my first 10km pool set

On sat I did my first 10km pool swim. Longest swim previously was 5km in a pool.

I broke the 10km up into 500m sets with a lot of variety and rests in between. Took the first 6km easy and then just did 500m at a time and that made a big difference as I didn't focus on this massive distance. Was surprised that my shoulder didn't and still hasn't given any trouble and my muscles aren't that bad either, even my calf muscles are fine and I expected them to give me trouble. Am super happy with it even though it took me almost 4hrs. There were people in the pool most of the time so it didn't feel that long.

But I didn't eat enough. I drank two bottles of powerade during the swim which seemed to be enough. But after the swim I didn't eat properly until later in the evening when I had a huge braai. But I did some more manual work straight after the swim and I felt really bad most of the day and the day after. Only on Tuesday did I feeling well again. SO lesson learnt. Eat and drink loads straight after the swim to replace what I've lost. But I'm just happy I've down it and I now know I can. Will try and get another set in like this before the end of year holidays

Comments

  • Would you be interested in, and willing to, post your exact workout if you had one? I'm trying to build in the pool through the winter and seeing what other people do is always helpful. Full disclosure though, I'm probably going to steal your workout and cut it in half (for now).
  • No problem at all. I think I originally got the idea for the "broken 500" from http://gordsswimlog.blogspot.com/ . Can't always remember where I see thing. So I had some fun and looked at what I thought I could do and came up with this. You are more than welcome to steal any of it. It's not the most difficult set but I knew I'd have to take it easy if I wanted to get through it


    500: Warmup
    500: Pull
    500: 10 * (25 back / 25 breast)
    500: 100 free easy / 100 moderate pace / 100 free / 100 moderate / 100 free
    500: 10 * (25 kick / 25 pull)
    500: Free
    500: 5 * 100 (25 moderate / 25 free / 25 moderate / 25 free)
    500: Catchup
    500: Pull
    500: Free
    500: 5 * 100 (25 moderate / 25 free / 25 moderate / 25 free)
    500: Free
    500: 10 * (25 back / 25 breast)
    500: 100 free / 100 moderate / 100 free / 100 moderate / 100 free
    500: Free
    500: Pull
    500: 10 * (25 Free / 25 breast)
    500: Free
    500: Breast stroke
    500: Free
  • It's good to see some back and breast in there. I would not have thought to include those.

    Thank you for taking the time to put this together for me. 20 * 500s seems like the best way to approach this distance for me.

    Niek, thank you as well. I've seen those threads and have found them very helpful. I'm actually pulling today's workout from the 5K thread. As someone from a non-swimming background (I raced bicycles) I understand the theory of the workout but lack the knowledge of the details.

    Thanks again.
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