I was reading a post regarding best money and time use in order to become faster, and someone mentioned time swimming.
I think that working on swimming is the wrong strategy. I am a reasonably fast swimmer can average under 1:30 per 100m for HIM distance. Sure I could spend extra time in the pool and get faster, but what are the time gains one can achieve swimming. In reality for practically any distance triathlon, the extra time spent getting faster in the swim can be better spent running and/or biking in which time gains can be more significant.
In order for me to significantly get faster in swimming say to average 1:20 per 100m (a 11 percent faster time) would require a significant increase in swim volume and intensity. BTW a 10 second per 100m improvement on the swim only equals 3 minutes on a HIM and about 6 on a full IM. In order to get that much faster requires as I mentioned tremendous increase in volume and intensity.
As all of our time is limited, that must come at a cost of less bike and/or run training, less sleep, less time with family/friends etc. Meanwhile, for the same time one could spend getting faster in the swim I am sure most people could significantly lower their run and/or bike times by more than 3 or 6 minutes depending on the race.
I think that working on swimming is the wrong strategy. I am a reasonably fast swimmer can average under 1:30 per 100m for HIM distance. Sure I could spend extra time in the pool and get faster, but what are the time gains one can achieve swimming. In reality for practically any distance triathlon, the extra time spent getting faster in the swim can be better spent running and/or biking in which time gains can be more significant.
In order for me to significantly get faster in swimming say to average 1:20 per 100m (a 11 percent faster time) would require a significant increase in swim volume and intensity. BTW a 10 second per 100m improvement on the swim only equals 3 minutes on a HIM and about 6 on a full IM. In order to get that much faster requires as I mentioned tremendous increase in volume and intensity.
As all of our time is limited, that must come at a cost of less bike and/or run training, less sleep, less time with family/friends etc. Meanwhile, for the same time one could spend getting faster in the swim I am sure most people could significantly lower their run and/or bike times by more than 3 or 6 minutes depending on the race.