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Training Plan 20K

Prepare for your 20 km crossing in 8 months.

Program Overview

Achievement Objective
To swim across the Gibraltar Straight – between 16.5 to 22 km – in good health and happy mindset.
Program Objectives
To organize your physical and mental preparations in an 8 month timeframe.
Design Considerations
It is understood that you may not have a long swimming history, and therefore you may not have a whole body system that has  been built around the activity of swimming – and in particular, swimming LONG distance. This program is meant to strike a balance (or tension) between your need to build a ‘base’ of deep preparation and programming into the whole body system and your need to approach this carefully to avoid injuries as you swim into a zone your body and mind have never been before. This base building requires hundreds of kilometers of swimming. And your body system and tissues require a very gradual process of building and adaptation. You need time and a good plan so that your body and mind will get ready for up to 6 hours of continuous swimming in wild water, and do it without injury to body or mind. So, your challenge is to gradually increase the beneficial stress upon your system while also carefully monitoring that stress on any part of your body system that may be under-developed. You achievement will be limited by the weakest member of the system, so when the signs of weakness (the warning signals of coming injury) appear we must address those needs right away. 
Timeframe
The 8-month program is divided into 4 stages, with 8 weeks in each stage, and approximately 1 week buffer in each stage (a total of 9 weeks, or two months in each stage). This 1 week buffer is to allow flexibility for extra work, rest, illness and other things that will come up in normal life.
Training Topics
The program will cover the main physical and mental preparations you need to achieve the objective. Physical Preparations:

  • General physical conditioning
  • Injury prevention
  • Metabolic conditioning (power supply)
  • Muscular conditioning (ability to work)
  • Environmental adaptation (specific ow skills)

In general, the physical preparations are intended to get your body ready to work, injury-free, in a positive-stress state for 6 hours. Mental Preparations:

  • Building mental ‘control panel’
  • Attention endurance
  • Attitude (reframing experiences into positive perspective)
  • Mental games
  • Self-diagnostic and decision skill

In general, the mental preparations are intended to get you mind ready to ‘pilot your vessel’ with skill, wisdom and a good attitude. All these advantages added up will give you the best chance of healthful success.

Training Specificity
We understand the Gibraltar Strait swim to be between 16.5 and 22 km. It may require being in the water up to 7 hours, in water only up to 23 C at its warmest. With this in mind we have set up the training to prepare you for 20km or 6 hours of continuous swimming, with a sustained steady pace. Both distance and duration will be used as measurements for your training because of how sea and weather conditions could affect the swim. The training will anticipate feeding intervals of about 60 minutes during the crossing. Effort and intervals will be designed around this timeframe. 60 minutes of swimming may allow for about 3 km of swimming.  Because of tide and currents this is according to distance experienced, not necessarily actual distance covered.
Practice Planning
In an orderly, sequential manner the training topics, the monthly schedule and the weekly schedule have been provided for you in this program. The objectives and training purpose for each practice type has been provided for you as well. The skill projects are suggested to you in order of priority. We can work together to develop some practice patterns you can start with and modify to suit yourself. I will guide you in making decisions about increasing challenge and work load gradually, according to our training principles. I recommend that you make as much of your practice plans a routine so that the amount of decision you need to make each day and each week is limited and you can expend that mental energy on monitoring feedback, comparing to previous results, and making micro-adjusments to your practices to make them more effective. Big, or frequent changes will compete for your mental attention and energy. Variety is built into the overall plan, but you don’t want too much variety so that you can conserve precious energy for the actual swimming and training.

Schedule

Monthly Schedule
This is the general schedule for the 8 months:

  Stroke Skills OW Skills OW Swims Conditioning Fueling Mental

RPE Intervals

 Distance / Duration Baseline Test Swim
1 To be determined Bi-lateral breathing 2x Spine flexibility, Core strength Explore foods, test Select and test critical FP details

RPE3/50%, 4/50%, 5/0%

 25% of total 1k
2   Bi-lateral breathing 2x Spine flexibility, Core strength Select swim fuel Select and test critical FP details 3/50, 4/50, 5/0 40% 1k
3   Cool water adaptation 2x+ Shoulder and hip mobility Refine daily diet 2-channel, full attention 3/35, 4/60, 5/5 50% 2k
4   Cool water adaptation 2x+ Shoulder and hip mobility Refine daily diet 2-channel, full attention 3/35, 4/60, 5/5 60% 2k
5   Cool water adaptation 2x+ Shoulder and hip strength Eat + swim Mental games 3/30, 4/60, 5/10 70% 2k
6   Cool water adaptation 3x+ Shoulder and hip strength In-water feeding Mental games 3/30, 4/60, 5/10 80% 3k
7   Swim straight, eating in water 3x+ Maintain Practice in water Mental Race Planning, Routine 3/20, 4/60, 5/20 90% 3k
8   Waves, sighting 4x+ Maintain Practice in water Routine 3/20, 4/60, 5/20 100%  
                Taper 1 to 2 weeks  

*Stroke Skills will be surveyed during the first few weeks. You will pick 3 or 4 high-value skill improvement projects and devote practice to these. They are open to adjustment throughout the course. **OW Swims can be used for any tempo or distance practices, if it is suitable to the purpose of the practice. ***We will use Rate of Perceived Effort as a reference point for interval and intensity work, and set up corresponding SPLxTempo combinations. You will start with your baseline SPLxTempo combinations associated with those RPE levels. As fitness and control improves, your pace will improve – which means your SPLxTempo combinations should adjust accordingly. 

Weekly Schedule
This is a recommended schedule for each week:

  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Sunday
Conditioning ABC AB A ABC A ABC Optional
Pool Practice Attention Tempo Interval Attention Distance Optional Full Rest

There is flexibility in how the practices can be arranged, but there are some relationships between the activities to consider. A low intensity practice is scheduled after a high intensity practice, as a form of rest. Full conditioning is scheduled before Attention Practice because there may be more time for the full routine. Full conditioning is not scheduled before Interval and Distance Practices because it is assumed you will do a sufficient tune-up (warm-up) for your body in the water prior to your main set. In the case of the Distance practice, your tune-up should be built into the main set itself to simulate the warm-up you will do while swimming the expedition.

Adaptation Cycles
An important element to the plan is to go through a process of adaptation in cycles. Give too few weeks for this and there will not be sufficient stimulation to get your systems to rise to higher performance. Work for too many weeks at this and the systems will get overloaded, fatigued in a negative way, and make you more vulnerable to injury and illness. There is some leeway in the prescription depending on many factors, but for our distance swimming purposes we will aim for 4 to 5 week cycles – this means, in a 4 week cycle, you will build up intensity for 3 weeks and then rest your systems for a week with much lower volume intensity, and even a change of some of the activity types.

Variety

Another important principle is variety – or more specifically, changing the way signals are sent through the circuits while training. Pure, unaltered repetition, hundreds a day, day-after-day, will soon cause the nervous system to go ‘numb’ to the signals and the skill-improvement potential of the activity will diminish. Instead, it goes much better to work the same skill but work it from different directions. So, each week you are provided with a variety of practice types that will work on your skills from different directions. And in each new cycle, the challenges and activities presented should alter as well so that your nervous system is constantly challenged to ‘stay alert’ and grow new circuits and grow stronger circuits. 

Rest

Then you provide critical rest each night, and in different forms during the week culminating in at least one full day off from swimming activity, and then one week of low-intensity activity per cycle. Regular rest which provides full recovery and restoration of the systems that happens between practices and cycles is actually the unseen pillar of higher performance. The athlete who remains sensitive to the signals of recovery and has the restraint to respect this (not initiating high intensity work until the body is ready for it) will be the one to excel over the entire season, and over many seasons.  

Practice Instructions

Attention Practice
Attention Practice is intended to increase your awareness of fine detail and control of critical parts of your body position and movements. Your skill objectives are:

  • Select high-value improvement projects (high-value = make long-distance easier)
  • Memorize the improved patterns
  • Develop self-monitoring and self-correcting routines

This practice is low physical intensity with high mental intensity. Pick up to 4 skill projects for the week, and work on any two of them in a practice. Total distance in practice can be up to 3000. Conduct this practice at least 2 times per week. This practice may be used as an active physical rest after a high physical intensity practice (like Intervals or Distance). This practice is most suitably conducted in a short-course (25m) or long-course (50m) pool.

Tempo Practice
Tempo Practice is intended to increase your precision of movements within a consistent rhythm. Your skill objectives are to:

  • Choose suitable tempos
  • Establish consistent stroke tempo
  • Adapt to faster tempos (make them feel easier)
  • Switch tempo on command

This practice is moderate physical intensity with moderate mental intensity. Use any two of your focal points from the Attention Practice each week. Total distance in practice can be up to 3000. Conduct this practice at least 1 time per week. This practice may be conducted in a short-course, long-course or in open-water.

General Conditioning
General Conditioning is intended to improve the mobility and strength of your body, to support daily activity as well as swimming. Your skill objectives are to:

  • Design a succinct routine with essential exercises
  • Identify and improve weak areas
  • Maintain mobility and strength

There are three levels to this practice, and they are in order of priority:

  • A – Spine Flexibility and Core Strength (15 minutes)
  • B – Shoulder and Hips Mobility and Strength (15 minutes)
  • C – Counter-Strength for Repetitive Swimming Specific Movements (15 minutes)

Some days you will do ABC, some days AB, and some days just A.   This practice is moderate physical intensity with low mental intensity. This practice will be conducted before your swim practice on any day. You are encouraged to do a light version of it on your rest days also. Total duration of this practice can be up to 60 minutes. The routines should use self-weight as much as possible and a minimum of equipment so that it is ‘portable’ and can be done anywhere.

Interval Practice
Interval Practice is intended to simulate expedition stress upon your system. This beneficial stress is intended to provoke adaptation and increase sustainable pace. Your skill objectives are to:

  • Choose suitable pace
  • Establish consistent pace
  • Adapt to faster pace (relax into it, make it feel easier)
  • Switch pace on command

This practice is high physical intensity with moderate mental intensity. Use any two of your focal points from the Attention Practice each week. Total distance in practice can be 2000 to 4000 for the main set. This practice may include feeding. Conduct this practice at least 1 time per week. This practice may be conducted in a short-course or long-course (50m) pool. It is not suitable to open-water.

Distance Practice
Distance Practice is intended to simulate expedition stress upon your system. This beneficial stress is intended to provoke adaptation in your joints, tissues and metabolism to sustain movement for hours. Your skill objectives are to:

  • Choose suitable Stroke Length
  • Establish consistent SL
  • Switch SL on command
  • Practice feeding + swimming

This practice is high physical intensity (from distance) with moderate mental intensity. Use any two of your focal points from the Attention Practice each week. Total distance in your Distance Practice will gradually increase from 25% of the total (about 5k) to 100% (20k) for the main set. This practice should include feeding. Your are balancing available time and energy each week with your need to get your body ready to work for up to 6 hours continuously. Distance Practices are meant to gradually increase the stress to give the body and mind time to adapt. Conduct this practice at least 1 time per week. This practice should be conducted in a long-course (50m) pool or in open-water. The practice could be done in segments when windows of time are limited. For example:

  • Two practices per day, dividing up the total distance.
  • Two consecutive days, dividing up the total distance.

However, try to simulate as much continuous swimming (with feeding breaks) as possible. So single, long distance practices will be the best conditioning. 

Baseline Test Swim
The monthly Baseline Test Swim is intended to give us clear data on your progress that we can compare from month to month. Your skill to be test are:

  • Choose suitable SPL x Tempo combination
  • Holding a consistent pace for the entire distance.
  • Maintaining your chosen RPE

This test will be at moderate physical intensity with moderate mental intensity. Your goal is to simulate a segment of your expedition swim. Use any two of your focal points from the Attention Practice each week. Measurements to take:

  • Total Time
  • Time Splits at 100, 200, or 500 mark
  • Stroke Count and/or Tempo
  • RPE
  • Consistency of turns (if done in a pool) to factor those effects into the swim analysis

Total distance of the test will start at 1k and gradually increase to 3k over the 8 months. This test swim should have a light feeding beforehand to simulate expedition conditions. Conduct this test swim 1 time per month. This practice should be conducted in a long-course (50m) pool or in open-water, if possible. But more importantly, it needs to be done the same way, in the same place as the other swim tests so that results can be compared.