Swim a mile open water by May

siobhan08

Considering doing a charity 1m open swim at the end May.

Never really swam in open water and my swim fitness would not be that great.

Still nursing a back/neck and shoulder (inflammation rotator cuff in tendons ) injuries from a car crash last year

How realistic would it be to complete this bearing in mind the injuries?

mad m

Very realistic, and fair play to you for giving it a go. What are you doing in pool at present?

Will you be wearing a wetsuit in May in the sea?

WeeBushy

Sure you can do it!

Build up your distances gradually and pay attention to any pain - best to seek the advice of a physio as they'll be able to tell you what you should/shouldn't do with your injury.

Improve you technique and fitness in the pool for now, maybe try and get a quick dip in the sea once a week so that the water temperature isn't as much of a shock. As soon as you can tolerate it start increasing your distances in the sea to (a) get acclimatized to cold water (it'll still be pretty chilly in May!) and (b) develop OW swimming techniques (it's very different to swimming in a pool)

It'd be quite a challenge by the sounds of it. But a mighty good one, and doable if you start training for it now. Nothing quite like OW swimming imo!

siobhan08

mad m wrote: »

Very realistic, and fair play to you for giving it a go. What are you doing in pool at present?

Will you be wearing a wetsuit in May in the sea?

I not doing too much at the pool at the minute tbh. I did a bit before the crash but never really got back into it
I would intend on wearing a wetsuit. I have a 3/2 that I have used in the summer for surfing. Do you thing that would be ok or would I be better off getting one on the open water swimming wetsuit?
I did see this online http://www.wiggle.com/orca-womens-trn-wetsuit-wiggle-exclusive/

WeeBushy wrote: »

Sure you can do it!

Build up your distances gradually and pay attention to any pain - best to seek the advice of a physio as they'll be able to tell you what you should/shouldn't do with your injury.

Improve you technique and fitness in the pool for now, maybe try and get a quick dip in the sea once a week so that the water temperature isn't as much of a shock. As soon as you can tolerate it start increasing your distances in the sea to (a) get acclimatized to cold water (it'll still be pretty chilly in May!) and (b) develop OW swimming techniques (it's very different to swimming in a pool)

It'd be quite a challenge by the sounds of it. But a mighty good one, and doable if you start training for it now. Nothing quite like OW swimming imo!

Yes i intend on seeing my physio this week so will ask advice before i committ to anything.

What exactly is the difference between the two techniques?


Would anyone know the places people go for open water swimming in the louth/meath/ north dublin area?

WeeBushy

siobhan08 wrote: »

What exactly is the difference between the two techniques?

Hard to make an exact list as OW is, by its nature, so variable.

But some things to think about:

Sighting. You won't have a black line and lane dividers to keep you in a straight line. So you need to be able to sight off of something to ensure you're going the right way. Depending on your stroke, working on swimming in a relatively straight line unaided is important too.

If you are swimming into a chop/wind you may need to shorten your stroke, and increase you stroke rate, to work through it.

You may need to kick harder in certain circumstance to maintain your balance if you're being rocked from side to side.

You will probably need to be able to breath to both sides (bilateral breathing) if there are waves/chop coming from one direction. Not nice going to take a breath and getting smacked in the face with a wave!

Maintain a relaxed and constant breathing pattern. Something those that are new to OW swimming can sometimes struggle with as there are so many external factors bombarding them that they're not used to (cold, wind, waves, other people etc.)

That's not to put you off it, OW swimming is bloody brilliant, but there are some thing you'll likely need to master to be able to enjoy/complete the swim. They're all things that are relatively easy to get used to through swimming in OW as much as you can.

siobhan08

WeeBushy wrote: »

Hard to make an exact list as OW is, by its nature, so variable.

But some things to think about:

Sighting. You won't have a black line and lane dividers to keep you in a straight line. So you need to be able to sight off of something to ensure you're going the right way. Depending on your stroke, working on swimming in a relatively straight line unaided is important too.

If you are swimming into a chop/wind you may need to shorten your stroke, and increase you stroke rate, to work through it.

You may need to kick harder in certain circumstance to maintain your balance if you're being rocked from side to side.

You will probably need to be able to breath to both sides (bilateral breathing) if there are waves/chop coming from one direction. Not nice going to take a breath and getting smacked in the face with a wave!

Maintain a relaxed and constant breathing pattern. Something those that are new to OW swimming can sometimes struggle with as there are so many external factors bombarding them that they're not used to (cold, wind, waves, other people etc.)

That's not to put you off it, OW swimming is bloody brilliant, but there are some thing you'll likely need to master to be able to enjoy/complete the swim. They're all things that are relatively easy to get used to through swimming in OW as much as you can.

any chance you know of a good training plan to follow?

WeeBushy

I don't I'm afraid.

My advice would be to get some lessons/feedback from an experienced swimmer on your stroke. Each session work on improving your stroke based off of what they say with specific drills, and combine that with some interval work (short distances at a speed you can just maintain with a short break ie 10-15 seconds). Something like 10x25 or 5x50. Increase the number of repeats and distance as you get comfortable.

Better yet join a masters group and you'll have all the feedback, training and motivation in one!

cruizer101

There is the swim for a mile program run by swim ireland https://www.swimforamile.com/ which is designed to build people up to swimming a mile from Jan to March, few weeks behind but you can sign up and get the training program for free anyway. I meant to sign up myself but have had busy beginning to the year so am behind myself but still might run through the program.

Pablo_

I am looking to do the exact same really. I am using the swim for a mile mentioned in the previous post to get my distance up to 1 mile and then will try and "convert" to open water by May/June and have signed up to The Hodson Mile in July. This seems a beginner friendly mile swim in Athlone ( There are others in Glendalough and Lough Key but just chose this randomly).

I can keep track of progress here if you want to compare and I can share some of my swim for a mile training program via PM.

On a side-note: back from a swim tonight and totally deaf (earplugs in but no use) and nose completely aggravated. These are the small annoyances I never thought of starting out !! ah well, small obstacles I guess compared to injuries etc.

mad m

Pablo_ wrote: »

On a side-note: back from a swim tonight and totally deaf (earplugs in but no use) and nose completely aggravated. These are the small annoyances I never thought of starting out !! ah well, small obstacles I guess compared to injuries etc.

This is a regular problem for most swimmers, you can get proper molded ear plugs but can be expensive but will save you in future with runny nose, swimmers ear etc. Try out a nose clip as well.

The ear plugs can cost anything up to 60 euro a pop.

griffin100

I've been using these earplugs for years and find them great - http://www.elverys.ie/elverys/en/Elverys/Sports/Swimming/Accessories/Accessories/Speedo-Biofuse-Earplugs-Multi/p/000000000095019001

On the nose clip, tried it a few times and didn't like it. Ideally use a low chlorine pool or more realistically after every swim wash out your sinuses with clean water from a sports cap bottle after every swim and follow up with a flixonase spray.

WeeBushy

I don't wear earplugs and luckily rarely get my ears blocked with water after a swim. But when I do I find a variety of tricks work (best not do them in public as you'll look a bit strange!):

• shake head from side to side
• With your blocked ear towards the ground shake your head as if you were banging the side of it off a table
• Yawn and pull my earlobe to open the canal and hold my head to the side
• "equalise" as if you were diving.

Looks a bit odd but a combination of the above usually does the trick!