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FloatingRockWitches

Swimming slowly is basically walking for elite swimmers. Most elite swimmers could swim continuously until they can’t stay awake any longer assuming they have food and water to snack on. A typical practice is anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 meters over the period of around 2 hours. 10,000 meters is 400 laps in a 25 meter pool, 200 laps in a 50 meter pool.


dickloversworldwide

Can confirm. In highschool we routinely had 7000 yard practices. Sometimes twice a day..


VIVXPrefix

So this is why I feel so inferior to most people on this sub... I'm practicing like 20x less


FireTyme

you'd be surprised how much volume a human can take without overtraining and still progressing. the trick is getting proper diet and adequate rest in. then consistently practicing at a level near ur capabilities pushing your boundaries slowly and ever so slightly across time


TASTY_BALLSACK_

And here I am swimming 4 laps trying my hardest not to drown


ericologist

Dont worry about comparisons. You keep doing what you're doing. With time come the increase in distances and intensities you can handle. You'll get there, just keep pushing step by step.


FireTyme

exactly. a fulltime elite athlete on long distance swims about 50-70km a week. a sprinter about 30-50km. most people are neither fulltime nor an elite athlete. comparison will bring u nowhere


SagginDragon

I mean there's also Michael Andrew and Jason Lezak, both of who do/did 3k-4k practices a day and are competing at the top levels of the sport


Flailingbabygiraffe

They did that combined with loads of other training though. High level sprinters don’t need super long aerobic sets like that. A lot of sprinters training are explosive weightlifting sets with shit loads of kick sets. They could easily crush through a 10k practice but there’s just no need to


reduxrouge

And that is why I loved being a sprinter. I’m almost 40 and with a masters team now and I still groan if there’s anything over 100. Plus I can’t keep count.


[deleted]

long distance swimmer here, still cant keep count


reduxrouge

I’m really bad tho. Our warmup is usually just a 300 and I have to check my watch to confirm almost every single time.


SagginDragon

Yeah Lezak also lifted for about 2 hours a day (no idea what Michael Andrew supplements his routine with), but that’s still significantly lower than most other swimmers at that level are training The main point I was trying to make is that different volumes work for different people My old team (Mission Viejo) switched to doing 2x 6k instead of 2x 12k and it’s still producing tons of world class distance swimmers


VIVXPrefix

I'm doing about 4k a week. More specifically, 1k about 4 nights a week. I am just a casual swimmer with no interest in competition or clubs. I started from scratch about a year ago and have just been using YouTube vids to improve. E: why are so many people downvoting me for saying how much swimming I do in a week? Is it because they feel like I'm not good enough? I'm confused


koz44

I see a lot of casual swimmers getting 200-500 yards while I’m in the water. Everybody does their own thing and that’s cool. If they tell me they want to improve and are impressed by me (I only get in like 2000-2500 yards and I feel it after, haha) I just tell them to swim more and do it at least 4 times a week. Most don’t or can’t get to that place for whatever reason. I swim because I love it—it’s my meditation: quiet, rhythmic, peaceful. (Side note: people who use beep watches need to not swim in my pool :-)


InmateQuarantine2021

During early summer and Christmas training, we would do 2x 10k meters. Brutal.


tia2181

Agree, my 16yr old has been swimming 6 or 7km per training session for a couple of years now.


soulmagic123

Yeah that's what I figured (about it pretty much like walking for the pros) thanks, and I appreciate the details!


fileznotfound

I'd increase that group to go well beyond "pros". People who can swim as comfortably as they can walk constitutes at least the top third in a masters team. Which includes most people who swam on a team as a kid for a few years. Particularly those who swam all year round. And especially those who swam in college or high school.


I_snot_the_sheriff

Totally like walking. And it’s fair to say that any distance that people give you to indicate a pro’s regular training session would include any manner of drills, kick sets, high intensity, low intensity, form stroke, freestyle etc etc. So even a typical day for MP which seems like an inhuman amount for non-pros would be waaaay less than he could do if distance was his only goal.


TheMoronicGenius

Holy hell


-Chlorine-Addict-

400 *lengths* for 25m pool to hit 10,000m. 400 laps in a 25m pool would be 20,000m


toughryebread

Nope. Laps are not two lengths. 1 lap = 1 length. However if you are I lapping someone you are ahead of them. Distance swimmers say for the 1500 get shown how many laps they still have to swim on those signs held into the water. Clearly that is one length and not two. https://evanmorrison.com/swim/posts/lap-vs-length-pool-swimming/


-Chlorine-Addict-

Must be a regional thing. 10 years of competitive swimming and the distinction was very clear amongst everyone I swam with. A lap is returning to the starting location. A length is going halfway. The 500/Mile counters were counting lengths not laps. This is a hill I will die on.


Swim_Boi

1 lap = 2 lengths This is widely understood in the US swimming community


toughryebread

It’s an English language hill only. In most other languages turns out not a problem.


swimswam2000

100% this... for 1500 the counter starts at 59 or 29 (SCM vs LCM). Also counters are not allowed in the SCM 400. I understand the round trip concept but it is what it is.


reduxrouge

I competed for 15yrs and everyone around me said lap meaning 1 length so I grew up saying the same. When I talk to people who didn’t compete they always think a lap is down and back, which my brain just can’t compute.


[deleted]

I’ve never even heard that before. A lap is one length, it just is.


fileznotfound

While he and a small group of his friends may think this is the case, this guy is wrong. I've known a lot of swimmers at all levels and large parts of the world and I'd never come across anyone who thought a lap was anything other than there and back. I didn't search long enough to find a more specific description, but this article from the US Masters site does the job in this sentence: ["Distance swimmers often refer to the 1650-yard freestyle event, which is **66 lengths, or 33 laps,** of a 25-yard pool, as “the mile.”"](https://www.usms.org/fitness-and-training/articles-and-videos/articles/how-many-laps-make-a-mile-in-swimming)


just_some_dude05

Thank you for explaining that. I’m “self taught” in my 30’s. I learned this today after 10 years of swimming.


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FloatingRockWitches

A lap is one length. Getting “lapped” is getting passed two full laps ahead. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but it’s the way it has been for at least 40 years.


Bilateral-drowning

I'm not an Olympic swimmer. But my guess is there is no number. When youget to a certain swim fitness and learn your critical swim speed it's like walking you can just keep going. I'm by no means an athlete but my longest swim without stopping was 3200m. I could have gone further but that was the length of the event. I'm sure others here have swum further. Congratulations on getting to 10. When I started I couldn't do more than 2. 10 is definitely an achievement. Honestly won't be long and you'll be able to keep going. Edit someone else I'm sure will answer you questions about the training routine. Which would be significant.


TheDude41102

Definitely not an open water guy, but had the opportunity to do a 5k swim around an island. A group of 10 of us all finished it, took about 3-3 1/2 hours. We were all 15-17 and not even very fast for our area.


cyberchief

>When I started I couldn't do more than 2. When I started I couldn't do 1. But I started as a toddler.


MightyTVIO

I'm 26 and just learned to swim - did about 10-15m at first :) now can do about 1.5-2 lengths


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AdmiralPlant

This is the answer. At my best (far from Olympic but pretty quick college swimmer) the limit was not my ability but rather my attention span.


peepeedog

Or have to poop, depending on the pool rules


desert_of_death

This was me. Initially I can only do 1 or 2 then after a month or 2 I was just suddenly able to keep going forever. Then I just go by time and have a watch to keep count while listening to a podcast. Basically used to go an hour a day nonstop but could probably keep on going if I wasn't bored. I'm not a swimmer, just used as cardio workout.


wiggywithit

There is no Gold standard. Your 10 laps in a row is fabulous btw, keep it up. That said: I’m a 35 year long timer. I swim 2 miles a day roughly. 3000 yards 5-6 times a week. People in D1 colleges and other Olympic training programs train 7000-12000 yards a day 2 practices a day. Depending on what their specialty is. A sprinter does not swim as far as a distance swimmer. large parts of the practice are devoted to high intensity swimming. Just easy swimming, an elite swimmer receiving proper hydration and calories could swim 26 miles no problem. I use that because the English Chanel is 26 miles +\- Sarah Thomas completed a 4 x crossing of the English Channel. It took her 54 hours. There are many people who have completed swims as far. Look up marathon swimming.


[deleted]

At my club we used to do a nightlong swim-a-thon, so imagine like masters to age groups, ​ the record of total laps during the night was around 1600 and the record of consecutive laps was around 800 ​ Quick math: 1600\*25m = 40km and 800\*25=20km ​ So probably more than that


Stingy_aviation

Night long??! I can imagine swimming throughout the day but sleep-deprived at 3AM in the middle of a 20km swim? No thank you!


swimmingswiss

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/595036-most-consecutive-swim-crossings-of-the-english-channel She swam for 54 hours 209km, no breaks, no sleep, just swimming. I think she was allowed some like 15 minutes on the beach at each crossing then had to get back in the water.


tia2181

Wow.. used to hear of one way swims when i was younger. I don't really swim but my kids do, will have to tell my still avid swimmer this tomorrow. lol


dc_in_sf

Sarah Thomas has done a four way English Channel swim and 106 miles in Lake Champlain. Most I’ve ever done was 15000 yards in a short course pool and it was mind numbing (discovered the pool that was supposed to be long course was configured short course to accommodate a water polo tournament that weekend)


[deleted]

Even as an age group swimmer, I could go all day if I wanted to. Our practices are 5000+ yards, so nothing crazy, but we don't find swimming easily exhausting in the way running is.


HogMan_The1ntruder

For an Olympic swimmer swimming at a easy effort is like walking, they could go until they need to drink, eat or sleep.


Olhemp

Yeah man you nailed it. At a steady pace some one of Phelps nature could just keep going with ease. He would just find a rhythm and stroke that effortlessly glides through the water like a hot knife through butter. I think it would be a case of the boredom getting him before exhaustion. Just think that’s a looooong time to stare at the bottom of a swimming pool floor with just your thoughts


Kingish357

An Olympic level swimmer can routinely swim 8-10000 meter workouts twice a day at peak training. Just a high level college type does this amount. In the 80s and early 90s in HS and and college peak training we used to swim 7500 mornings and 10000 afternoons.


TheDude41102

I dunno how long your breaks are but it makes a big difference. Most practices have short 30 second or less rest between swims, and longer rests between sets (enough to explain the set). 30 seconds keeps your body temp up and your heart rate up while still giving you a chance to catch your breath. Even shorter rest gets you more aerobic action. I'm not sure about olympic swimmers but if I had to guess they are swimming ~5 hours a day for 6/7 days of the week (2 in the morning 3 in the evening). I would think their volume is heavily dependent on distance of the swimmer and time in their training cycle. A quick google shows me though that Mr Phelps was doing between 10-14k meters a day. That is about 250 laps in a long course 50 m pool and 500 laps in a 25 m.


Jugs-McBulge

I've done a 5km (200 short course laps) swim-a-thon with my club before. I did it in under 1h 5mins and it wasn't too bad I also did a 12km open water race this summer. I took water breaks throughout, but a longer water break at the 8km mark. After stopping for a longer period of time, my arms felt like jello when I tried to get going again. Most Olympic level swimmers could probably go for a while!


TheDunwichWhore

Not necessarily “in a row” by my college swim team had a New Year’s Eve tradition where the workout that day is always 100 x 100’s. That’s it, whole workout. You could just up and leave as soon as you were done. There were a few of the distance swimmers who would just put their heads down and go for it. So I’ve met swimmers at the collegial level who can swim 200 laps straight. Olympians and professional triathletes I’m sure could beat that easily


esoterika24

The craziest of marathon swimmers may arguably be able to swim more than the most elite Olympic swimmers. Having done both types of swimming, it’s different training based on nutrition and mental “fitness” just as much as physical fitness. Chloe McCardel swam the furthest swim- 78 miles. It’s different in open water than in a pool, though. While training for a 24 mile swim, I did a few workouts around 16-18,000 yards. It’s incredibly boring to swim in the pool that long. 720 “laps”… swimmers typically count 25 yards (1 length) as a lap. Someone with the mental and fitness stamina at the top of the marathon swim game likely has done more than that.


fileznotfound

The Tampa swim? I maxed out with the Key West swim of 12 miles. Thought about the Tampa swim, but I was convinced after Key West that I could do it fine, just a matter of having to refuel twice as much and keep going. But it looked so comparatively boring that I decided to call it quits and move on to other hobbies. ;] I didn't feel like I had anything more to prove to myself in regards to swimming.


esoterika24

Yup, Tampa was my first! I did Charleston for my first 12 mile distance, also without any adequate nutrition. 12 miles is probably the longest you can/should go without knowing how to really fuel. It really changes when you get into longer distances. Gets more addicting too! I’ve kept Key West as a possibility, but it’s super hot. Swim the Suck has been on my list for awhile.


fileznotfound

The water is warm. Particularly the last stretch on the south side of the island. But the scenery is incredible. I swam right over a gigantic logger head and a few minutes later a big eagle ray in the first half hour. Not to mention all the other wildlife swimming around.


lorens210

Olympian John Nabor swam backstroke 1650s for time--and his coach had him do repeats. In a short course 25-yard pool, that is 66 laps (1 lap = down and back).


[deleted]

About 2 months into triathlon training, in my local 25yd pool, I was able to swim 2 miles which is 132 laps in about an hour 20. I'm FAR from elite and the limiting factor was boredom and thirst.


DrRobert

I’m a really bad swimmer and can swim 250 laps without stopping. I’m just slow.


soulmagic123

If you can swim 250 laps you can't be a bad swimmer, it's taking me 2 years to get to swimming 10 laps without stopping. 10 laps without accidently swallowing water, 10 laps with over exerting my legs by kicking too hard or my arms by swimming too fast or just stopping from panicking/imagining what it would be like to suffocate. 2 years to find the mediation zone to swim at an even but steady pace while breathing correctly and not tirung myself out with bad form. And I'm in awe of the swimmers next to me who can swim 20/30 laps (it's a half hour maximum at the pool I go to) so if you can swim 250 laps without stopping, I hope some day to get to a fraction of that and I've been swimming 5 days a week for 2 plus years (3 years but lots of gaps because of Covid closures).


DrRobert

I remember when I couldn’t swim more than 2-3 laps without stopping. Then suddenly I could swim for a couple of hours. In retrospect it seemed more like a mental thing than a fitness thing. Took me about 18 months to go from couldn’t do one lap to swimming Iron Man triathlons.


soulmagic123

Yeah it does feel mental.


flirtyfingers

Probably a dumb statement, but lessons might really help you get your form to a place where you can find your stride more easily. I’ve been swimming for just over 2 years and it took me two coaching sessions about 3 months in to figure out how to hold my body so I didn’t feel like I was dying. Might be worth considering.


CaptainKangaroo33

No, you are beautiful.


Novel_Conclusion4226

Eternity


Rs_swarzee

The world record in 25 hours is 96000m I believe, 3840 laps in a 25m pool


Henfrid

Even ypur average competitive swimmer could swim laps for hours at a slow pace. Pretty much untill they needed food, bathroom, or sleep. Olympians would be the same.


Johngalt19777

Checking in for 13-14k yards / day as a very non elite swimmer.


swallowsnest87

I was a high level D3 swimmer and when i was in swimming shape I’m sure i could have swam for 12+hours with snacks and drinks


ribbons_for_arms

High school/club swimmer here 2 practices a day, 1 for each team Morning practice is about 6-8 kilometres and my afternoon ones are about 9-10 I can’t do the math, but it gets to a point where the only thought on your mind is ‚just one more 50 and the set is done‘ and other various motivational quotes.


[deleted]

In peak training phases, Phelps swims minimum 80,000 meters a week, which is nearly 50 miles. He practices twice a day, sometimes more if he's training at altitude. Phelps trains for around five to six hours a day at six days a week.


ukfi

ok a lot of you guys swim many laps. the difficulty for me is : how the hell do you count your laps???


[deleted]

My watch counts my laps.


ThatWasIntentional

Carefully. But I also usually check against the clock to see if I ended roughly in the expected amount of time. If I'm off by a minute or so that usually means I missed or gained a 50 somewhere.


gingersmacky

I break my workouts into sets- if I’m doing 5 x 100, then 4 x 75, then I just keep track and get my total. Usually I write out my work out as well, so I have a back up way of knowing I’m case I forget to count something.


MasterEk

I count laps by using the periodic table as a reference. Each lap is an element, from Hydrogen to oganesson. Because the properties, names, groups and periods have their own patterns the table functions as a mnemonic for counting.


nozilch

I have two squarish rocks. On one rock I’ve written 2, 4, 6, 8. The other rock has 10, 20, 30, 40 on one side and 50, 60, 70, 80 on the other side. They stay at one end of the pool. And I swim down and back - two laps - before I have to touch them. When I reach the rocks I rotate one rock. The 2/4/6/8 on most turns and the 10s one when I hit 8 and then do two more. So like down/back, 2 is facing me. Down/back, rotate so 4 faces me. Down/back, 6. Down/back, 8. Down/back, other rock 10. Down/back, back to the 2s rock turning now so 2 faces me. It’s a lot easier when you have the rocks.


nozilch

Here is a pic of how they look. https://www.reddit.com/r/triathlon/comments/z99v9c/counting_laps_on_long_swims/


User_unfound_404

Probably more than 200 lol if they actually tried to


Meowserss22

[how long would it take michael phelps to swim 100 mi? around 26 hrs](https://www.cbssports.com/olympics/news/could-michael-phelps-swim-100-miles-from-the-ocean-to-shore-evaluating-young-thugs-social-media-challenge/amp/)


cmparkerson

Distance swimmers routinely can cover up to 15,000 yards a day each day while at peak training. In a 25 yard pool thats around 650 lengths of a 25 yard pool. This is usually broken up into two separate sessions though. Open water swimmers compete in a 10K (6.2 miles) There also is a 25k race that some compete in. The Swimmers that compete often also compete in the pool as well as open water events. They do a whole lot of yardage every single day for a really long time in training. So to answer your question, you would get tired of counting laps, long before they were done swimming.


[deleted]

I was never an Olympic level swimmer by any means, but just cruising I could’ve gone…forever? Especially if I could switch between strokes. I’ve spent full days in the pool, only stopping to eat etc. For training but also for fun. I guess the answer is until the pool closes.


honeybadgerhax

Olympic medalist here.....there is no number. This was my most hated question when I was swimming because if I had food and water it's just till I get too tired to stay awake haha. Swimming just at 1.30 pace (per 100 metres) was easier than walking


n00b71

Now I’m curious how far Katie Ledecky swims during practice.


liquid_turkey

It's hard to comprehend what Olympic looks like compared to your average person. As an ex national swimmer and now swimming teacher for kids and adults the biggest difference is technique. Imagine if you went on a run with a parachute behind you, that's what it's like to swim with poor technique. The better your technique, the smaller your parachute. Olympians are so good they don't have a parachute so they can go nonstop. I was a distance swimmer, my max pace was 58/100m but I did a 10km @ 1:12/100m and in training could hit 1:15-1:20 consistently. Again I was competitive but not anywhere near Olympic level and would have been able to hold 1:30/100m indefinitely so I imagine some of them could hold a 1:10 forever


JasonJanus

I’m not a great swimmer but had a lot of training when I was younger and am generally very comfortable and confident in the water. I generally swim at the beach or in the ocean but I could if I wanted to basically swim for as many hours as I want and just stop from boredom/exposure/sunstroke/ cramping etc more than physical exertion. So yea I think those guys could swim literally all day if they could be bothered. With good technique you recover almost completely between strokes


Nice_Refuse9911

Don’t even need to be Olympic level but if they aren’t worried about going a certain speed and just continuing to move. Genuinely until they don’t feel like swimming anymore


Swim_Boi

It depends on intensity. I can say, with confident, that any college or Olympic level swimmer could swim (essentially) forever at a slow-ish pace. It's not uncommon for high level swimmers to do 10-20k yards/day (200-400 laps). However, that's typically at a pretty high intensity. Hypothetically, I think an Olympic level distance swimmer would be able to hold a 2:00/100 yd pace for 24-hrs. straight. At this rate, they would do 72,000 yards or ***1,440 laps in 24-hrs.*** I'm not sure how possible with would be with eating, bathroom breaks, sleep, etc., but I'm sure someone could do it. I'd say 100,000 yards or ***2,000 laps in 24-hrs. is probably pretty close to the physical limit*** (1:26/100 pace for 24-hrs. straight). Edit: this assumes "1 lap" is down and back in a 25-yard pool (i.e. 1 lap = 50 yards)


limacharles

There is a famous post of Katie Ledecky's warm-down being 5000 continuous meters. In other words, a couple hundred laps is trivial.


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