Swimming and 10k: two words most people don’t expect to find in the same sentence. For new runners, the 10k distance is often the first milestone on the road to long-distance runs such as the half or full marathon. For swimmers, the 10k usually doesn’t enter conversation. There is a famous 10k swim in San Francisco that starts at the Golden Gate Bridge and ends at the Bay Bridge, but famous is relative: even that swim attracts fewer than 50 participants every year.
Spending time on the sidelines has left me searching for new challenges that I could pursue while my running goals are temporarily on hold. I’ve been toying with the idea of a double century bike ride this summer – 200 miles, and I’ve spoken to a couple friends about doing a relay swim across Lake Tahoe sans-wetsuits. I was reading Triathlete magazine last week and came across something known as the “birthday” swim set – a 100x100m workout in the pool. When I read about it, I decided that I would go for it first chance I had, and went to the pool on Saturday with only one goal in mind.
This was uncharted territory for me – although I regularly swim between 3-5 miles per week, my longest swim before Saturday was 5k (3.1 miles). Instead of treating it as a 10k swim, I decided to break it into 10×100 chunks, and brought more than enough fuel and water to top off my reserves after every set of 10.
Knowing that I would likely find myself in a very unfamiliar place after 6000m, I went easy for the first 5000m and made it a point to drink and eat as much as possible; I preferred a full stomach over a bonk. The laps ticked away, and the fuel actually propelled me much more than I expected for the first 6500m. By the time I hit 6500m, I felt fatigue that I’ve never felt before – my forearms, deltoids, and triceps were burning between the swim, my use of crutches, and the resistance work I’ve been doing recently.
By the time I hit 7000m, it felt very similar to turning the corner for the last few miles of the marathon – I only had my “normal” swim workout to go. The hardest stretch was undoubtedly 6400m-8000m – miles 4-5, where I simply had no reference point. I toughed out the last 2000m and watched my Garmin tick from 9975m to 10.00km – a sight I probably won’t witness again anytime soon. I hit the 10k mark at just over 2:30 elapsed.
Although the idea of swimming 10k in a pool may sound crazy, I would take it over sitting for 6 weeks any day. It was a good way to gauge my endurance after spending 6 weeks on the sidelines, and logging a tough workout without using my legs felt very gratifying. I can’t say that I’ll be swimming another 10k anytime soon, but if I need to get creative while I’m on the sidelines, at least I have options.
Could not imagine that one. Wow!!!
Neither could I! I really think that workout was one and done, but we’ll see what happens with the foot.
dude. that is nuts. 10k in the water! amazing. i cannot wrap my head around that. well done!
Thanks Joe! IMSG is sneaking up fast – how’re you feeling for it? There are a few guys from GGTC heading out there as well – Wildflower turnout’s going to be low this year.
Yeah it is!
I’ve been mildly freaking out. Which has lit a fire. So, I’m training like crazy. I have Mulholland Challenge in April. So I feel good about the bike. The swim is okay. The run will be interesting. I’m hoping its not too hot.
I feel bad for wildflower. The drought has really kept us from going the last couple years. I have fond memories cuz that was my first long course.
Thanks for asking! Joe
Yeah – the weather is a huge variable at St. George, but you have some tough races under your belt; it’ll be fun. I can’t wait to get back to Wildflower – I really hope this isn’t the last year. It’s going to be hard for them to keep it going past this year without a spike in registrations or a substantial amount of rain.
That is INSANE! Congrats on finishing though!! Way to go!!
All I could think of is how prune-y my skin would be after 2.5 hours in a pool, lol
Thanks Hanna! There was no bottle of lotion left unturned after the swim. My skin and hair have been pretty dry since! Keep up the great runs; you will crush it in June!
Wow – I also read about this workout although I had to say it did not inspire me to do it! Did you have your splits pretty even or did you slow down dramatically? I imagine I would be sinking by 5k…
Desperate times call for desperate measures! My splits were pretty even until the end, but I managed to stay within ~10 seconds/100m between the first and last interval. Here’s the workout: https://www.strava.com/activities/275593967
Incredible, well done!
Thank you! I loved seeing the pictures from the pool in Chueca – I lived their briefly in 2010. I was doing a short term project at Santander and used to work out at the Reebok Gym in La Finca; what a facility! I hope you enjoy your time in Madrid! This is a great time of year to be there.
Oh wow small world! I am really enjoying my time so far and am glad the pictures have helped you reminisce… Lots more to come!! Best of luck with your recovery as well.
That is so incredible. I bet for being sidelined this long it was a great feeling to get to challenge yourself like that. I keep promising Rock that I will sign up for swim lessons but we have a very erratic work schedule right now. My goal is to be able to swim proficiently enough to consider doing a triathlon at some point. You seriously inspire me. Congrats!
Thanks very much Sarah! It definitely felt great to push for the first time since I got hurt. Swimming will be an awesome workout to add to your repertoire. When my mom was pregnant with me, she swam basically until the day I was born! If swim lessons aren’t in the cards soon, I would strongly encourage you to start swimming with the pull buoy. By starting with good hip position you’ll be able to focus on your upper body, and that’s where most of the technique comes from. Let me know if you want to hear more – I’d be happy to write a post about how Taylor started swimming with the pull buoy and how you could too.
Thanks so much for the info. I would love to hear more. I grew up with parents who were good swimmers and taught us. And we had a pool at our house and now we own a house on a lake. I can comfortably “swim” and tread water but when I try to do laps it is pathetic. I lack a lot of technique. I think Rock also wants me to be a better swimmer because we will soon have a little one wanting to go to the pool and lake. I’d love to hear some tips 🙂
I’ll add that one to the list. Swimming for fitness is completely different than swimming period, and I think the pull buoy is a really great way to start. More to come soon.
Awesome!!! What an accomplishment!!! I can’t even imagine!!! How did you break it up? (did you fins/paddles/buoy? anything?) OH wait…..you can’t kick right? only a buoy??!!! OMG….I would have zero patience for that!! Our tri club always does 100 or so 50s on the January 1 every year. They say they can’t even move their arms after that! 🙂 So glad that you are back in the pool!! Keep it up!!
Thanks Leslie!! Believe it or not, I pulled the entire time. I did 10×100 and stopped briefly to refuel after each block of 10; it was actually really fun to push myself in a new way. I love that you laid out a custom 12 week plan…on paper! Such an awesome idea! I may borrow that one once I get cleared to start training. You should come do Oceanside 70.3 next year! A few guys from my tri club just did it and said it was harder than Vineman but easier than Wildflower; it looks so fun!
Nice!! Oh yeah you could totally borrow my plan! Hopefully it works!! I would love to do Oceanside!! I hear it is awesome!!!
This is insane! Congrats to you for being able to finish the whole 10k. The longest I’ve ever done is 3000 metres and I thought I was going to die.
Thanks! It’s a long, long time to spend staring at the black line, but Ironman was really a game changer. After 3800m surrounded by 2500+ people, 4-5000 in the pool doesn’t seem so bad!
Wow! That is totally amazing. I swam 4000m in a pool once and nearly lost my mind I was so bored. That is truly a mental and physical challenge (especially in a pool). I’m so impressed.
10K in the water!? I can’t get my mind around that at all. Yikes! Nice swim!
Wow! That’s impressive! My longest was 6km…and that just kind of happened. I usually train in a tiny 20 yard pool at a local community center. On a trip home, I found out that a state of the art olympic swimming pool had opened the previous year. I had all morning and had the pool almost to myself. I just kept going since it was so enjoyable that I didn’t want to leave.
There are some interesting swim challenges out there. Locally we have a swimming “half-marathon” series. It is a series of 5 swims that add up to 13.1 miles…the longest being a 5 mile OWS. I can’t imagine. Of course, now that Ironman Wisconsin is behind me, I doubt that I will be logging more then 1.2 miles in the water anytime soon…
Congrats again!
Wow – I’m so jealous that you have access to an olympic pool! I wouldn’t want to leave either. I like the idea of 5 swims adding up to 13.1 – that’s a great challenge, but the 5m OWS must be trying. Never say never – you’ll be back one day!
Amazing! What a great way to turn a negative into a positive. Happy healing!
Thanks very much!
Wow! Incredible!
Thank you!
haha this is awesome! Now how boring was it?
Let’s just say it was a long afternoon 🙂 Not nearly as boring as sitting for the first 5 weeks of my injury.
True, I’m sure you were just happy to be moving!
Exactly! How’s your foot coming along?
Still aches, I should put the boot back on. I’m doing a terrible job trying to heal it.
It’s so frustrating. I really want to get my hands on one of those Exogen Bone Stimulators.
I just looked that up, never heard of it before…but I NEED one! Technology blows my mind.
It’s the way to go, apparently. You can buy them off eBay for a few hundred bucks, but there’s a catch: each unit is good for roughly ~250 uses. From what I’ve read this week, the only safe way to buy one is to have the seller send you a picture and/or video of the unit powering up so you can see how many uses remain. If I don’t get good news from the doctor this week, I’m planning to get my hands on one before getting surgery.
Nice, thanks for sharing, this is definitely something to look into.
Well, I think it’s safe to say that is truly an AMAZING accomplishment!
Thank you!
That’s a LONG swim! Wow!! That sounds exhausting! It’s so great to see you accomplish new things while injured though – that’s a lot of dedication and so inspiring 🙂
Pingback: Injury Update: Major Progress in Week 7 | Single-tracked Mind
Pingback: Injury Progress: Week 13 – Back to Running! | Single-tracked Mind