Training Advice
Swimming the 1.2? 2.4? 4.8?
Training tips specially developed by 10-time USA Swimming national team coach Steve Munatones to help you meet your personal goal.
- Know how to breathe on both your right and left sides
- In this particular Challenge, breathing to your right will help you stay parallel to the shore. Breathing to your left will help with wave awareness and avoiding drifting
- Pace Yourself
- ‘Negative split’ your swim. Start off at a speed you feel comfortable with and slowly work yourself up.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help
- Is there anything you can do to make your stroke more balanced, streamlined or straight? Have a coach or teammate work with you.
- Double Up
- Use a buddy during open water workouts till you feel comfortable on your own.
- Mix it up
- Add butterfly or breaststroke into your pool workouts. This will help balance out your musculature technique, thus working out imbalances in your stroke.
- Go for POW!
- Or Pool Open Water workouts. Pull out the lane lines, anchor small buoys in each corner and swim around the parameter of the pool. This simulates wavy conditions in an open water swim.
- Timing is everything
- If possible, schedule your workouts for late afternoon. Winds pick up making the water rougher than in the morning. On Challenge day you will be ready for whatever Mother Nature throws your way!
‘HOW DO I KNOW I’M READY?’ ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS
For the 1.2-mile race:
- Can I swim 1500 meters/ yards non-stop in a pool?
- Have I completed at least five open water practices?
- Have each of those practices been at least 20 minutes?
For the 2.4-mile race:
- Can I swim 3000 meters/ yards non-stop in a pool? (maintaining consistency, work up to this distance over the course of at least four weeks)
- Have I done as many open water swims as possible?
- How many of these practices have been in rougher water?
For the 4.8-mile race:
- Can I swim 5000 meters/ yards non-stop in a pool? (maintaining consistency, work up to this distance over the course of at least six weeks)
- Have I done as many open water swims as possible?
- Have most of these swims been in rougher water?
Let us know how your training is going
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