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SWIM PLUS
How to…
TRAIN FOR & RACE
MASTER KM
A KM MARATHON SWIM
thanks to the olympics the 10km marathon swim is set to attract ever-increasing
numbers of entrants, including plenty of first-timers. swimsmooth’s paul newsome draws
up a training programme aimed at 10km newcomers and ambitious swimmers alike.

Photo © Swim Smooth
The 10km marathon swim is now an Olympic event, and
at this year’s London Games takes place in Hyde Park’s
Serpentine, and is one of only a few free-to-view events. It should
therefore attracted thousands of spectators and inspire many to
attempt the distance themselves.
While 10km might seem significantly more achievable than, say,
swimming the English Channel, good preparation and the right
training is still absolutely essential for not only being competitive
in your age group but actually completing the distance.
Here we offer a best-practice guide for preparing for your first, or
fastest, 10km open water swim – drawing inspiration from many of
the professionals we are fortunate enough to work with over here
in Perth, Australia.
cAlculAting trAining time
The key to sensible 10km training is to ensure you don’t go at your
programme in a mad panic to get yourself fit 'yesterday' – a weekly
progression increasing volume by 10 per cent is what you need to
aim for. For those currently swimming 2-3 times a week for up to
3.5km at a time, allow yourself 16 to 20 weeks preparation time. If
you swim four or more 4km-and-above sessions per week – let’s
call you a ‘competitive’ swimmer – your lead-time should be around
12 weeks.
Here's how a 20 week programme might look, from a progressive
perspective. (Competitive swimmers can pick up this programme in
week eight). Note: this is a guide only, but it is a good baseline from
which to work.
Rhys Mainstone – an Australian open
water swimmer who specializes in the
10km – is pictured during competition
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About the training phases
Establish Consistency
These first two weeks are quite light and designed to get you
rolling your arms over and establishing factors such as how your
training will best fit in with daily routines. We recommend that
you take up to eight sessions before you start to feel like you're
'training to train', as opposed to just going for a swim.
Recovery
It's important that you schedule a lighter training week every
three to four weeks, where volume is reduced but a semblance of
intensity is maintained. Failing to do this can result in burn-out,
staleness, injury, illness and simply a lack of adaptation to the work
you are putting in. With rest comes strength.
Stroke Economy Development
During this phase you will be in the swing of your routine and
looking to ensure that your form and technique in the water is
sound. Enlisting a coach to undertake video analysis and provide
useful stroke correction tips is highly recommended at this stage.
You can also start to build up your interval distances at critical
swim speed (CSS) pace plus between 6-8 seconds per 100m. Think
of this as the pace you'll eventually swim during your 10km attempt.
(For details on how to calculate your CSS pace visit swimsmooth.
com/css). Making one of your weekly swims slightly longer than the
others at this stage with intervals ranging from 600m and above is
a great way to incorporate both form and endurance into a session.
Threshold development
Of your four sessions per week in this block, aim to make one in
the first two weeks and two in the final two weeks a CSS paced
session. Here you'll be working on getting faster at CSS pace.
Aim for a speed increase of between 0.5-1.0 per cent at CSS pace
per week. CSS sets include: 15 to 20 x 100m, with 15s rest; 8 to 10
x 200m, with 20s rest; 4 to 6 x 400m, with 30s rest; and 3 to 5 x
500m, with 40s. Aim to hold great form throughout.
Sustained Endurance
It's a common mistake to do too much long, slow swimming early on in
a training programme and then struggle to pick the pace up as you get
closer to your race. By developing your CSS pace in the previous block
of work you can now look to start swimming longer sets at just a touch
faster than 10km pace. Identifying your 10km pace is always tricky,
as all manner of things can affect what time you swim on race day,
including conditions, feeding strategies, and how straight you swim.
It’s advisable to do a 4km continuous pool swim in week 13 at
your best possible pace and then to calculate your average pace
from this. The result will be an ideal pace to train at for your longer
weekly sessions. Try to do one long, continuous swim a week at this
pace, and from week 13 add an additional 800m to the distance
each week, reaching 8km by week 18.
Fine Tuning
Your weekly volume is now starting to taper off, but don't let your
intensity drop off too much yet. During this phase you can ensure factors
like your planned race attire, race and nutrition strategy are all in place.
Maintain a couple of longer, continuous swims of 6-8km and visualise
yourself actually doing the race while you do so. Now is the time to
make any changes, not the night before or even during the race. 
TRAINING PHASES
Training
Phase
Week
Sessions
per week
Average
Session
Distance
(km)
Weekly
Total
Establish
Consistency
1
2
3.0
6.0
Establish
Consistency
2
3
2.5
7.5
Recovery
3
2
3.0
6.0
Stroke Economy 4
Development
3
3.0
9.0
Stroke Economy 5
Development
3
3.5
10.5
Stroke Economy 6
Development
4
3.0
12.0
Recovery
7
3
3.5
10.5
Threshold
Development
8
4
3.5
14.0
Threshold
Development
9
4
4.0
16.0
Threshold
Development
10
4
4.5
18.0
Threshold
Development
11
4
4.5
18.0
Recovery
12
3
3.5
10.5
Sustained
Endurance
13
5
4.0
20.0
Sustained
Endurance
14
5
4.0
20.0
Sustained
Endurance
15
5
4.5
22.5
Sustained
Endurance
16
6
4.0
24.0
Recovery
17
4
3.5
14.0
Fine Tuning
18
4
4.5
18.0
Fine Tuning
19
3
4.0
12.0
Taper
20
2 + race
3.5
7.0 + 10.0
The right training is
essential not just for
being competitive, but
for actually completing
the distance
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SWIM PLUS
MASTER KM
RHYS MAINSTONE
In November 2011 we filmed Australian 10km open water
swimming team member Rhys Mainstone's triumphant
victory at the West Australian 10km championships, in which
he swam an amazing 1 hour 51 minutes.
We gave Rhys a Garmin 910XT watch to track his pace
throughout the swim, but rather than adopt the even-paced
approach that we'd recommend to most age-group swimmers,
you'll see from the graph that Rhys's pace was very erratic.
Why? Because this was a race for the championships, and
when you have 15 other swimmers at the pointy end of the
field all seeking to win the state titles, you have to be able
to do something to break up the pace and to drop the minor
medals off your toes!
Check out the pace between 3-5km at an average speed of
1'04"/100m to drop all but one swimmer (another Australian
team member) and then the progressive build up from 8-10km
to take the title. Scintillating stuff to watch I can tell you.
This is 10km open water racing at its very best and could
be likened to a road cycling event, where the stronger
cyclists aim to make a breakaway well before the finish to
assure victory.
Taper
Your final week should be relatively steady, with a few little pickups at CSS pace, but preferably no more than 1,200m in a given
session. Get some good sleep in and eat and drink well. Again, don't
make any drastic changes in the lead-in to the event.
It is worth highlighting here, that the best programmes are balanced,
and contain a good mix of technique and specific fitness work throughout
– albeit with a subtle change in focus as you move through the plan.
rAce considerAtions
Nutrition
Ideally you'll be consuming 0.8 to 1.0g of carbohydrate per kg of
body weight per hour and 500 to 800ml of fluid per hour in sessions
longer than an hour. This ensures you're putting back into your
energy reserves what you are taking out, and will allow you to finish
strongly and recover quickly.
During the event itself you might be restricted to fuelling once
per lap on a typical four-lap course, which, depending upon your
speed, could mean a fuel stop every 30 to 60 minutes.
On some of your longer practice swims in the open water set up a
similar lapped course to allow you to fuel as you will in the race. This
way you can work out what works and what doesn't in the race.
Drafting
Drafting or 'slipstreaming' off another swimmer can save you up to
38 per cent of your energy expenditure if done correctly. This could
get you through your first race in a much less fatigued state, and
be the difference between winning your age-group or being out of
the medals. Drafting is a skill like any other, and requires practice
and due diligence, so be sure to add some structured time to your
routine to go through this with friends.
Drafting can be done at around 50cm behind another swimmer, or
directly to their side with your head positioned at about waist level.
If choosing the side-drafting option, aim to breathe in towards the
swimmer and not away.
Race Suit
In many 10km events you'll have the choice to swim with or without a
wetsuit. Depending upon your natural buoyancy wearing a wetsuit could
save you 2-3 minutes per kilometre, which over 10km is significant.
Although the hardcore open water swimming fraternity may
frown upon your use of a wetsuit, if it is your first 10km event we
recommend that you use one. When it comes to your health and
your safety, a wetsuit might just make the difference.
Photo © Swim Smooth
Tactics
The best way to race a 10km event is mimic what you've done in training
– with perfectly even splits, holding a consistent pace. Avoid setting off
too fast and resist energy-sapping surges during the swim. ○
Rhys stops to
refuel during a race
44
the best WAy to rAce A
Km event is mimic WhAt
you've done in trAining
–A consistent pAce And
even splits