I went from a 32 minute to 28:30 in the last year doing exactly as you're saying. I found my technique came with more volume. Having good technique is great when you're fresh, but I found it took some high volume to be able to hold it together. Hoping to make a similar jump to 26:xx this year through the same system. I am not sure its the best approach for everyone, but it for sure worked for me.

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I am a bad runner.
I met Javier Gomez once.
I don't speak in miles.
I have opinions.

If you were to do the roughly 15000y every week, you might notice a couple minute drop over HIM Swim, with another few minutes off your overall time due to less fatigue carried over to bike and run. And like the first poster says, you can absolutely make gains year to year if training consistency is there.

To get the kind of improvements that a) take the 5min+ chunks of time off the swim and b) tend not to fade at the end of the season, it might be okay to have 15,000y as an average, but you’d likely have to pick a chunk of time (6 weeks +) at an average of perhaps 24-30k per week. The rest of the year might see you average 8,000-12,000, but that concentrated block would provide the most beneficial adaptations.

Like the other poster, I went from where you're at to sub-30 and sub-hour for HIM and IM.

I then went from 15k/wk to 25k/wk and got my IM down to 58-high non-wetsuit and HIM to 28:30

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

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i think that would be a mistake. sure, you might gain in the short term 'overall fitness' but in the long term you'd ingrain what are potentially bad habits and subsequently never be able to discard them

plus, if you're swimming 31-32 1900m swims on 8000/week, you've clearly got some 'talent' so don't f*** up what might actually be good body awareness with simply banging out swim volume. good body awareness is often a catalyst for marked swim improvements due to a better proprioceptive understanding of what's happening in the context of your swim stroke.

if you ACTUALLY swim consistent 31-32 (wetsuit, non wetsuit) and are 'struck' there and you ACTUALLY 'average' 8000yd/week all year (so getting in roughly half a million yards in your year) then a combination of workouts that better allow you to understand the deficiency in your swim stroke and work through them with proper workout/toy application while putting in consistent 12-15k a week i think you could see marked improvements in your times in open water triathlon swims.

Drills are good for feeling things (e.g. the catch, fist drill) so you can fix things. A workout of all drills is not going to result in a lot of speed gains. Do the volume, with some drills as part of w/u

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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

it depends on what you do in that 7k yards. If you add 7k of easy swimming, you won't get much faster. If you add 7k of decent intervals, you will get faster.
your best bang for the buck is to join a masters team.

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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 would say that's the exception not the rule. People will improve with more volume, but will be hamstrung by poor technique unless they actually get taught how to swim good freestyle. Dropping their elbow feels right, swimming with an early vertical forearm doesn't, at least not at first and they'll probably go slower. They'll never figure this out on their own, most people will need some coaching. The reason why the standard of swimming in triathlon is so poor is because people just chuck in volume and hope for the best, technique is an after-thought, maybe 200m of pull and catchup before the main-set. Technique is everything, that's why you see that fat bloke in his 50s caning it up and down the pool. You can still get quick(ish) with lots of volume, but that's a waste of valuable training hours.

I rather not spend too much time with drills and just focus on volume.

Spoken like a true triathlete...

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#swimmingmatters
Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
The Doctor (#12)

[quote endurancealex1. I rather not spend too much time with drills and just focus on sustainable speed[/quote]
FIFY...

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

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

Shush you. I want to be able to do the occasional triathlon with just bike fitness and still be towards the front coming out of the water. I can't do that if triathletes learn to swim. (Current bike racer, former triathlete & swimming).

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All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. ~Gandalf

This feels excessive. You are practically doubling your time in the pool just to drop a couple of minutes on the swim. Wouldn’t it be better to spend half that time on the bike or run and potentially drop more time there?

For the swim, more volume is not the answer. This HIM swim isn’t long enough to benefit from slogging through slow workouts. You need high quality sets that focus on generating speed. I do a max of 6000 yds/week and swim 26:xx for the HIM. Swim less but focus on quality.

Lol this is true. I think it would suck balls if triathletes learned to swim.

Humans crave variety. Drills can provide some variety, but if you are mindlessly doing the same drills all the time, there is probably not much benefit in that. I don't even use the word 'drill' that much in my coaching anymore, preferring the word activity instead. Activities can be drills, drill progressions, kick rhythm & timing work, breath timing work, and many, many forms of speedplay and other potent integrators. Drills aren't good, drills aren't bad, what you do with them determines their relative goodness.

For swimmers that simply detest anything other than swimming, speedplay in the form of descending sets, build ups, cheetah swims, and negative splits are probably the most potent of teachers. If the focus is on actual pace clock based speed changes, and not simply effort changes, many swimmers find that the simple act of controlling and adjusting speeds is a potent instrument of passive technique. To become really excellent at speedplay requires body knowledge beyond simple effort control.

Take a set of 4 x 400 on either a fixed rest of :20 or a fixed interval that provides about that same :20 on a moderate effort. It's a decent set in it's own right, but if you add two distinct elements of speedplay to that set, the benefits that it can provide are amplified. First, negative split each swim. So the 2nd 200 is faster than the 1st 200. Do this in a distinct manner, right at the 200 mark... take a peek at the pace clock as you glide into the wall, note your split, and switch gears coming off the wall. Swim the 2nd half faster.... :05, :02, :10, whatever, just faster. Now add another element of speedplay. Descend the entire set (as you negative split each swim). So swim each 400 at a faster total time than the previous, as you continue to negative split each individual 400. Sound easy? Usually it is not the first time you do it, but if you do complete it properly, the next step is to decrease the the difference of both the neg splits and the descends.

So a really good swimmer would knock it out as perhaps:
2:15 / 2:13 ...4:28
2:14 / 2:12 ...4:26
2:12 / 2:09 ...4:21
2:10 / 2:08 ...4:18

There is a lot of passive learning opportunity available in that set, as you cultivate that level of skill, with no actual drills required.

As is said in the thread, this will no-doubt help you. But maybe also a viewpoint add in from a different angle

Moving up to 15k a week swim will let you go faster in the swim by a couple minutes, but it also may help your overall race. The foundation of your race starts in the swim.

Even if you swim the same pace/time, but you're in better swim shape, it will no doubt help your bike and your run. Maybe you notice your HR is lower, or decreases faster as you get on the bike, rather than taking 20k to have it come down. But the same argument in a better situation! You increase your swim time by a few minutes, but also are able to bike/run faster as well.

An extra 7k of volume isn't necessarily going to do it, but in general, that extra fitness will pay off! Look for a solid coach who knows what workouts to give, and when to give them! Best of luck!

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Carson Christen
Sport Scientist , Coach
Torden Multisport

Yup, something that gets very little attention. I had the 12 fastest bike split in my age group for a 70.3, but the fastest first 22.5km. I'm jumping on the bike, pretty fresh, whereas weaker swimmers are practically walking up the beach with HR maxing out. Only 5 mins behind me in the swim, but then they lose additional time on the bike as their HR is still high, even for the strong bikers.

I agree. If you have x amount of time, spend your pool time with quality. Adding a lot of volume in the pool will help you develop a feel for the water better & sense your inefficiencies (it'll help if you get video taped & have someone point things out during your swim sessions). But the effort to pay off may be best spent on the bike & run or getting transititions down better, maybe the weight room to get stronger & prevent injuries. I've also found that I need very little volume to maintain my swim if I just focus on technique most of the time. Not to say a focus week here & there wouldn't benefit you--I think it would (and gives your bike + run a bit more rest).Sure more volume could lead to getting onto the bike fresher, but more time on the bike will lead to getting into the run fresher if you have enough fitness to handle the swim distance you're racing.