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evmo
Sydneydev
Title should be self-explanatory. If you've been lurking but hesitating to post, this is a good place to get it out of your system 
Tell us who you are and what brings you to this strange corner of the interwebs...
Tell us who you are and what brings you to this strange corner of the interwebs...
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Your First Long Swim
http://www.marathonswimmers.org/forum/discussion/59/your-first-long-swim
What's Your Next Swim?
http://www.marathonswimmers.org/forum/discussion/3/what039s-your-next-swim
Open Water Blogs
http://www.marathonswimmers.org/forum/discussion/23/open-water-blogs
Training Advice for Newbies
http://www.marathonswimmers.org/forum/discussion/757/training-advice-for-newbies
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
:-)
My name is Cole and I am a fledgling marathon swimmer. I am originally from Texas and now live in Philadelphia. I swam competitively through high school and came to Drexel University to swim on the varsity team. I was forced into early retirement due to a combination of injuries and increasing school load just 2 years in. After being fat and lazy for a bit I picked up triathlons to get back to working out and competing. I did about 8 tri's over the past 2 years, but continued to hurt myself in them - partially from crash/accidents and more so from over training (gravity is as forgiving as water). So I decided to return to just swimming at least for a little while. I raced the Little Red Lighthouse 10k last year and loved it, so this year I am signed up for 6 total open water races the longest of which is going to be the 10-miler at Kingdom Swim.
I joined this group for both wisdom and camaraderie. While I have a lot of experience training in the pool, I have no knowledge about marathon swims so I first came here for training advice. Additionally, even all of my old swim friends think I am crazy for doing marathon swimming, so it's nice to know there are other crazy people like me out there even if I haven't had the chance to meet any of you in real life yet.
Funny about that 2-year mark in collegiate swimming. That was my experience too, and I've heard it from many others. Shit starts to get suddenly very real with school, and you start pondering the merits of two-a-day workouts vs... the rest of your life.
Of course, I then proceeded to forget that valuable lesson 10 years later... lol.
I meant to say... you have much to look forward to in this sport, my friend!
I started on my first swim team when I was five and swam all the way through college. I love the sport and it feels like home - whether in the pool or ow. Like most swimmers, I am athletically challenged on dry land, but the tide may be turning as I age and my friends get more out of shape.
I live in South Florida where cold water is below 80. Doing the Swim Around Key West next month. Always struggling to balance swimming, work and family (and reading this Forum). Looking forward to longer and colder swims. Thanks for creating and supporting such a great community.
Michael
Occasionally I'll dive down and join in the fun, but I know that I'm visiting a world that is foreign to mine.
I'm Dredpiraterobts, it's been my internet identity for probably a decade or so. It used to be that if you Googled, all of the results were about me... alas.. there are now others, bat rastards!
Nearing 56 (this Robtmas) I have been in love with the water since pre-k. I was always a stronger swimmer than others my age (which nearly cost me my life when I tried to save a panicking classmate by lifting him to the little raft on my shoulders, next thing I remember is Lynn Forie lifting me in her one arm and chicken poop Artie Mc Donald in the other).
My first "long swim" was from the "big raft" (I grew up in a small town that had a pond as the local Summer swimming pool with a "little raft" near the shore and the "big raft" about 30 yards off shore.) My dad (may he RIP) was trying to make me a diver (my big brother was the diver for the high school team) and so I was "attempting" Half Gainers off the front of the big raft. It was not happening! So after a dozen or so tries I took a deep breath, tried the gainer once more, splat, and went deep. I then swan underwater nearly the whole distance to the shore before my father caught up with me and lifted me up by my bathing suit (Lynn Forie was there too, too) in front of the entire town. Nobody had ever seen such a feat! (I said it was a small town) and my father decided that I was a swimmer, not a diver.
By the time I had hit 18 I was so sick of swimming up and down that guldurned pool I can't tell you. Water had lost it's appeal because I was Pavlovian in my response to it. Swim laps! I was the distance swimmer on the team and top 10 in the section for the 100 (3rd in the 500 which was just fine with me, I didn't want to go to States anyway!) But my coach tried to show me off to the college scouts by having me swim a 1650. That worked about as well as the half gainer!
I did not swim in college. I spent the next "x" years trying to break myself of the lap habit, so that I could love the water again. I did.
I have a place on the coast and I spend hours in the cold water riding waves. And there's a rock out there that is only there during low tide. I have been going to the beach my whole life (not exactly true) and never once saw a person swim to that rock. Until I did it (it's probably a half mile out). Everybody on the beach was impressed! (It's another small town).
Things were fine until two things happened last summer. First was the <a href="
My first goal is to up the ante for the TLB by swimming around the other island (about 4 miles) and then by swimming out to one of the many islands 2 miles out and 2 miles back (it would be nice to come back). I tried to try to swim last weekend but 50 degrees was just too cold for me. Maybe if the sun was out, but whoa! (It reminds me that I'm not yet "there" when it comes to here.)
I took for granted that knowing how to swim is what makes water so enjoyable for me. I LOVE
doing flip turns, for example. Just like I love diving down into the depths to play, for a moment, with the creatures of the sea.
This place is inspirational to me in that I feel that doing my laps is the price I must pay in order to be "worthy." I still live in a small town and I can't get any of my old swim team buddies to join in with me (they're still sick of swimming laps), so this community fills that void, somewhat.
And I thank you for that.
Oh, and one more thing. While it is true that I am a postaholic (I coined that term, true, but I can't prove it) I have one strict rule and that is that everything I say, I say on the public boards. I don't do e-mail, I don't do PM. It's just a rule of mine.
loneswimmer.com
I Googled around and found a bunch of articles, mostly the lunchtime threads, and jumped into the pool with little clue of what the heck I was doing. Seriously, I was swimming horribly, sculling, thumb first hand entry and almost eyes up. Ugh. I did take a stroke technique class this winter and that has helped immensely. I have completed an open water swim in a local river and got hammered by almost everyone at the event. Quite humbling, considering I was a decent runner, to be squashed, handily, by some very young children that were like freaking fish in the water.
I am super motivated but completely clueless about everything. I am doing a 1.3 mile swim on June 1 and a 5k in August. I can only train at lunch time so I have to boogie to get the mileage in. Right now I swim about 2000 yds at lunch and I do that 5 days a week. I do "speed work" (or whatever you swimmers call it) and drills once a week and then the other 3 days I just pound out the laps. I still swim in my board shorts because I don't even know the type of suit I should get.
My questions are probably routine:
How do you feed in the water? I mean I need a picture or something. Where do you store the food?
Y'all seem to have a serious distaste for wetsuits but how do you acclimate to the cold water when your only option is to swim in a 80 degree pool?
Do I need to invest in kickboards, fins, snorkels and all the other toys people seem to bring with them or can I just swim?
Farther or Faster? I coached adults and youth running for almost 10 years so I understand how to train the body, can I just adapt that to the pool? Do swimmers fartlek?
How the hell do I stop smelling like chlorine two hours after a swim? I still can't figure how to get rid of raccoon eyes.
Should I just jump in and do some long stuff? I did my first marathon at 19 in 3:45. I did my second one the next year in 3:05 because I hammered for a year. Can I just do that?
That's enough pestering for the day. Seriously, you guys and girls motivate and inspire me. While I would rather be running this is pretty interesting and is definitely a new challenge.
Thanks for reading.
Excellence is born of preparation, dedication, focus and tenacity; compromise on any of these and you become average.
Keep doing technique coaching as much as is practical for you. The easiest way to swim farther and faster is to swim better by improving your technique and thus reducing drag.
Your current training is easily sufficient for the 1.3 mile swim and OK for the 5K, but it will feel really long towards the end. If you can carve out time to do a few longer swims, even just once or twice, it would be helpful.
No need to worry about feeds in a 5K or shorter, mine have been point to point without even an opportunity for a water stop and no problem.
I've found water temps at or above the upper 60's really don't require any real acclimatising. Day of swim I like to get in before the event if I can to "warm up" but more to get over the initial "holy shit that's cold" response. If your planned swims are colder, I got nuthin for ya, sorry.
If you really feel like you need a wetsuit don't be feeling like it's a cop out to to do so. It's your choice and you can always go skin later if you choose to. Getting out there and swimming the events is what counts, IMHO.
Re: pool toys, you will likely accumulate some over time. No need to rush out and make purchases just because.
Farther or faster, I say the answer is yes, Do some of both.
You can either just own the chlorine smell as a badge of honor or look for ways to neutralize it. Another thread here talked a lot about Sodium Thiosulfate. At my house, particularly when both my kids were competitive swimmers chlorine is just what we smelled like.
Your mileage may vary but to me "just jumping into" a really long swim has always seemed reckless. Nobody ever drowned running a marathon, and there's always a relatively easy way out during a run but maybe not so much in a long swim. Do your 5K and decide from there what makes sense for you to do as your next step.
Hope this is useful
Multiple sprint and Oly tris and Boulder 70.3 two summers back. The swims always bugged the crap out of me. I was what I now like to call others, a 'two lap slapper.' Blast up the pool or the first 50 yds in the lake, coughing and spluttering and then breasting it the rest of the way around the buoys. Very sedate and scenic but not good for decent swim times.
Last fall, I made a determined effort to get my 'free' sorted out. I finally realized that freestylin' was a bit like running. You gotta slow down enough to be able to breathe with out coughing up a lung. Then work the speed back in as you get fitter/stronger.
After several months practice and too much TI reading and watching videos, I had the longest slowest stroke in the world but I could swim free! An older lady told me at the pool that I had a 'beautiful stroke.' My wife commented that 'my strokes must bring all the gurls to the pool. Yeah, my stroke, is better than yours' Yeah, I didnt laugh much either.
Since then, I have sped my stroke back up and got faster and now Im regularly knocking out 5Ks in the pool. With our winter and so called spring here in Colorado, its been pretty much pool, pool, pool. I had a great trip out to San Diego in March and I got to swim in La Jolla Cove with my wife and the seals. But thats been it for OW time.
I have to admit to of being completely ignorant of so many swim only events but Im so glad I have found them. I have also discovered this great community which has been a gold mine of information and direct help (thanks Mike.) Knowing that, after an 8K in the pool, when my shoulders are aching, others have just got started in an ocean swim and will swim 10 times that distance, Im in complete awe of you all.
You remember I mentioned I have a problem. My first reasonable 'race' is this Sunday, a 2.5mile splash around the buoys in Denver. Then again in July for 4.8 miles. Then the Horsetooth 10K in August and finally StS in October. Greedy, I know it!
We're going back to ol'Blighty (we're transplants) for a few weeks in July. Im planning a 5 miler in the River Arun near my old stomping ground where we used to live. Its tidal (up to 5 knots on a Spring tide.) It should be fun as long as we get the timing right. We're also driving up to Scotland to see family and I have almost convinced my wife to let me 'do a Davina' on the way and at least dip a toe in Loch Ness.
If you'll excuse the pun, if you have not guessed. 'Im a jump in with both feet' kinda bloke and real pleased to be here.
My background is a competitive swimmer in high school and college. I was a big fish in a little pond in high school; good enough to finish 4th in both my individual events my senior year at the district meet, but not good enough to qualify for the state meet. In college I was middle distance/distance swimmer who could be relied on to get team points in dual meets, but not good enough to qualify for the league championship team.
Out of college I coached the YMCA age group team, a middle school team and high school team for about 6 years. In that time I also swam masters.
Fast forward to getting married an having children and building my career, swimming and any kind of working out took a very distance back seat to anything else. In 2005, we had an overweight cat and the vet wanted us to monitor her weight. We purchased a bathroom scale. In order to weigh the cat, one of us has to weigh ourselves first and than step back on the scale while holding the cat. I stepped on the scale and was shocked at how much weight I gained and decided that night to get back in shape.
Since that fateful night I've dropped and kept off 70+ lbs. I started swimming again in 2008, graduating from doing just cardio workouts the elliptical and stationary bike. I thought about entering a local lake swim but didn't have the courage until my oldest son who was about 8 at the time, entered an karate tournament. I figured if he could put himself out there, I could do the same and entered the 2.5k race. I did better than expected and did the race again the next summer. I did even better, improving my time by almost :30. The following summer I entered the race again with a goal of improving still and if I did I was going to enter a 2 mile race at another lake later that summer. The 2 mile race went extremely well and I decided to commit to training for the 5K the next summer.
So, last summer I entered the 5K and far exceeded my expectations so here I am getting ready for the GCBS in 2 weeks. Should this go well, I'm hoping to enter the true marathon swims with the possibility of the Kingdome 10 mile next summer.
I joined this forum to get as much information as possible about doing long, open water swims. From training (I love the lunch time, average set and monster set threads) to nutrition and feedings to reading about other's experiences with the mental aspect required to doing a long swim, this forum has been a blessing.
Chlorine rocks! Wait until you sweat it out on a hot day. Wear it with pride.
Raccoon eyes? Loosen your straps a bit to the point where they're just holding the googles to your eyes. You'll be surprised at how much looser you can make them and still be water tight.
I have a co-worker who licks his arm to smell the chlorine again throughout the day. He's been seen doing it at long, boring meetings…day dreaming about getting back in the pool.
It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.
@flystorms - I'll give the loose googles a try at my swim today Thanks for the advice
Excellence is born of preparation, dedication, focus and tenacity; compromise on any of these and you become average.
I am fairly new to the forum. I've been lurking in and out for a few months but recently decided to go through each of the threads. There's a lot of very helpful information in there.
I've been open water swimming for about 6 years and marathon swimming for about 2. What fascinates me most about the sport is how far/long one can go.
Looking forward to reading more.
Have learnt a lot from the site already, so good to be aboard and look forward to swopping notes.
Richard
"Hi Eric"! ..........thanks
I did a few Ironman tri's and an open water 5k, and have fallen in love with swimming. I realized I had a problem when I started trying to leave work early to get in my next swim.
I was fortunate enough to get registered in Swim The Suck, and can't wait. I still have lots of work to do, but am already hooked.
I really enjoy learning and reading about your trials and tribulations on this site.
Cheers!
Eric
My name is Asha. Fairly new to the sport (have been doing it about a year). I was a competive swimmer way back. I've put my deposit on a pilot (Eddie Spelling) for Aug. 2016 English Channel. Suzie D. is my first and really only connection and I'm grateful for her.
Just wanted to say hi. I hope to be on here more and more regularly.
All Best,
Asha
Cheers,
Bill (La Tortuga)
Good luck, tortuga.
Good luck as well to Asha. A year in and aiming at the Channel!
Not to say this wrong, but I was surprised to see how many women are big time in this sport. And not at all "Second tier."
My intention was to recognize the uniqueness of this sport and to recognize the women who participate in it.
If my comments somehow offended, I will take that as evidence of my own unrecognized misogyny. I apologize.
I swam in high school and after a long break got back in shape with triathlon. I ran a marathon last year, and it was torture. Even though I am proud of the fact that I was able to run a marathon, I thought why not stick with my first love? So this year I am focused on swimming.
I love reading the posts here, people are so inspirational. Wish me luck.
XJ3
Spot on Karen. This sport has a long history that many aren't aware of.
Time travel back 20+ years and you'll find that Penny Dean and Shelley Taylor-Smith beat ALL of the guys. Time and distance is the great equalizer and separated the women from the boys.
When I was racing during the old IMSA days (when a marathon was 25K or longer; not the 10K made for TV sprint), names like Burton, Hazen, and Bowman were to be respected. Failure to do so would end in an ass-kicking. Shelley shot by me at the end of Manhattan 1998 for the win. I feel no shame for this :-(( (Boat driver screwed my course. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!).
Seriously, though, I like to point things out to my girls when I get a chance. I remember a day when I was in the shoppette on base and in front of us in line was a female brigadier general. I explained to my then 10-yr old that in the Air Force (and the other services) it doesn't matter what your sex is. If you're a hard worker you can reach the pinnacle in your career field. (Fewer than 1% of officers make it to one star general.)
I learned a long time ago, being raised by a strong-willed (and strong-bicep'd) Italian mother and two sisters that women can do whatever the hell they put their mind to. And that it shouldn't affect me at all. When I ran my second (and last) triathlon in 1984, I was dying in the 10K. For miles 3-5 I ran with Ruth, who turned out to win her 55-59 age group. I was in such pain, while Ruth commented on how beautiful the scenery was and asked me if I'd be doing the triathlon next year. All I wanted to do was lie down and die. I told Ruth I'd see her at the finish as I stopped to squat and then roll over to all fours and try and stand back up (my thighs were killing me). I saw Ruth at the finish. She had managed to find my father and sister and tell them how much fun she had running with me.
Ruth got first in her age group. Her 10K split was around 50 minutes. My 10K time was 1:10. I was 17.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
I'm Hanna and I am fairly new to OW after I decided to get out of the daily pool lengths and try something new, but now I've started - i'm hooked!
Am swimming my first distance event in a few days (5k) and am hoping after that to step my training up and make the 10k by the end of the summer. So all advice welcome on nutrition/beating cramp/feeding/anything and everything.
I won't waffle on, but hello all - and thanks for your background help thus far!
I have just joined up as this is my second challenge. Marathon Swimming.
I am doing my first 10K followed by a 5 K then 4K,4K, 3.9K.
Its the 10K that scares me. have been reading some of your training and swimming programs. it seems that it's all in the "FUN " of the swim rather than the "WIN".
I will try to remember this. Dale
Here is my race re-cap from last Sunday for anyone that would care to read and give me advice on my race for any upcoming events.
http://riahswims.blogspot.com/
Thanks!
Mariah
Congrats on the swim.
Where else would you rather be right now? How many other people on the planet would even consider attempting what you are doing? Someone who knows you thinks you are a rockstar. You are so going to deserve that four cheese pizza tonight!
Think about your technique. Make your stroke as smooth and pretty as you know how. You're almost sure to feel better in a few minutes.
So, to summarize: love, fun, technique, rockstar, pizza!
My goggles refused to un-fog tonight at the first race of the season, but I thought "heck, I've swum this course enough times that I can do it with foggy goggles!" A little more challenging, but I still won the pie. Mmmmmm….pie!
It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.
Thanks @wendyv34, I definitely need to work on staying positive in my swims, that self doubt is harder than any chop or current, if I can conquer the mental part the rest will be...well...easy as pie!
I am 57 years old, began endurance sports at 45 with my first marathon run, Chicago. I am not fast at anything, and have only 2 ways to stand out: 1) outlast by continuing to participate when I'm over-90, or 2) outdistance. I began triathlon after 3 marathons (each one slower than the first...wrong trend) and essentially my first OWS at the Escape from Alcatraz Tri...big mistake! I panicked and couldn't get my face in the water, switched to breast stroke, and tore my MCL with 100 meters left in the swim. I had an unstable knee but was able to bike, but the run was reduced to a walk, punctuated by f-bombs, passed by and attaboys from octogenarians and amputees (but no octogenarian amputee) I'm sure many assumed I had Tourette's.
Again, not fast but I progressed to 70.3 and then 140.6 distances. But my favorite part of any tri is the swim, surprising to me since I could not envision swimming beyond 200 meters when I started. I had a great swim training group in Nashville where I lived, led by Ashley Whitney, a gold-medalist in 1996 Atlanta games, a champion open water swimmer (winner of Swim the Suck last year). That group fostered my growing love for open water swimming. My wife and I moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland 2 years ago, and bought a house on the water near Cambridge MD....open water 10 meters out my back door.
Rather than compete in the Eagleman 70.3 this year, I decided that I would focus on a long swim as my A-race. I tried to get into the GCBS, but lost the lottery. I then tried to register for the Swim the Suck, but slept through my 1:00am alarm, awakening at 1:40 am to find out the race had filled in 30 minutes. CRAP! Then I decided Swim around Key West would be a great venue, to learn it had filled 1 day prior! Then I discovered that there were 2 Swims around Key West, and registered for the FKCC Swim around Key West held this past Saturday. In preparation for that race, I was searching this forum for training/feeding/ distance tips. I also registered for a Key West specific training plan with EpiTri, Kari Duane, and it was perfect.
Completed FKCC Swim around Key West (well run swim by the way) this past Saturday, and think the 12.5 mile swim may have been more difficult than IM race, but that may be a memory bias. Have other's experienced that? Pretty painful for the last 3 miles, but I felt a great sense of accomplishment, and plan to continue with marathon swims..Hence joining this forum. Thanks for having me!
Excellence is born of preparation, dedication, focus and tenacity; compromise on any of these and you become average.
You and @OnceaRunner can find some local events on The MSF Calendar
http://www.marathonswimmers.org/resources/swims/northern-virginia-washington-dc-open-water/
There are a couple of nice events on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in July
The MD Swim for Life is always a fun event with distances up to 5 miles near Chestertown on the Chester River.
A week later is Swim Ocean City entering its second year if you are up for a nine mile ocean swim. I'll be back this summer for what was a fairly challenging swim last year.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about the local events.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
Excellence is born of preparation, dedication, focus and tenacity; compromise on any of these and you become average.
It's my pleasure to keep that calendar up to date. We'll need someone to take it over soon as I'm moving this summer.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
I haven't done a marathon swim yet but I'm sure your Key West swim was more difficult than IM. I've done 2 IMs and a 50 mile run is by far more difficult. I'm thinking that swim is close to the effort of a 50 mile ultra.
You should be proud. All of y'all are badasses in my book.
I have been reading the forum here for over a year. I read your blogs, your race recaps, your stories swimming channels almost daily. Personally, I always swam since childhood but never more than a mile.
5 years ago I started swimming more and I love the ability to go places while swimming. I became a boat observer for MIMS and since then I hope that one day I can circumvent the Island too. So far, I did the 6.4mi Red Lighthouse Swim 3 years back (it is current assisted), several Governor's Island swims and Liberty Island swims, and the last weekend I swam 3.1mi Steelman Swim (very nice swim on a lake in NJ).
I am currently training for 5mi Coral Reef Swim in Virgin Islands. The distance does not scare me as much as the time limit. I recently swam 10k yd in the pool but I still cannot get my speed below 2min per 100yd.
I will be traveling to SF August 22th-27th (with my parents - the trip is my gift to them) but I would not want to interrupt my training schedule. Do you have any recommendation for OWS or at least indoor swimming pool? Which thread can I post my questions?
Thank you,
Martina
I'm new to the forum, but not to open water - I have been an open water swimmer (up to 25k) since I was a teenager, but I lapsed from swimming totally after college for a number of years. Eventually, I gradually got back into it. I've been doing open water races up to 4.4 miles since then, and the Little Red Lighthouse 10k (total assist by the Hudson on that one), but just last weekend did my first non-current assisted 10k since I was in my early 20s. Race report here if anyone is interested
I'm looking forward to learning from you all and hope to have some experience to contribute as well.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
I started seriously getting back into the pool around May of this year, did my first open water swim in July -- MD Swim for Life had an event, so I signed up for the 3 mile since I knew I could do that. Finished in a semi-respectable time of 1:25 and, more importantly, got out of the water wishing I could do the whole thing again right that second.
Next swim is the Swim for the Potomac 10k, and I got accepted for the To the Bridge and Back 10 miler. My dad, who still swims a respectable 3000 yd practice at 71 years old himself, will be kayaking most likely. The info I've found here has been invaluable.
So glad I found this place!