Forums >Cross Training>Lifeguarding
Thats rad
I'm looking to be a lifeguard the summer after this one (yeah it's a long way off but you have to be 18) at my local beach. The test is a 0.5 mile ocean swim, a 1 mile soft sand run, then two rescues. You also must be able to run 1 mile under 8 minutes and 500 meter swim under 10 minutes. Of course I will train for this, but I'm not worried about the mile at all, it's the swimming part. I surf on a pretty regular basis so I'm right at home in the water, I just have never trained for swimming before.
So is 500 meters in under 10 minutes a reasonable thing to do for a 17 year old male athlete if I train for a decent amount of time? I surf, play high school lacrosse and run, but I would definitely like to add swimming to my workouts.
Also, what gear would you guys/gals recommend for ocean/indoor pool training? Not sure if compression shorts/swimming equivalent of compression shorts are standard or if boardshorts are even an option.
You should be OK for the swim. The only way to train for swimming is to swim, for me at least. I'll assume that you have taken the actual life guard course and are familiar with the rescues, they are not that difficult unless you have a "victim" that is alot bigger than you. Then dragging, or carrying the victim once on shore and putting them in a postion for CPR could be problematic.