Scheduling open water swimming
I am finishing week 4/12 IM plan for the upcoming IMCDA. The lake behind my house opens for weekend OWS tomorrow and will start having some weekday OWS after Memorial Day. My options for swimming are: the lake during OWS times, the gym down the street (17 yard pool), or a gym 20-25 mins away that has a 25 yard pool. I have been trying to go to the 25 yd pool when I can on my way home from work, but I often find myself at the stupid 17 yd pool because it is just more convenient.
I am not the strongest swimmer, and a lot of OWS is really a big confidence boost for me for racing. The buoys are supposed to be set for 1/2 mile, 1 mile, and 2.4 mile courses.
Any recommendations for how to substitute OWS for pool workouts from the training plan? How often should I do OWS vs. pool?
Comments
What I plan on doing for now is to swim Sunday afternoons after my bike, this will subsitiute for my Monday swim ( I don't know if you have to swim on Mondays or not). A 17 yard pool has got to be a hassle as you are always turning, so head to the 25 yard pool.
So, if I'm substituting an OWS for a pool workout, do I just try to get in the distance and forget about the sets? What about speedwork?
Here's what I do when I go to the lake (mine is about 630 meters long, six lengths = 3800 meters): I just treat it as a set of 6 x 630m. I don't do anything special like try and do intervals per the EN plan. I rest about 20-30 seconds at each end, and treat the first one as a bit of a warm-up. I concentrate on the quality of my strokes, and try to make sure I have enough for the last length of 630 meters to work it hard. I do swim close to what I expect to swim at the IM in terms of effort level.
It's hard to imagine the temp will be comfortable there this time of year
Yeah, stay out of the 17 yd pool; it's not worth the time or effort involved.