Options
Swimathon questions
MrSquishy
Posts: 277
in General Chat
I'm doing the Swimathon this weekend, got a couple of questions...
[ol][*]Does someone count your lengths for you, and are you given any idea of what distance / no. lengths covered during the swim?
[*]I have a tendancy to get cramp in my feet / ankles after ~2km in training, I've heard that tonic water can help so should I drink it during the day, shortly before I swim or just have some on hand just in case?[/ol]
[ol][*]Does someone count your lengths for you, and are you given any idea of what distance / no. lengths covered during the swim?
[*]I have a tendancy to get cramp in my feet / ankles after ~2km in training, I've heard that tonic water can help so should I drink it during the day, shortly before I swim or just have some on hand just in case?[/ol]
0
Comments
Might not be much help, but I did it a few years ago as part of a swimming club, but I think I took someone with me to count the lengths.
Things may have changed now though
I did the swimathon last year. At the pool I was at (Chelsea) they had volunteers who counted your lengths for you - each person in a lane was given a different coloured swim cap so that they could tell you apart.. It was well organised, with each person swimming with others who had put the same estimated time.
5km is 200 lengths, 2.5km is 100. I also got cramps from pushing off by about three quarters of the way through the distance. I've no idea what the solution is (other than taking plenty of salt or not doing hard push offs), so I'd be interested in any other replies.
Good luck
I find it quite useful for technique drills and more sociable than bashing out the lengths on my own.[image]http://forum.220magazine.com/micons/m6.gif[/image]
Actaully, were you the bloke cruising past me in the pool last night - if so, you're looking good!
Someone suggested this to me when I had some severe cramps whilst swimming, I looked into the dose required and it seems at least 200mg of quinine is required to treat nocturnal leg cramps and Schwepps tonic water now has 0.4mg per litre in it, so I decided drinking 500 litres of tonic water a day was a bit unfeasible! Though if anyone knows of a brand of tonic water which has a much higher concentration of quinine in then there is evidence that it helps.
I done it last year and would be doing it this year but i have a tri on sun.
Someone counts the lengths for you and they time you as well. You should have selected your distance 1k, 2k 2.5k, 5k when you registered with swimathon.
With regards to cramp, eat a few bananna's before as they contain zinc which I read in 220 a few issues back that they help with cramp.
I too get cramp in my feet during a long swim and I feel that eating bannana's has helped a lot.
Are you doing the the full 5k? Thats the distance I done, 1hr 40. Was really pleased.
Best of Luck and enjoy it.
Did it as part of a team last year and got counted all the way through, although I did spend the better part of 5 minutes arguing I had done two more lengths than they thought!
I was hoping for a 1hr 20 showing , but hayfever is meaning that a 1hr 40 is most likely.
Good luck to all those 'competing' [image]http://forum.220magazine.com/micons/m9.gif[/image]
@al_ford, it wasn't me I'm afraid. I swim at Cannons in Leamington as it's a stones throw from my work so very convenient. Swim-Fit sounds quite interesting though, tell me more.
One guy in my lane tore it up in 1:14 and must have lapped me about 18 times!!![image]http://forum.220magazine.com/micons/m9.gif[/image]