"Why do you swim 4 miles?"
fishgutzy
Posts: 2,807 Member
I get that question a lot from other swimmers and the life guards at my YMCA.
There are several reasons.
First being that degenerative osteoarthritis in my feet prevents me from doing any aerobic activity that involves repetitive impact.
The more humorous reason is because I don't have time to swim 5 miles in the morning
The most common reason I hear from others for not trying to swim distance is "I get bored." Not a problem for me because I find it quite therapeutic, physically and mentally.
What's your reason for swimming or not swimming distances?
"I can't do that yet" doesn't count. If I can work up to doing 4, 5 , 6 miles, anyone can swim can make it. I know I didn't think I could a few years ago.
Another question I get is "how did I get to that distance." Answer is simple. "One more lap." When I think I can't swim any further, just do one more lap. One lap is easier to imagine than 10 more or 40 more.
If, like me, you have a joint or other issue that prevents you from doing impact, just swim one more lap.
There are several reasons.
First being that degenerative osteoarthritis in my feet prevents me from doing any aerobic activity that involves repetitive impact.
The more humorous reason is because I don't have time to swim 5 miles in the morning
The most common reason I hear from others for not trying to swim distance is "I get bored." Not a problem for me because I find it quite therapeutic, physically and mentally.
What's your reason for swimming or not swimming distances?
"I can't do that yet" doesn't count. If I can work up to doing 4, 5 , 6 miles, anyone can swim can make it. I know I didn't think I could a few years ago.
Another question I get is "how did I get to that distance." Answer is simple. "One more lap." When I think I can't swim any further, just do one more lap. One lap is easier to imagine than 10 more or 40 more.
If, like me, you have a joint or other issue that prevents you from doing impact, just swim one more lap.
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I'm genuinely not fast enough to get in four miles a morning. Which is more or less why I don't do that. Totally would, otherwise!
It's not that I want to go for distance so much in the pool as I do want to train for open water events. But I live in a cold climate, so I do train a lot of the year in a pool. Basically, I HAVE between a half an hour and an hour in the morning to swim, so I go as hard as I can for the time that I have. And yes, I'm terribly slow, even so.
But I'm getting faster. And I'm going to have to rearrange my schedule a bit, as I've really gotta start putting in a hour or an hour and a half at a time come about March for at least one of the events I want to do.
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I am not at all interested in swimming long distances, maybe for the same reason I don't want to bike or run long distances. I guess it's a short attention span. An hour is about all I want to dedicate to any exercise, and I do exercise regularly - lifting, swimming, walking (sometimes running), yoga. If I am hiking and the weather is nice and I have company, I can do that nearly all day though!
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I stick to an hour, too. Half walk, half swim. Mentally and physically, it's enough for me.0
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I generally swim for 45 mins to an hour and distance depends on whether I do any drills or not. At the weekend though, if I can I will do 2.5 to 3 miles. Like Fishgutzy I also find it really therapeutic - very much like meditation - all breathing and repetitive counting. Love the long swims but haven't quite made it beyond the 3 mile mark purely because I end up needing the bathroom at that point 0
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The longest I've made without a head trip is 10km. But I have had an occasional day when I had to ruin to the head mid swim.I generally swim for 45 mins to an hour and distance depends on whether I do any drills or not. At the weekend though, if I can I will do 2.5 to 3 miles. Like Fishgutzy I also find it really therapeutic - very much like meditation - all breathing and repetitive counting. Love the long swims but haven't quite made it beyond the 3 mile mark purely because I end up needing the bathroom at that point
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Longest continuous swim is 10km.
Usual daily swim is 2.5 km in 51-58 min, depending.
Why the long swims?
I enjoy the big calorie burns. I enjoy the definition that the multiple reps give to my muscles and body generally. I love the breath control I attain. I love the way the stress bleeds out of the body as the swim progresses. I love the effect that the swims, coupled with calorie counting had on my weight and wardrobe. I love that my knees don't feel like they are permanently injured after a similar amount of time jogging! I love that the length of time, allows me to think about and constantly tweak aspects of my stroke form throughout the swim. Lots more.
What's not to like?0 -
AquaticQuests wrote: »Longest continuous swim is 10km.
Usual daily swim is 2.5 km in 51-58 min, depending.
Why the long swims?
I enjoy the big calorie burns. I enjoy the definition that the multiple reps give to my muscles and body generally. I love the breath control I attain. I love the way the stress bleeds out of the body as the swim progresses. I love the effect that the swims, coupled with calorie counting had on my weight and wardrobe. I love that my knees don't feel like they are permanently injured after a similar amount of time jogging! I love that the length of time, allows me to think about and constantly tweak aspects of my stroke form throughout the swim. Lots more.
What's not to like?
I hear ya on stress relief. Very healing, mentally and physically.0 -
Wow AQ and Gutzy. I don't swim "long swims" compared to you, but when I do manage to have the time and energy for at least a mile, it's always when I am close to, or over the mile mark that I feel like I could go on (but usually time or home commitments prevent staying longer). You really summed it up. For me, all of what you listed resonates because I'm still at the point where a mile is long. I envy your endurance, but have also taken Gutzy's advice to heart and added "one more lap" several times. That put yesterday's swim at 1.25 mi. 0
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Awesome. Small steps are easier. As you progress, then you can try bigger steps.
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Boredom is never my problem with distance--it's speed and lack of time!
I'm in awe of your persistence, dedication, and lap times! The pool where I swim is only open in 2 hour segments, and at my current lap speed, the farthest I could do in that time would be about 2.8 miles.
I do love my regular 1.5 mile routine, which takes me 72 minutes, and occasionally, I'm able to do 2 or even 2.5 miles.
Love your guts, fishgutzy!0 -
Keep at it. You'll be at 3 miles in the 2 hours in no time.0
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Like @rosebarnalice My Biggest Limitation is time.
No not the Time I have available to swim but rather the Pool only has Lane Swimming in 1 hour sessions which actually equals 50 mins when you consider the Transition Time to put the Ropes in and take them out. There are 2 longer sessions but they are in the middle of the day when I am at work.
Right now I am in the end of a training cycle for 2 Mid Winter Half Marathons so less time for swimming as running is the Prime Focus. In March I switch to Triathlon training mode so will be adding Biking to the mix.0 -
1 hour? That sux. Time to find another pool. 0
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Last year, I was swimming 3-miles continuous pretty much every time I swam, 2, 3, 4x per week. Once, between team practice and my before and after practice swims, I did 4 miles, but not continuous. Then I decided to do 5 miles continuous. Incredible feeling. But that caused elbow and shoulder problems nearly a year ago. Just yesterday, I swam 3 miles continuous for the first time since, and the arm and shoulder are feeling OK. I know I have to be ver careful to avoid this becoming a chronic injury so I am kind of scared to do this too much. But, I LOVE doing the longer distances. Great stress reduction. Huge calorie burn. But the main effect that I like is the incredible cardiovascular fitness (low resting hear rate, low blood pressure) and the emotional happiness that seems to be a result of being in such good shape. Just be careful of injuries.0
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Robertus great to see you back!
All the best as you ease yourself in. Ease in and pay attention to the body, and you should be good! 0 -
Thanks, AQ, but my body is telling me, 'no'. Did the 3-miles OK on Saturday. Decided to be prudent and only did about a mile yesterday, but elbow is pretty sore.0
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Thanks, AQ, but my body is telling me, 'no'. Did the 3-miles OK on Saturday. Decided to be prudent and only did about a mile yesterday, but elbow is pretty sore.
Recently, with my discovery of kick sets and intervals, when my elbows begin to give me problems, I start to emphasize on the kick sets with kick board and snorkel, to ease some of the pressure that comes with the many repetitions of a certain movement that come with the long swims.
So I'm finding that mixing up the straight long swims, interval training, kick sets, etc, keeps things different and reduces some of the strain on certain joints like the elbow that come with swimming just one stroke over a long distance continuously day after day.
This especially for those of us with some of these recurring joint issues (remember my post on elbow pain even before yours started up: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/AquaticQuests/view/swimmer-s-elbow-lateral-sculling-and-the-pinkie-739563)! There are others on here who are lucky enough not to have that particular problem!0 -
Thanks, AQ. I'm thinking of asking a swim coach to take a look at my stroke and see what they say. I do try to do more kicking drills, but I HATE them!0
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Awesome distances.
I do mix it up as well. Once a well I do the whole 4 miles free style.
The rest I mix in 500 with finds and kick board and 500 wroth pads and pull buoy.
I am working on arm position to improve efficiency too.0 -
Swam 3 miles again today. Maybe the solution for me is not to do the longer distanceso too frequently. Good cycling weather this week so I'll be able to mix it up and be outside.0
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I'm still working up to doing a 10 mile swim. Next step will be doing two 4 mile swims in one day.0
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@fishgutzy , I've always meant to ask how long it takes you to get in your 4 miles. I figure at my pace that would take me about 3.2 hours!0
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Takes my about 2:15.rosebarnalice wrote: »@fishgutzy , I've always meant to ask how long it takes you to get in your 4 miles. I figure at my pace that would take me about 3.2 hours!
5 miles takes just under 3 hours.
10km takes about 3:30-3:40.
Next mile stones I want to break are 8 and 10 mile swims.
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I am experiencing pace envy, @fishgutzy !0
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No, don't be pace envious. When I was focusing on speed is when I started having injuries. Now I swim more slowly on purpose. Used to do a mile in 29.5 minutes and was trying to sustain that pace for 3 miles. Not worth it.
By the way, Noel, I think you recommended some kind of swimming program to me once to help with improving my stroke to better avoid injuries. At the time I was just following my Physical Therapist's directions. Now that I'm done with PT, I want to look into the program you recommended but can't find the thread anymore. Was it Total Immersion or something else?0 -
I think it was TI, but I don't remember off the top of my head.0
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Thanks. I had also heard of them independently and was thinking of taking one of their workshops. I have started Terry's most recent book and, in general, I like the philosophy. I think I have been intuitively following their philosophy all along, but time will if I do one of their workshops.0
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@Robertus Very true on pace. Slowing down a little, stretching out the stroke work to increase endurance.
My conundrum now is working on shorter intervals at a faster pace but still doing the full planned long distance. My thinking is that this can help me get down my sustainable lap time.
The intervals come faster when I have fully recovered from a month away in China. Push hard for a 20 or 40 laps segment then back down a little to a slightly relaxed pace.0
