Ideas for Marathon Swimming Research.

Hi,
Can I pick your collective brains for what you think interesting research questions about marathon / cold water swimming might be?
I started a PhD investigating ways to decrease pain after operations in children just before COVID struck and (due to the cancellation of planned operations) unfortunately the project has sputtered to a stop.
There may be the possibility of changing topic completely rather than crashing out (fingers crossed) and the research group I may be transferring to has a history of investigating the effects of cold water swimming on the heart and lungs. Having swum England-France in 09 and hopefully, hopefully 20 Bridges later this year it would be a great opportunity to combine interests for me.
Obviously, the professor has some ideas and I´ve got a few, but I would be very interested to learn what “you” as marathon swimmers are curious to learn given your experience and insight.

Many thanks in advance

Will

ismuqattash

Comments

  • curlycurly Issaquah, WASenior Member

    I'd be curious about the effect of age on long distance swimmers. It seems like the youngsters can go fast but they don't go far. I don't know if we gravitate to long distance as we get older because we can't go as fast or if something else is at work here.

    In a parallel sport, my sister is a runner. She didn't sprint as a kid, but she was a pretty darn good 5K and 10K runner. Now as an older adult she's doing ultras and marathons and beating younger folks in races.

    I'm unfortunately not keeping up with my swimming these days due to the stupid virus, but I'm pretty sure once I get back into it, I'll be able to keep up my all day pace without missing a beat. I can't go as fast as I did when I was young. But I don't think I could have swum as far when I was younger than I can swim now. Is it mental or physical?

    WillMwendyv34Kate_AlexanderOpenh2oMvG
  • WillMWillM NorwayMember

    Hi Curly,
    Thanks for the suggestion.
    Although all our muscles fibers decrease as we age, the slow twitch endurance fibers decrease at slower rate than the fast twitch ones, so we (oldies) have relatively better endurance compared to strength.
    The psychology of endurance sports is fascinating but not really my field, but if as most of us agree, success in marathon swimming is predominantly mental and a learned skill, that would increase with practice and age.
    I think your instinct that it is a combination of mental and physical is correct.

    Kate_Alexander
  • miklcctmiklcct London, United KingdomMem​ber
    edited January 2022

    @curly said:
    I'd be curious about the effect of age on long distance swimmers. It seems like the youngsters can go fast but they don't go far. I don't know if we gravitate to long distance as we get older because we can't go as fast or if something else is at work here.

    In a parallel sport, my sister is a runner. She didn't sprint as a kid, but she was a pretty darn good 5K and 10K runner. Now as an older adult she's doing ultras and marathons and beating younger folks in races.

    I'm unfortunately not keeping up with my swimming these days due to the stupid virus, but I'm pretty sure once I get back into it, I'll be able to keep up my all day pace without missing a beat. I can't go as fast as I did when I was young. But I don't think I could have swum as far when I was younger than I can swim now. Is it mental or physical?

    The current generation marathon swimmers have phenomenal speed. The Olympic 10 km swim is around 1:52 now, and I don't see it dominated by older folks.

    Also, cold water swimming is a different matter. I know people who do marathon swimming exclusively in warm water, and will put on their wetsuit once below 20C.

  • 10k is like 50m free in real chalenging ow!
    On my opinion essention on long swim is not speed!
    Joy.mental.and psychology!
    That improves with ages!
    That not for younger speedy!
    1.52 for 10k! Hmm impressive but not for me!
    More interesting and valuable is swim slow .with smile Tampa bay for one day! or longer to see moon and stars on night!)))
    My opinion!

    Kate_AlexandercurlykejoycerlmCopelj26MLamby
  • ismuqattashismuqattash Long Island, NYMember

    @WillM - Which department are you in? I think that'll help us be more specific with our suggestions.

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