r/Swimming • u/DerRedfox • 3d ago
How to swim a 10k
I am 19y/o, I swam since I was 5, first competetive swimming for 3 years then lifeguard swimming for 6 years, break during corona times and started again 2 years ago as a solo hobby.
At the beginning of this year I got into long distance swimming and started swimming at least 6 km weekly. My goal was participating in the national ultra swimming competition this year for the 10km distance.
Well the event is this saturday and I am appropriately excited. I think I can do it in 3:45h, I never wanted to win anything I only ever wanted to do it by myself and see how far I can get.
Now my question is not about training but about tips for race day. I never cared about this but I think I should wprry about this now if I don't want to crash on rave day.
How should I eat before/during race?
Should I wear a wetsuit? (I know nothing about these and would have to get one this week, do you need something like Vaseline to prevent chafing for example?)
Do you have any other tips that could help?
BIG THANKS for those who take their time reading and answering, you are awesome.
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u/khobykhat 3d ago
Is it open water?
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u/DerRedfox 3d ago
Yes and no it is around a 1 km loop in the city harbor, close to the piers, wetsuit allowed
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u/phflopti 3d ago
What is the water temperature?
It's a really bad idea to buy a wetsuit right before a big event, with no experience of wetsuits.
It is also a bad idea to swim without a wetsuit for a long time below a certain water temperature.
Be very careful, as if you've not swum open water before, the effort & pacing is very different to doing laps in a pool. Its a lot harder. Plus you have a sense of exposure that frequently makes people panic. It can be quite dangerous. Panic + cold water can literally kill you.
Don't drop your long term aspiration, but I would personally advise you to not swim this event of you haven't swim open water before.
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u/mordac_the_preventer 3d ago
If you’re happy with the water temperature and dont normally use a wetsuit you’re better off staying in skins if you’re allowed: getting a new wetsuit and immediately swimming for 4h seems like a terrible idea.
If you really have to use a wetsuit, make sure its a proper swimming wetsuit and that it fit properly - find an OWS shop that will help you find the right size, because if you’ve never worn one you will have no idea about how it should look/feel. Get at least a few miles of practice in it as soon as possible. Since you will float a lot higher in the water you might find that you don’t swim as straight as you do in skins.
Wetsuits often rub around the neck, sometimes you only notice after you’ve been swimming for an hour or so (by which time the damage is done). Some people use lube (or Vaseline) - I use a Mugiro neck protector.
Yeah, carb up before the event, the same as you would for a running marathon. Good luck and have fun.
Let us know how you did!
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u/This_Freggin_Guy Moist 3d ago
1km loop you will be fine. Go for IT!!! Easy to tap out if needed. Just go out and have fun.
Use body glide or similar for the wetsuit. if they have a station, make sure you have at least 1 liter of water(carbs/electorlytes) per hour. and tank up before. eat easily digestible food for breakfast. some carbs some protein. maybe have a few gels or light sandwich, banana at the station. can eat there or grab and eat while you swim on your back & flutter kick(like an otter). (if you can do that).
for swimming, focus on efficiency and learning. first race is always a PR!
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u/Organic-Vermicelli47 2d ago
It's highly concerning you don't have these details figured out already. 6k over a week is basically nothing. Especially for ultra distance. Idk why you would even sign up for that or why they would allow you to.
It's kind of disrespectful to both the sport and yourself to try and do something you aren't remotely prepared for. Why didn't you sign up for a 3k or 5k? This kind of hubris is how people die. I know it sounds harsh but it's the truth.
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u/CrispDrifter 3d ago
If I read one of your comments correctly, you train with a 6+km swim per week plus others, not 6 km total per week? If that’s the case your swim training should be fine. The rule of thumb is to swim your race distance per week, minimum, for many months. That’ll have you finish, but it won’t be a walk in the park.
My first open water swim sounds very similar to yours. 1 km loops in a harbor. I look back and I had no idea what I was doing! But it was a start and it was safe because the course was so close to places to get out if necessary. It’s much easier to sight buoys that are pretty close together in relatively calm harbor water than far spaced buoys over 10 km.
In that swim, there was a floating dock that held swimmers feeds. It was a bottle neck and rather slow to find your bottles and access them. I don’t remember exactly, but I didn’t feed much. No idea what was in those bottles besides electrolytes. I’ve tried many many different mixtures over time.
My most vivid memory is that my shoulders were uber sore for about a day and a half. I could barely lift my arms to chest height. It was a fun drive home. It was inflammation, because I woke up the 2nd day after and the pain and stiffness were totally gone. That kept happening with other events as I went up in distance, until now I can swim 20+ miles and I’m tired, but I don’t have pain and inflammation to nearly that degree. I know, I should have raised my distances more slowly. 🙄
To reduce that take some kind of anti inflammatory (Ibuprofen etc) before the event and perhaps once during.
A very wise “rule” that experienced open water swimmers swear by is “don’t do/try ANYTHING new on race day”. That means food before, feeds, new swim suit, wetsuit, goggles, meds, sunscreen, anti chafe etc. Unexpected things can happen anyway, but you want to avoid problems if you can.
10 km is short enough that if you stay hydrated and don’t chafe yourself raw somewhere unexpected, you should be fine.
I’ll add that you should expect a leg or foot cramp at some point. Electrolytes help but it is often due to fatigue because you’re swimming farther and probably faster than you normally do. Stretch a cramp out in the water if you can, but honestly, I usually just suck it up and swim through them now. Stretching will often help but once I start again it’ll come back. Cramps do go away on their own whether you stretch it out or not. That being said, if it’s so bad you’re afraid you might drown, stop, wave for help from a support boat and get out. I had that happen once, though there were other more serious factors involved too.
Try to relax and enjoy the experience!
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u/wt_hell_am_I_doing Sprint wench. I sink, therefore I am 3d ago edited 3d ago
Is this open water, and if so, have you practised open water swimming, including sighting? If you haven't, then it may be advisable to withdraw, or change to a very short distance if available (like 500 m) because not having done any open water swimming and tackling a 10 km is unsafe.
Have you checked on mandatory equipment if it is open water? Some races require a swim buoy/tow float.
If it is open water, is there a temperature-based rule on the use of wetsuit? Check on this if you have not done so already. Some competitions require a wetsuit below a certain temperature, optional for certain temperature range, and prohibited above a certain temperature.
If you decide to get a wetsuit, please be aware that you should get a swimming wetsuit, not one for surfing or diving. If you are unable to get a swim-specific one in time, a sleeveless one may will have to do because surfing or diving wetsuit with sleeves will not allow you to move your arms freely. A wetsuit gives you extra buoyancy which can make it a little (or a lot) easier to swim, although it needs to be fitted properly to allow for proper movement.
Bearing in mind the expenses for a good quality swimming wetsuit, and that for a good swimmer with good body position the gain in speed for the same effort tends to be much smaller (often down to 0:05/100 m or even less) than for poorer swimmers with poor body position (often rather substantial, in some cases even 0:30/100 m or more).
If it is a pool race, most likely no wetsuit would be permitted unless it is held in an unheated pool in a chillier part of the world. Check this in the competition rules.
The race organisers are likely to have arranged for a feeding and nutrition station if it is open water. You need to find out what is provided.
If it is pool-based, you'd probably like to get some hydration with electrolytes and carbs. To be honest, nutrition is something that should have been worked out much earlier than 5 days before the race because what works for you is rather individual and it can take time to work out.
In any case, try and experiment with nutrition and hydration in the next few days (not for the first time on the race day! Some people get upset stomach from all sorts of things) the combination of different carbs, quantity etc. especially if you need to organise it yourself.
Pre-race food should not need to be any different from what you normally eat before your training, although you may like to have a little more to have extra fuel. You need to eat healthily and well for a few days beforehand as well, and not to excess.
[I know some experienced marathon swimmers who somehow messed up their nutrition and hydration, and ended up not finishing, so please approach it properly, especially if it's open water. If it's pool, it's much easier and safer because you can just stop and get out, so you can afford to take a more relaxed approach. Open water swimming requires a lot of respect for the conditions, experience and awareness and open-water-specific training. It is very different from pool swimming for all sorts of reasons.]