out of shape open water swim 11 miles

[ATLienCP]

I am considering a goal of swimming across an 11 mile seemingly friendly channel before 365 days passes. I am 33 yo male who has not done any exercise sense early teens. I doubt I could more than 2 laps at a non-pathetic pace in my current shape.

My question is how difficult of a task is this? On a level of 1= walk in the park
10= flap my arms and fly to the moon.

To attempt to dodge derail about why I would take this route to fitness its just how I operate. I am very competitive and non-abstract goal oriented swimming to a real place across the ocean fits perfectly with my make-up.

Thanks

Seemingly lots of good info on this site in the couple hours I have discovered it.

[KatieK]

What's your "pathetic" pace for swimming 2 lengths? Could you swim 200 yards at a slow pace without gasping for air?

If you answered yes to the second question, and you're as crazy as you claim, I think you could do it. ;-) It would be tough year, but it would be possible.

If you can't swim 200 yards, no matter how out of shape you are, that's a technique problem. In that case, I think it would take more than a year to prepare for the swim you're describing.

When I started with TI, I was in good shape, but I could barely do 2 lengths of freestyle. It took me about 5 months of serious effort to get to the point where I could swim a mile. That was low intensity technique work. With the help of a coach, I could have shortened that to about 2-3 months. If you needed to improve your fitness level while doing that kind of technique work, I think you'd have to do some other type of exercise.

I'm competitive, but I want to have fun. I'm sure you are willing to put yourself thru a lot more suffering than I am. This has been my timeline:

• Month 1-5: 30 minutes of technique work 5-6 times per week
• Month 6-18: Swim with masters team, work with coach on technique. Swimming 18,000 yards per week. Two 7K swims at the end of that time.
• Months 19-31: Swim with masters team. Focus on speed. Short races (1K-1500 meters). Swimming 21,000 yards per week
• Months 32-37: Training for 10-mile swim. Anywhere from 20,000-30,000 yards per week. My longest continuous swim so far is 8 miles.

An 11-mile swim takes a lot more than fitness. You have to figure out your nutrition strategy, practice swimming with an escort and feeding off the boat. A seemingly friendly channel could get pretty darn unfriendly if the wind kicks up during your swim.

[andyinnorway]

Originally Posted by KatieK

What's your "pathetic" pace for swimming 2 lengths? Could you swim 200 yards at a slow pace without gasping for air?

If you answered yes to the second question, and you're as crazy as you claim, I think you could do it. ;-) It would be tough year, but it would be possible.

If you can't swim 200 yards, no matter how out of shape you are, that's a technique problem. In that case, I think it would take more than a year to prepare for the swim you're describing.

When I started with TI, I was in good shape, but I could barely do 2 lengths of freestyle. It took me about 5 months of serious effort to get to the point where I could swim a mile. That was low intensity technique work. With the help of a coach, I could have shortened that to about 2-3 months. If you needed to improve your fitness level while doing that kind of technique work, I think you'd have to do some other type of exercise.

I'm competitive, but I want to have fun. I'm sure you are willing to put yourself thru a lot more suffering than I am. This has been my timeline:

• Month 1-5: 30 minutes of technique work 5-6 times per week
• Month 6-18: Swim with masters team, work with coach on technique. Swimming 18,000 yards per week. Two 7K swims at the end of that time.
• Months 19-31: Swim with masters team. Focus on speed. Short races (1K-1500 meters). Swimming 21,000 yards per week
• Months 32-37: Training for 10-mile swim. Anywhere from 20,000-30,000 yards per week. My longest continuous swim so far is 8 miles.

An 11-mile swim takes a lot more than fitness. You have to figure out your nutrition strategy, practice swimming with an escort and feeding off the boat. A seemingly friendly channel could get pretty darn unfriendly if the wind kicks up during your swim.

This is excellent advice I am in month 16 and have worked at about the same level at KatieK.

The last 3 months everything has started to come together such that I could race 3K or plod through 5K. If you are looking for a high achievable challenge within 12 months then I would suggest entering a swim around 3.5K and then give yourself gold, silver and bronze targets based on times.

e.g. bronze - completed
silver - under 75 minutes
Gold under 60 minutes.

This would be a top 1% achievement for a non swimmer within 12 months, unless you are a celebrity who has access to a professional team of coaches. Regular TI coaching will also cut your times to success down but that depends on your budget and location.

Good luck anyway, I like your spirit.

[naj]

Both Katie and Andy give great advice. You need to build up to the distance but with proper TI technique (no matter how slow) you can do it. To be honest it is going to come down to a mental battle. You can have the right foods, training and all, but if you tell yourself you can't make it, then you wont. Those of us on this site who have done distances over 5 miles have had the demons of doubt creep in to our brains. The trick is to make sure that you don't give them any more attention than you give to a singular water molecule created by your catch. I believe you can do it and now you need to convince yourself you can :)

Keep Swimming!
Naji