This training plan has been designed to help you prepare for a 5-mile open water swim at Swim Hobbs Island, a kayak-supported river swim in the Tennessee River.

This plan is intended to work forward from being an accomplished swimmer who has done several 1 and 2 mile open water swims who can swim 2100 yards continuously - to swimming 5.25 miles, which is around 9,200 yards. This is a 14 week plan, and we assume that you have been swimming two to three times per week leading up to this.

The Swim Hobbs Island 5 miler event and this training plan are NOT intended for beginning or intermediate swimmers, but rather for ADVANCED SWIMMERS who feel comfortable in deep water and have no fear there. For those who are learning to swim or have open water fear, please get in touch with your local swim instructor.

Of course, you should consult your doctor beginning any exercise routine, and by purchasing this plan you assume all risk from training and racing.

In this plan, swims are described in yards, assuming a 25 yard pool, because almost all indoor pools in the US are 25 yards long. Example: Swim 100 means to swim 100 yards, or 4 lengths without stopping.

Suggested rest periods are given after each swim. Example: r: 10 means rest 10 seconds after each swim effort. If no rest period is given, rest as much as you want.

W/U means warmup easy swimming and C/D means cooldown easy swimming. Where drills are given, explanations follow in the "pre-activity comments" section of the workout.

Workout codes are sometimes at the front of each workout title; it's ok to ignore those, they are just for coach use in remembering which workouts have been assigned.

We recommend that you have a kickboard, pull buoy, and a pair of shorter fins for use during these swims, just to make life more fun. All of these can be found on www.swimoutlet.com

Never swim alone, indoors or out. Most certainly do not swim alone outdoors without a kayaker or a spotter onshore who is prepared to stay alert and call for help if needed.

There are suggested open water swims in this plan that can be done at various swim beaches near Huntsville (Wheeler Lake Campground in Decatur / Hillsboro https://beyondercamp.com/wheeler-lake-hillsboro-al/ or Lake Guntersville Campground: https://www.alapark.com/parks/lake-guntersville-state-park/beach-complex
If open water swimming without a kayaker, you should stay in shallow water where you can touch bottom, and you should have an alert onshore spotter. If swimming in deep water, you should always be accompanied by a kayaker who is wearing a Coast Guard approved Personal Floatation Device (PFD) and also has along an extra Coast Guard approved throwable PFD in case you should need it. Be alert of boating traffic and weather.

A great inexpensive tool for having a float along with you during kayaker supported open water swimming is the New Wave Swim Buoy, $35 https://www.newwaveswimbuoy.com/

Water temperature on event day is expected to be between 77 and 83 degrees, which is very comfortable with or without a wetsuit. While we will have wetsuit categories for the event, we definitely do not recommend using a wetsuit for the Swim Hobbs Island event if you have not trained and raced in one before.

Enjoy your plan and see you at Swim Hobbs Island!