I was going quite slow, as noticed that when I was swimming my average heart rate was 182bpm so I think I was pushing it a bit too hard. So I slowed right down and actually found this 3-hour swim to be easier than the 1 or 2-hour swims. For this 3-hour swim my heart rate was averaging 150bpm (I'm 38) - which I think is okay (hopefully as I'm not sure I can go much slower than I'm going).

I was taking a loo break and getting water every hour, I keep meaning to take a water bottle, instead of getting out of the pool and drinking after the loo.

How have people found longer swims? I'm curious to hear about training for longer swims. I found that it was a bit like a meditation on this one, and I got into a nice rhythm. I went to an open water swim last year and really struggled as it's just so different to pool swimming, and in a pool like this that is only 25 meters, you are kicking off the end quite a lot which feels like a bit of a rest.

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The pool I swim (Thames Lido Reading UK) I was swimming from about 630pm-930pm in a mostly empty pool

My times and details of swim