As my off-season break comes to an end I am contemplating cutting way back on my biking and running and spending 2018 focused on my swim (only racing for fun). If I could improve my swim times by 10% or more by 2019, this would be worth the investment.
What is a suggested approach to follow if I want to solely focus on improving my swim? Would 5 or 6 days a week with 90 minutes per workout be sufficient or should I add a second swim a couple of days a week? Should I instead join a masters group for 3 days a week and supplement that with three workouts on my own? Is there a model of how I should vary my swim workouts? Without any feedback I would probably cycle through the Guppy/Tarpon/Tuna program several throughout the year adding a sixth swim per week when possible. I remember a discussion from a few years ago where someone undertook a three month swim focus swimming 7-8 times a week, but I was not able to find that thread.
My current swim statistics are: 1:35-1:38 range per 100 yards when swimming a 20x100; 1:31-1:32 for an all out 100. 30:27 swim time at Age Group Nationals in Omaha (my bike and run were fast enough to take me from 52nd in my age group after the swim to 20th by the finish hence my plan); 1:14:01 swim time at Ironman Florida. In a hard 100 I take 21 strokes to get across the pool (11 left arms; 10 right arms) and my stroke rate is about 27 spm on my Garmin.
What is a suggested approach to follow if I want to solely focus on improving my swim? Would 5 or 6 days a week with 90 minutes per workout be sufficient or should I add a second swim a couple of days a week? Should I instead join a masters group for 3 days a week and supplement that with three workouts on my own? Is there a model of how I should vary my swim workouts? Without any feedback I would probably cycle through the Guppy/Tarpon/Tuna program several throughout the year adding a sixth swim per week when possible. I remember a discussion from a few years ago where someone undertook a three month swim focus swimming 7-8 times a week, but I was not able to find that thread.
My current swim statistics are: 1:35-1:38 range per 100 yards when swimming a 20x100; 1:31-1:32 for an all out 100. 30:27 swim time at Age Group Nationals in Omaha (my bike and run were fast enough to take me from 52nd in my age group after the swim to 20th by the finish hence my plan); 1:14:01 swim time at Ironman Florida. In a hard 100 I take 21 strokes to get across the pool (11 left arms; 10 right arms) and my stroke rate is about 27 spm on my Garmin.