Tower26 has completely transformed my swimming and its only been 3 full weeks.
Current siwm schedule is 4 tower26 swims roughly 14k yards,and a Masters class on sunday(~3kyds)
Before T26 I was swimming 3x a week at about 9-10k yards
I came off an 8 day total rest.
PRs from earlier in the summer:
100yd 1:12
1000yd 1:27
1650yd 1:29

Week 1: sporadic excercise in all 3 sports. maybe 5-6 workouts. This was where I also did a 1000yd swim TT, I did 600 yards I was so tired and just used my values from earlier in the year
Week 2 : First full swim week. God those 4500yd A workouts are exhausting
Week 3 : Things are getting better and I'm getting used to it. Sunday at masters swam a 3x300 :30 in 4:01, 4:03, 4:00, then after some recovery I crushed my 100yd time to 1:09
Week 4 : Sunday masters 1650 TT I swam with an avg pace of 1:21 and the first 1000yd was 1:20

Volume matters A LOT
So I'm excited what months of T26 training will net me

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IG - @ryanppax
http://www.geluminati.com
Use code ST5 for $5 off your order

Find a masters team with a lot of fast swimmers. Ask them to help you. Learn to suffer. The end.

I agree with the above..

1) A GOOD master's program is the best option - not one that posts a workout on the board and lets you suffer in the slow lane, but one truly coached by someone who knows what they're doing and gives appropriate feedback.
2) When I moved away from my Master's team and didn't have an option for joining another, I switched to T-26. It is about as close as you can get to having a coach on the deck watching you. What makes it work are the daily audio files that really explain the how and why behind the workout and supplemental videos, so you can see the technique. Well designed workouts and coach accountability also help.

Concur. I should have clarified. I've been part of four masters teams. Two of them were really good. Both had an on-deck coach who would try to rotate working with every swimmer. They both also had huge range of swimmers, even a few world champs, so there was always someone there who could push me to my limits. Not all masters teams have this... I learned to swim fast by turning myself inside out trying to stay on "real" swimmers' feet. And it worked... But it took WORK. Lots of technique work, lots of fitness building, and lots of gym work. I went from a 30min 1500 to 20:XX after a couple years. (Still haven't gotten under 20... hopefully someday.) But I had to dedicate myself to 3-4 90-minute practices (averaging 3500-4000yds per workout) per week for it to happen. Took a LOT of work.

Wow - that is impressive improvement in a short period of time! Thanks for sharing your positive experience. After hearing your training load, I am a bit concerned if I won't have enough training hours to do it justice.

I've heard Tower26 requires a lot of time commitment. My challenge is that I can only train 10 hours a week right now, and wonder if 3-4 hours of swimming will align with the Tower26 program.

Best advice IMO. Choose your lane somewhere between the 'we'll get in however much we feel like' & the 'haven't stopped since my d1 days' & figure out how to move up a lane then repeat.

Number of swims in a week, consistency and focus matter more than volume and those aren’t necessarily the same thing.

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

I'm training 10-12hrs currently. T26 has 4 workouts 2 As (90min), B(75), C(60). Also included are modifications to get each workout to 60min. For post season it's working out great for me. I'm probably going to remove my fifth swim in the spring. Hell, last weekend I skipped a bike workout because I was tired. It's fine, my swim is the important thing right now.

Currently running all easy miles too; mileage is sitting at 27/week over 5runs. Which if you math it out would make 3.3hrs roughly. I've actually never run so much until this post season. and 3 trainer road workouts a week, which last week was 3.5 hours of work.

Definitely doable if you choose a sport focus for blocks of time. Especially now when we are in post/pre season

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IG - @ryanppax
http://www.geluminati.com
Use code ST5 for $5 off your order

OK, so it sounds like a more straightforward option is join my local master swim program and then think about investing on T26 if I need additional help.

Thanks for all the advice!

Also- what distance are you training for? If you’re training for short course, then using 4-5 hours of your weekly time is a good investment. LC would be a different story... :)

That didn't work. I joined a local squad for a year and still in lane 1. Last year when I joined I couldn't even catch up the back of lane 1 most of the time, now, on a good day, I may be able to stay at the front of lane 1. And there are lanes 2, 3, 4, ... where real marathon swimmers are in.

Seems like you're improving. I think a Tim Ferris style, 3 week, 'Hack' might work for someone off the couch but once the ball is rolling in the triathlon life, the gains are more subtle. Look at Jesse Thomas. He talks about doing most his winter base work in the pool through Jan/Feb. 60K a week if I recall? Still takes focus on stroke & technique but can't hack time in the pool. Who am I to give swim advice though... :)

I'm not far off the couch, had never received any formal swim training apart from a few classes until last year therefore I believe that I'm swimming seriously wrong (as indicated by my speed, last year I took about 86 minutes for 3.8 km), and I couldn't keep up even lane 1 in the squad for a whole year, only a "hack" I learnt elsewhere brought me to the front of the lane.

Now I'm seriously looking to change to another squad despite my best marathon swimming friends are all in this squad.