I’m preparing for IMWI, and with only 7 weeks left to go, my swim really slow. In the past, I’ve been able to swim the 2.4 in the 1:10-1:15 range, but based on my open water times right now, I’m looking at 1:45.
I know my volume is way down, only been hitting 3-4k/week due to work travel.
Trying to figure out the best strategy to improve my swim prior to IM. I know I need to increase volume. But I was wondering, is it worth getting a video analysis done at this point or is it too late for this season?
I’ve them done in the past and never had any huge glaring issues, just some minor tweaks but none for major gains.
Also, increasing volume - does the 10% rule apply for swimming? ← okay, not literally 10%, but is there a reasonable limit?
If you’ve had video done in the past and it didn’t really help, why continue doing things the same way expecting different results?
3-4x per week isn’t bad, you probably need to adjust what you are doing in those swims. You should be doing lots of intervals threshold and faster. Don’t waste your time doing a 45min long swim. Focus on lots of repeats between 300-1000.
Elsa, it seems to me that 7 weeks out from an ironman, that you can’t expect to turn your swim around.
You’ll be fine swimming a relatively slow split as long as you can get out of the water somewhat fresh for the rest of the day ahead of you.
Your past IM swim efforts…have they been done while making good use of drafting?
Drafting CAN give you 15 minutes of improvement and it’s possible in 7 weeks to learn to become proficient in drafting if you aren’t already. That’s what I’d recommend you do with the time you have left.
Yeah, it is 3000-4000 yards per week. Usually done as one workout on my own about 2500 yards on Monday, and an 1500 open water race on Thursday.
Last week was better at 7000 yards for the week in 3 sessions.
For reference, my previous times were based on averaging about 8000 yards/week in training. That was about 4 years ago, and I have since taken some time off. So I know that fitness is obviously the main problem.
Swimming all out, I can do 100 yards in 1:30. That’s just the time it takes me to swim, no rest interval. My 500 time is about 9:00 - did a 525 yard swim in a race recently in 10:31 but that included getting out and walking back to the start of the pool plus walking to transition, so 9:00 is an estimate.
IMHO, if you are doing a 100yds in 1:30 then that should translate to better than a 1hr18min IM (assuming decent water and minimal ‘contact’ problems). That’s about a 1:50 per 100yds. If you are not doing that then the problem is all fitness. yes, you may improve with better technique but that would improve both times. so, with the same form that gives you a 1:30 you can easily get a 1hr18min IM just by improving fitness. Focus on that because it will be simpler to improve than changes to a stroke - and holding the change thru a race.
If you are 7 weeks out, don’t sweat it and just follow your current plan. The day is not won for you on the swim…look, I am a 1:30 IM swimmer - it is what it is. Continue to swim solid distances to where even if it takes you 1:45, you will not be toast when you get on your bike. IM is an enduarance event, make sure your engine can go all day.