water temps. Usually swim Tuesday and Saturday mornings. Let me know if you are interested.