Background is I was a swimmer as a kid from ages 7-15 so form is generally solid compared to other triathletes but swimming is still on weaker side compared to running and biking

My week would probably look something like:
1 Day of doing 100-200 reps
1 Day of doing longer 200-400 reps
1 Day of doing shorter 50-150 reps

Would probably spend first 5-10 minutes doing a warm up consisting of 200 free then some 50 reps of doing drills before getting into the main set. Warm up would be around 400-600 total. Main set would be around 1200-1500 and then 100 cooldown at the end. Goal would be to get around 2k a session in.

Every now and then I would mix it up and do a longer swim of straight swimming just to make sure i'm solid. something like 1000 where I break it up into 5x200 and the 4th 50 of each 200 I make an effort to push the pace

Edit: I also wanted to add this was basically exactly what I did last winter before pools shut down. All of my sessions were right around 40-45 minutes and would be in the pool 3 times a week and the improvements were pretty significant from when I started (100 reps went from on 1:50 to on 1:35 over <2 months so far).

This will probably not be a popular response, but I'd spend two of them swimming 45 minutes straight with snorkel, buoy & ankle strap. The other session I'd do 10-15x100 w/ 10 sec rest, plus wu/cd.

Edit: forgot to give background. I'm basically the same as snowchicken, swam as a kid but not HS or college. I'd rather spend my hard sessions on bike & run. I got to love the snorkel, buoy & band from Tower 26. With this setup your form doesn't deteriorate and you can swim straight endurance pace while still reinforcing good mechanics.

Probably one day doing a USRPT type set
one day doing moderate to longer intervals with some stroke work thrown in
one day doing descending or negative split sets

---

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

No tris in my future, thanks to a left knee that refuses to cooperate with me. so once I get back in the pool (pool has been closed since March, and we're heading into another lockdown.)

Break it up into training blocks.

Spend 2-3 weeks working on form at speed (build 50's & 75's with decent rest) - this is relatively easy
2-3 weeks working on longer intervals / short rest
1-2 weeks on fast VO2 max type efforts.

repeat.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

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

Well, the local pool put us on the 45 minute maximum schedule yesterday. I swim 3x a week (usually between 60-75 minutes 3200-3800M). And everyday going forward under the restricted pool access accept that I'm at the pool to swim and forgo socializing for a period of time.

Monday's -- Ladders: 3x100-2x200-1x300-2x200pull-3x100, 200Kick & 200K mixed stroked with sculling as warm down

Wednesday's -- Intervals: 300 warm-up Repeats 8x200 w/5 second rest (2xpull in the middle), 200Kick & 200K mixed stroked with sculling as warm down

Friday's -- Friday 500's -- Broken 500's for warm-up, main set, & warm down. Always changing blend with strokes/toys/rest/speed/recovery. 2500 Meters

Running background.

Goals: To race 70.3's to sprints in 2021 until I'm tired of racing to make up for 2020!

https://www.palmtreesahead.com/
https://www.palmtreesahead.com/tactics2faster-new

3x200 IM
4x50 kick-drill
Ladder 25 to 150 alt fr-im order
Then probably an 8x100 or 4x200 or 3x300 till I got the boot.

Other day would be similar warm up then steady 200-400s.

Last day would probably be sprints.

---

***

A couple questions about this . . .

1. Why the ankle strap? How does it help if you are using a pull buoy?

2. Isn't one of the things about swimming that intensity can be done independent of your bike/run intensity? (within reason, especially if you are doing a lot of pulling)

---

Dimond Bikes Superfan

Strap helps to keep everything streamline and your body tightly rotating about it's axis. Without strap feet could be out trying to stabilize. To me it just feels better and ingrains good alignment. Take the strap off after using it for a long time and you're more likely to keep feet close together and tightly rotating and creating less drag.

IME hard swim sessions just zap my energy. Yes swimming doesn't work the legs as hard and they should be still good for some hard run/bikes. But my biggest problem is managing my energy level when training a lot (and still trying to be productive in the rest of my life)

Here's another hot take you're going to absolutely love: triathlon swimming isn't fast for 98% of age groupers. These people aren't going to get much faster than they are now, especially with only 3x per week @ 45 min. They need to be focused on getting through the swim while expending the least amount of energy possible, not trying to get 60 seconds faster over a HIM.

As I said: YMMV, and we don't know how good a swimmer the OP is.
And my goals may be different (as in: having fun and challenging myself doing all three disciplines reasonably well).
I improved about 6mins on my HIM swim times after I injected serious speed work.
And as a bonus came out of the water being less taxed.


I just don't understand the mindset, as for me it's a hobby after all. If I hated/loathed swimming, I would do off-road events or Duathlons.

Again YMMV!

I would go with these 3 sessions:

- 30x100 @1.30 - if fresh I would do them without toys and if tired I would use a pullbouy and fingerpaddles

- 3x15 minutes - 15 no toys, 15 with pullbouy and fingerpaddles and 15 NP toys

- 45 minutes as far as possible

I have been a swimmer all my life and I have all the speed I need, but lack endurance. My focus would be to get more strength endurance.

I’m only swimming 1 hour a week now - always aiming for 4000 with as much pulling as possible

---

---
Long Distance PB: 8:25
Instagram: larsschmidttri

OP here - definitely more of a general curiosity question than one specific to me. That being said, I'm an okay triathlon swimmer with no competitive swimming background. Did a 35 minute 70.3 swim this fall with a goal of coming out fresh. My swim was a better than usual against the field this fall because I was able to do lots of open water when the pools were closed.

For me, 3x45 this time of year is great. Not enough to maintain where I was in September, but enough to have a good starting spot to build on next year. I just love seeing the variety of ways people would structure that time!

On a side note, that other swim thread is fantastic stuff. Depressing to mere mortals, but really good reading!

---

Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

for sure I would do a 15-20min core workout either pre or post swim. Can you bring a yoga mat onto the deck or find a spot near the pool to do this workout.

I'd do a 600 warmup. swim kick drill in various combos mostly 200/200/200
short kick set or drill work 300-500
main set anything from 50-200s, total yds 600-1000, something like 8 x100 on 1:30 descend each 4
sprint 8 x25s, then warm down until kicked out of the pool

Essentially I would do a variation of this for every work out. One day I would make distance day which would probably be 6 to 8 200s.

200 w/u
Main set
200 w/d


W/u and w/d take about 8 minutes, gives you 37 minutes.

No kicking, no pulling, no drills. You've got very limited time - get some yards in.

Main sets could be
12x100
20x100
Ladders of like 1>4>1
6x400


Don't just swim straight for 45 minutes. Waste of time, not enough intensity.

Are you really saying that 98% of age groupers will only experience a 1 minute improvement in their 70.3 swim from beginning to end, so no real need to work faster swimming into their program? Where did you get this from?

I've reread your comment and it still makes no sense to me

---

Inside The Big Ring: Podcast & Coaching

Not on 3x45’ per week. The percentage was made up but basically wanted to convey the overwhelmingly majority. If these folks want to get faster in the pool they need to be doing a swim focused block and swimming well over double that volume. But that was not the question asked by the OP.

Yes, people can certainly improve their swimming with 3x45' sessions a week. I think you are confusing the word fast, as its relative to the athlete. You are thinking of it your world, as someone who has a swimming background and trying to think of how a non swimmer can get as fast as a swimmer with a swimming background. We know the level of difficulty of that. That is not achievable in 3x45' swims a week. However, the "98%" of us who don't have a swimming background can go from a 40' 70.3 swim to a 35, to a 33 with 3 swims a week consistently with the right technique changes and workout prescription.

---

Inside The Big Ring: Podcast & Coaching

I would make this dead simple.

Pick one of three workouts

5 min warmup, 10 min kick with fins full stroke then

next 30 min

1. workout option 1: continuous 50's sprint with 5 breaths rest
2. workout option 2: continuous 100's faster than wetsuit olympic tri race pace with 7 breaths rest
3. workout option 3: continuous 200's with 10 breaths rest

For the 200's its 25m super hard, 25 min cruise as if you are hanging on in a pack. Pick ONE technical element per month. Does not matter what. It could be hip rotation, timing of breath, high elbow catch, pushing chest down, timing of kick, orientation of foot/toes, not lifting head while breathing....does not matter, pick only ONE element for an ENTIRE month, until it becomes automatic. If you think about too many things you will screwed and confused all the time and never improve on a single thing technically

Here is what I did. It's not a guess at what I would do. Since you are describing my situation for Aug, Sept, and Oct. Our pools are closed again now. So this is what I expect I will do again next spring.

Opportunity for 3 swims 45 minutes each per week.

Resources: 25 yard pool, reservation system, one swimmer per lane, most time slots 45 minutes

Background: More a situation of skill reserve than current fitness. Lifetime freestyle PRs for 200, 500, 1000, 1650 are 1:52, 4:55, 10:10, 17:01 set 25 years ago, current ability more like 2:10, 6:00, 12:30, 20:00 or something like that. If I were doing a triathlon I would aim for 22:00 open water 1500m so as to not come out totally gassed.

Liabilities: Family, work, sloth, gluttony, pride

Goals: Keep the decay in check. Continue to swim about 22 minutes for 1500m open water for another decade. Remain prepared quick brush up in skills for a USMS meet.

The 3 swims per week

Swim A: Skip it. Cuz that's what happened.

Swim B: Some long very boring set with enough rest to keep from getting bogged down. Try to fill the whole 45 minutes.
These were my variations: 15 x 200 with 25 secs rest in between. 30 x 100 with 15 secs rest in between. 50 x 50 on 50.

Swim C: Recruit a friend. Make sure to be rested. Do a real warm up. Swim 10x 100 IM with equal rest. Try to kill it. Feel like a hero on numbers 1 through 8, feel like a fool on numbers 9 and 10. Hate myself, cool down, make peace with myself.

Go home and take a nap.

My background is: thought I learned to swim as a kid. Took up triathlon at 35 and discovered that I didn't really know how to swim. Did "Total Immersion" stuff for a few months and went from being unable to swim 100m freestyle to being able to swim 1500m in about 30 minutes. This shows that with some starting points, BIG gains can be made on 3 x 45 minutes per week. Since then, have worked on it for the last ten years (but like a "typical triathlete" I only swim 2 or 3 times a week) and got my 1500 down to about 26 minutes. The plateau is brutal. Anyway, here are my three:

1. fast day: 50's or 100's on 5-10 seconds rest, counting strokes and doing the "swim golf" thing to monitor spl
2. sustained efforts: I like ladders, like 4 x 100, 3 x 150, 2 x 200, 1x 400; somehow ladders feel more interesting; I would mix in some pull here
3. endurance swim: time trial to track progress and learn pacing - I am using 1000m right now, but 1500 or even 2000 if you're faster

I would use "other" strokes for warm-up and cool down, main sets would be all free because that would be time-efficient.

I am always bemused that the weekly long swim (1000m-2000m) is not prioritised (and is sometimes even sneered at), to me, learning to manage pace and effort so that I maximise my race day performance is crucial. Because of my long time trial swims I know that right now I can hold 1:45 per 100m for 1000m and keep my heart rate in the low 130s, which will allow me to feel strong for the bike and run (which, you have to admit, are a far more important part of triathlon in terms of placing well). So when I am finally able to race I will know exactly what my race pace should feel like. If all you ever do are the shorter repeats (50-200) how do you ever know what it feels like to hold race pace for race distance? I know that 1:45 per 100m leaves me ready to race the bike/run but that 1:40 per 100m would cause me to lose far more time on the bike/run than I'd gain on the swim. I try to view triathlon as being different from swimming, biking and running - I do as many "combination" workouts as I can to get used to how the disciplines inter-relate and cause my body to respond. It seems to work pretty well for me and is very time-efficient.