Is Your Swim Ready…With Less Than 3 Months To Go, There’s Swill Time!
#sufferfestki #bringonkangarooisland #eventpeople #sufferfesttri
With less than three months till Kangaroo Island Sufferfest, there’s still time to get your training and swim leg ready to take on an iron distance 3.8km swim.
As with all training, consistency is the key. But you can get away with a lot less than you think. Three hours of at least three swim sessions a week can provide you with enough time to build endurance, speed and power in your swim. As long as you have a clear plan when you get in the water and make sure you are training with purpose for each session.
Open water training is great but not necessary. From my experience success in open water swimming comes down to building confidence. There will be a lot of things you’ll be worried about when taking something like this on, but there are ways to prepare yourself for what’s to come.
Ditch the negative mindset. Embrace the fact swimming is part of your sport and you are a swimmer. The sooner you look at getting into the water as something fun enjoyable and something you can take advantage of over your competitors, the better.
Get in the water consistently. Even if you can’t get into the open water on a regular basis, getting in the pool can go a long way to get your confidence up and endurance, power and speed ready to take on 3.8km.
Swimming with a group or squad. This will help you get used to swimming with other around and go a long way in helping any issues you may have going into the race. Swimming with a group will get you used to water being churned up around you, drafting, overtaking and even the bumps and knocks you might get in a mass swim start.
Get in a long swim. Open water is good, but not necessary. It’s a good practice to include one long swim in your weekly schedule, just like you would a long run or bike ride. Knowing you can swim constantly for a 60 to 90 minutes non stop will be another way to help you overcome any issues you may have with the open water.
Get Your Skills Right. There are still a lot of things you can do to make your day better. Drills for sighting, overtaking, drafting as well as looking at changing up your stroke rate in different water conditions.
In Conclusion: A while ago, swimming at the back of the pack, I could see that even if I improved my swim slightly, it would go a long way in giving me an advantage over the people I was racing with. Even though its a small part of a Iron distance race, a good swim leg can mean you are getting onto the bike earlier, in a fresher and calmer state.
Found this post useful? Kindly tap the applause button below! :)
About The Author
