You are spending over 20% of your pool time not swimming right now.

Recently I’ve been doing 3x1000 (or however far you can go in 13 minutes) with 30 seconds rest in between to grab a drink and fix your goggles.

Maybe 200 repeats on every 4:00

Doing repeats longer than 200s I find makes for slower than desirable swimming, hard counting, boredom, then you want to quit. Then you do quit.

A common workout I did back in the day when I was pretty good was 20×100scy on 1:05, giving me about 2-4 seconds rest for each one. That put me in really good 1650y/1500m raceshape.

Keep it exciting, not dull. 1000s is a recipe for burnout 🔥

My masters coach has me do a set that is 5x400 inside the 400, there is 75 build leading to 25 fly four times. You can replace the fly with a free sprint, but generally swimming continuously on long sets means you swim with the form of slow swimming and if you are racing 70.3, you are contantly having to surge to get on feet to swim faster, or sprinting to get ahead of a crowd at a turn buoy. Generally fully steady state intervals don't reflect what you do in a pack.

Based on your 1:44, you should be fine doing this in 40 min. Take 15 breaths of rest between 400's (I suspect you should be done in 8 min send off). Skip the warmup and use the first 75 of your first 400m to build up anyway

20 x 1s on 1:05??
That’s quick. Well done.
Where did you swim?

I think right now I could prob do that on 1:10. I think w a partner def. But 105s is another level.

I’ve never done that level of repeats w the clock pushing me. But feel like I could swim a time to “make 20x1 on 1:05” but the interval would have to be 1:20. Or so

Daved.

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

Things I've done in the past when in your situation:

Main set: 15x100 on 2:00 (sounds like 15sec rest for you)
Cool down: 100
Warm up: working backwards, you should have about 7-7:30 worth of warm up

After a few weeks, try reducing the rest to 10sec.
As you get closer to the race, change the main set to 7-8 x 200 and keep the 15 sec rest

I've never done well with 1000s in the pool and 2x the above per week-done a bit harder than 70.3 pace got me through the swim fresh and in good position.

Why so much rest? Anything is better than not swimming, but there are plenty of other options that you could be doing to prepare for an 1,900 m open water swim.

-Same but a bit better: In at 1:50-55, out at 2:00, you will likely hit the wall after 3-4 but it will help you break from the 30 s rest.

-Continuous swim: stay in zone 2, the purpose is to build endurance not to go flat out. Try to build up to the duration of your 70.3 swim.

-Longer sets: 200, 300s, 400s, 600-800s. Again, rest should only be 10-20 seconds.

What do you do on your longer day, intervals or endurance?

You could focus the 40 minute days on more quality. 400 warmup (around 8 minutes), then (4x100 on 2:00, 2x100 on 5:00, 2x100 on 3:00, 4x50 on 1:40) - hold 100 pace within segment but descend by 2-4 seconds each segment, so say 1:45, 1:43, 1:41, then :48/:49 for the 50s), 100 swim down.

Cover off your endurance on the long day.

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9x250m on 4:30 is solid. I'm about your speed so it will have you on the edge, getting 10-15 sec rest.

You should aim for about 10-15 seconds rest per 100. The only time to deviate from this is when you are doing legit speedwork, which is a pretty good idea once in a while. Your set of 100 repeats is a great set for 40 minutes. Just bump the send-off to 2:00. In a similar fashion, do 40x50s on 1:00, with every 4th hard (hard= 5-8 seconds faster than your set average). This will break up the monotony, put extra work into your arms, and help you count (now you have to count to 10 fast ones instead of 40 regulars).

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

The overwhelming, governing variable that triathletes should be aware of is the less amount of time you swim, the harder and more intense the swims you do need to be.

Swimming is very technically driven that's why there is so much practice involved. The brain and body need about 15 - 20 minutes of focused warm up to warm up. If you don't give it that much time, you'll just be warming up during the part of the practice when you are trying to drive adaptation.

The brain likes variety. Change up the sets you are doing. Vary the distance, although I would probably keep the repeats 150 or less. Vary the amount of rest you get. Use gear to "constrain" aspects of your stroke to drive technique and fitness improvements at the same time.

At some point, you'll have to contend with the reality of the distance and the demands of the discipline. Two times a week for 40 minutes isn't enough training for a 1.2 mile (1900m) swim. You might be able to get through it, but you'll be robbing fitness from the bike and run to do it.

I hope this helps.

Tim

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

Everything he said.

I also BET that you don't just have 2x40min slots. You are LIKELY only choosing to do 2x40min, because you prefer to bike and run with the rest of the time slots. But look what happened to Lucy Charles when she could not run and she put all her run + swim volume into swim+swim volume and ended up on 50km weeks. Suddely here Kona leading swim pace was easy enough to have a record setting bike and run day.

I know you said 2x40 min, but as it is not tri season in the north hemisphere, consider if you can just ditch the trainer hours and replace them all with swim+commute to pool hours (if possible, but maybe pool times don't align). You could literally miss months of biking and if you replace with swimming you won't lose anything getting back on the bike and the technical gains will be there with you more or less for life.

I think both you and snappingturtle missed this sentence from the OP: "I will also do a longer set once a week"

So it's not just two weekly 40-min swims, there's a 3rd longer swim. For a 70.3, I would guess this is probably more than most finishers are doing in the pool.

Oh, and the 1st reply to keep the 100's and reduce the rest intervals is spot on. Maybe switch up the 2nd 40-min swim to do some fast 50s or a pyramid set.

@kid

OK sorry I missed the point about a third longer swim but regardless I would recommend hitting the pool 5x on alternate weeks and 3x the other week and dial back on bike during the 5x week

Yup if you're time poor I'd do 400s. I'd be doing 400s anyway TBH. A good set is Crowie's 400s:

400 easy/WU
400 150 easy, 50 fast x2
400 100 easy, 100 hard x 2
400 150 hard, 50 easy x 2
400 100 hard 100 easy x 2
400 easy/CD

It's a pretty hard set.

Is it that your pool only allows you to be in the water for 1hr so it works itself out to ~40min swim or with the commute/job it has to be 40min? If you're taking the time to get to the pool, I would try to stretch the sessions as close to 1hr of total swim time as possible, especially with 3 sessions/week.

The 100s now are good but 30s is a lot of recovery. You can do those on 2:00 or build to that. Are you doing those 100s every single session? There should be some periodization/building towards your goal event. You should get in some longer reps in the 200-1k range. & you don't have to hammer the longer reps. I do 3x1k in a 4k swim, progressing each rep as 1 @ L1/L2/L3. 1st one is super easy. 2nd is around 140.6 pace. 3rd is around 70.3 pace. Continuous swimming like that will benefit your training. Then you can bounce 400s or 800s (6x400, 3-4x800) in that range. There's so much to swimming & so much that you can mix in with pool aides. It might be good to do some swim lessons/coached sessions just to get an idea of what you could pull from. Or even pay for a cookie cutter plan just to see what the swim sessions could look like in a 12 week 70.3 build.

A swim set I like is variable paced 100s that I found on a Gordo Byrn Kona benchmarks workouts blog. It's a mix of slow and fast 100s on varying send offs. Work through it as far as time allows.

Main set: Series of 100s swum on variable send offs
1/1/1/1 (set of 4, 4 total if you complete this set)
2/2/2/2 (set of 8, 12 total if you complete this set)
3/3/3/3 (set of 12, 24 total if you complete this set)


If benchmarking Threshold pace then use 40x100 and set the final send off slightly quicker than
Threshold pace. For example, if Threshold pace is 1:33 then you do:

1 at 1:45, 1 at 1:40, 1 at 1:35, 1 at 1:30 then...
2 at 1:45, 2 at 1:40, 2 at 1:35, 2 at 1:30 then...
3 at 1:45, 3 at 1:40, 3 at 1:35, 3 at 1:30


For you, I might use leaves of 2:10, 2:05, 2:00 and 1:55 for the first time you try it and aim for total # of 100s in the 12-24 range. If that seems easy, go 2:05-1:50.




Edit: removed the sets of 4Xs and 5Xs per feedback.

Am I reading this wrong? Are you suggesting 140x100? (4+12+24+40+60)

Sorry, I can see how I made that confusing. If you did that full thing, it'd be 60 total (4+8+12+20). For OP, it's probably more like 12 total (set of 1x and set of 2x) or at most 24x (through the set of 3s). I've edited the original to make it more clear...I hope

I would be cautious with a set like that, especially for a triathlete. The majority of triathletes don't have the technique or fitness and conditioning to do a set like that and get anything out of it. A large chunk of that set would just be about slogging through and they'll be replicating the worst possible technique over and over again. And definitely putting themselves at a higher risk of a shoulder injury.

I hope this helps,

Tim

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

Yeah, I can see that. Wasn't my intent to suggest that the OP (or anyone) do 60x100 workouts. I've done this in the past getting through the groups of 3 (24x100) and into the 4Xs group. I've edited the original to take out the the last two portion of the set (4Xs and 5Xs).

I used to be the king of the 40 minute swim workout as I would swim during my lunch hour at work. Here are a few workouts I did in a 25 meter short course pool. I would also swim 30 to 40 minutes in a lake on the weekend. Essentially warm up, drill set, main set and a cool down.

1. Warm up 200 swim
2 x 100 drill/50 swim (one arm, catch up, scull, fist, finger tip drag...etc)

50 swim 5 sri(second rest interval)
100 swim 10 sri
200 swim 15 sir
400 swim 20 sri
200 swim 15 sri
100 swim 10 sri
50 swim

100 cool down
2,000 total

2. Warm up 200 swim
2 x 100 drill/50 swim (one arm, catch up, scull, fist, finger tip drag...etc)

3 x 200 pull/paddles, 10 sri
6 x 100 5 sri
2 x 50 5 sri
100 cool down
2,000 total

3. Warm up 200 swim
4 x 100 drill/50 swim (one arm, catch up, scull, fist, finger tip drag...etc)

2 x 200 15 sri
2 x 100 10 sri
2 x 50 5sri
two times with 100 easy back in between sets

100 cool down
2,000 total

I did something similar for my IM year in 2021. 3 swims a week 45mins each. I did a 400m TT every month jan-august to see my progress. Went from roughly 6.38 to 5.55 over the time frame (LCM). Finally in the last month I stepped up to 4 swims a week and 2 of those would be 1hr swims.

I think simplicity is underrated. My sets (adjusted for your 40mins) would be: 20*100m off 2mins and 10*200m off 4mins. No warm up or cool down. Steady swimming making sure you're not going too easy but never in risk of blowing up. In your longer swim during the week you can do warm up, drills etc and take time to look at your complicated workout sheet. In the two 40min sessions you just don't want to have to think - get in and get it done.

*not a coach or believe myself to be an expert. Just my opinion!

My favorite workout for that time window is:

(The initial 1500 can easily be 1200, 900.. I like a 1750 with a 750 WU)

- 500 WU swim
- 500 kick ( I usually do 200 'naked' and 300 with fins)
- 500 pull ( 250 'naked' and 250 with paddles )
Optional (or swap with pull)
8x75 (25 drill/50 build)

-10 x 100 on a sendoff with 5-10 sec rest ( In your case 1:55)
( Sometimes 5x200..)
Cool down ~ 200

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" I take my gear out of my car and put my bike together. Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of of their lives shocks me. "
(opening lines from Tim Krabbe's The Rider , 1978

5 minute warm up. 24 - 30 x 50 best effort on 20-30 seconds rest. 100 easy.