anything is possible but it's not very likely. Kind of like I'm not really making any bike improvements by riding about once a week. :-)

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I wouldn't focus so much on yards per week as I would on frequency and time. I used to obsess with yards/week and it led me to over-training and injury quickly. For me though, I found the sweet spot to be 3-4x a week. I now swim 5-6x a week but that's mostly because I don't run or bike much these days :-P.

One day a week is better than none!

Sure, doing the group training thing twice a day, 5.5 days a week is the gold standard for "pro" swimmers but even just once a week can reap the amateur huge benefits. You are gong to be doing that workout anyway so why not do it with some company you can learn from.

At your level, you will learn A TON by spending one workout a week with masters swimmers. Just an hour a week with a masters group will show you what real work is and at least for that hour you will be pushing yourself harder than you would alone just to keep up and you will always have someone else to key off of to up your workload. One of the true secrets to getting faster in the water is just simply being highly motivated to go faster right now. Improvement comes from literally just trying to eek out half a second here and half a second there. Doing that dozens of time a workout is how you get to the goals you are after. Having someone tell you what to do is one thing (and important) but actually being forced to go just a little faster than you want to is the real secret. The body just has a way of figuring out how to go a little bit faster when really pushed. Working out with other swimmers who are faster than you will give you that little push.

And if nothing else, you'll have people to ask about what goggles are good and you'll get clued in to when the local swim shop is having a sale ;-) And you'll probably meet some other triathletes. It will be all good if you do it!

 

And if nothing else, you'll have people to ask about what goggles are good - Swedes....

and you'll get clued in to when the local swim shop is having a sale - you have a local swim shop? Now I'm sad....

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I've just tried a masters session which was great. I got a lot of tips.

But, I'm already member of a triathlon club. With this club i swim 3 times a week. Though i dont get that many tips/critique about my swimmimg, the training sessions are primarily geared towards free style swimming. In the masters session i noticed that all 4 swimmimg styles get the same amount of attention.

So if you have the opportunity to swim with a triathlon club, you might get some more free style training.

My toes used to point to the bottom of the pool. I'm really glad I ignored this disparaging crap advice you're throwing out. It's an easy excuse to not put the work in to improve.

that's over a 1500 or 2000 or something. just an average.

I don’t know - my experience is that swim technique gains last. I notice drop offs when I do a run focus, but I can always hit at least a few hundreds under 1:30. I get faster in-season, but my floor has dropped. I’d think at the OP’s level he can take a big near-permanent chunk of time off his swim.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

At 2:00/100, the bigger issue is not you’re technique, but your fitness and conditioning in the water to get you to and allow you to maintain the technique that will make you faster and more efficient. You are training technique.

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http://www.magnoliamasters.com
http://www.snappingtortuga.com
http://www.swimeasyspeed.com

To clarify my perspective... When the OP quotes 2:00/100m I am assuming this is his long distance swim pace (not 100m sprint ability). This mirrors my own experience in open water long distance swims.

My pace without a wetsuit on is generally around 2:00 minutes per 100 meters over the course of 1.2 miles (with my inflexible anxles and droopy legs as a result)

My wetsuit pace improves to 1:50 minutes per 100 meters over the course of 1.2 miles. (wetsuit alleviates droopy legs caused by inflexible ankles for me)

I know I can improve my "Long Distance No Westuit" pace from 2:00/100m to 1:50/100m if I spend 3 hrs a week in the pool (which equates to closer to 6 hrs of total time with commute to pool and locker room time before and after swim).

So by spending close to 6 hours/week to improve my long distance swim pace by 10sec/100m I will shave 3 minutes off a 1.2 miles swim course...

With my long legs (6'2" 180 lbs minimal body fat) and inflexible ankles no amount of swim training is going to improve my long distance sustainable pace beyond 1:45/100m given I have zero kick and my feet act as drags...

For me, spending 24 hrs a month ( 12 hrs swimming + 12 hrs commuting/locker room time) to improve my swim by 3 minutes in a half ironman isn't worth the effort similar to OP's time restrictions.


Whenever I see Adult onset triathlete swimmers at the pool or lake struggling with improvement I ask to see their ankles and sure enough, they have inflexible ankles like me which will make swimming way way way way more difficult for them vs. someone with flipper feet...

I agree that you have to consider ROI when thinking training. If you are at a plateau, likely there is lower-hanging fruit.

My sense is the OP is at a place where he hasn’t picked that swim fruit yet. No idea where I am on the ankle flex continuum, but I’m a 6’4” 172 pound leg dragger and was able to swim 1:42 pace at Muncie 70.3 (faster actually - that included a longish run up a hill to transition). That was not a redline swim - it was comfortable and controlled. Only 2-3 swims per week, not sure I did over 8k ever.

My point is I think a good swim block can lead to gains that are easier to maintain than in the other disciplines.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Aaron - nice job at Muncie for 1.2 miles @ 1:42/100m pace!
I assume this was with wetsuit as I was there too and most everyone was wearing one - I only did a casual 1:58/100m pace since I only swam a total of 2 miles prior to Muncie in all of 2017 following my own advice LOL. (2017 was my 19th Muncie at 47 years old and was not going for a PR this year so my training was lacking)

Since you are a fellow "leg dragger" I'm guessing your average pace at Munice without a wetsuit would be in the low 1:50/100meter range since a wetsuit alleviates droopy legs, but if you did a non-redline 1:42/100 without a wetsuit I'm guessing you have flexible ankles and webbed fingers (just joking).

The OP says he's improved his long distance swim pace from 2:20/100m to 2:00/100m so I'm guessing he's achieved the low level fruits and to go from 2:00/100m to 1:50/100m will take a lot of pool time (similar to your 2 to 3 times per week or approx. 15 to 20hrs per month investment)

Here's my post on ankle flexibility if your interested - you sound like a good case study...
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...)_P5899352/#p5899352

I get a lot of "Sharks" (fast swimmers) who take exception to my post, but show me a struggling Adult onset swimmer and I'll show you a person with poor ankle flexibility 9 times out of 10. All tings being equal, flipper feat will be faster than locked feet...

Keep up the good work! 1:42 is a solid pace!!!