During all my triathlon races it frustrates/saddens me to view my results with my bike/run being up in the top 25%, then seeing my swim in the bottom 25%.
My swim splits are always a little over 2:00/100m for any distance between a sprint and Iron. My stroke count is around 21 strokes/25 yards on average (working on a stronger pull now).
I was swimming about twice a week, once during practice once during a race, is this a major factor? (I know other triathletes on the team who swim twice a week and can still go around 1:40/100m)
I swam with the swim team over the summer everday and still swam around a solid 2:00/100m in sprint distance races, not sure what i’m doing wrong.
Is it because of my genes? I’m 5"10,135 lbs, Asian with a smaller frame . Forgot to mention, I have issues with shoulder flexibility (can’t go into a tight streamline anymore), working on wall angel stretches for now.
well you probably have some genetics that make it hard for your mind to pick up the technique quickly.
the good news is that can be overcome with careful, thoughtful, perhaps bountiful training.
whereas if you have shit for red blood cell count and vo2 max, you have some limits =)
if you swam every day over the summer and were still 2min per 100, you might try some private stroke instruction. rebuild it. start ALL over.
It sounds like you have a decent level of fitness if your have good bike and run splits, but swimming is a different sport. I don’t know how much previous swim experiance you have, but it is very much a technique sport as well as fitness. It really just takes alot of time in the pool doing drills and working on your form to really drop some time. You seem to be reasonably fit, and Im sure if you spent some time in the pool with a swim team or coach you could improve your form. If you can do that, you will likely see some significant time drops.
I was swimming about twice a week, once during practice once during a race, is this a major factor? (I know other triathletes on the team who swim twice a week and can still go around 1:40/100m)
Huge factor. If I told you “I suck at running. I only run twice a week.” What would you tell me?
I swam with the swim team over the summer everday and still swam around a solid 2:00/100m in sprint distance races, not sure what i’m doing wrong.
Probably lots of things, most of them stroke-related.
Your first best bet is some swim lessons one-on-one.
Your second best bet, after that, is swimming 5 times a week for 45 min or so.
I think triathletes who are swimming 1:40/100m without much practice put in a lot of yards beforehand to get there. Your turn to do that work.
Join the December Fish Challenge 
Huge factor. If I told you “I suck at running. I only run twice a week.” What would you tell me?
This is totally true as well, triathletes tend to not put in the amount of time in the pool that is nessicary to really get faster. You need to spend the time to build up the technique first.
I only run twice a week and bike once a week and can still manage to run about 6:50min/mile for olympics races with hills ;). However, if I added a few more days of running, I could probably get closer to 6:30. I’ve been treating my swim training like crap and should probably put in more time like you guys have been saying.
Yup i’m thinking that 5 time a week sounds good if I can just find the motivation for that. Any tips on how I can find a swim coach that knows what he/she is talking about?
I only run twice a week and bike once a week and can still manage to run about 6:50min/mile for olympics races with hills ;). However, if I added a few more days of running, I could probably get closer to 6:30. I’ve been treating my swim training like crap and should probably put in more time like you guys have been saying.
Yup i’m thinking that 5 time a week sounds good if I can just find the motivation for that. Any tips on how I can find a swim coach that knows what he/she is talking about?
Do you have a run background?
Finding a swim coach:
-Ask who teaches swim lessons at the local Y, or a masters coach.
-Ask at local univeristies for a college coach or asst coach. You may not be able to work with one of those people - they don’t have a ton of extra time and I don’t know if their contracts let them do private lessons.
-Ask a coach how many people he/she has helped get faster, from X/100 to X-? / 100.
-If all else fails, post a video of you swimming and we can tell you what you’re doing wrong.
I only run twice a week and bike once a week and can still manage to run about 6:50min/mile for olympics races with hills ;). However, if I added a few more days of running, I could probably get closer to 6:30. I’ve been treating my swim training like crap and should probably put in more time like you guys have been saying.
Yup i’m thinking that 5 time a week sounds good if I can just find the motivation for that. Any tips on how I can find a swim coach that knows what he/she is talking about?
Do you have a run background?
Finding a swim coach:
-Ask who teaches swim lessons at the local Y, or a masters coach.
-Ask at local univeristies for a college coach or asst coach. You may not be able to work with one of those people - they don’t have a ton of extra time and I don’t know if their contracts let them do private lessons.
-Ask a coach how many people he/she has helped get faster, from X/100 to X-? / 100.
-If all else fails, post a video of you swimming and we can tell you what you’re doing wrong.
My only running background is two seasons of track and field where I dipped my feet in every distance from the 100m to the 1600m and then one season of cross country but didn’t run any special times.
Thanks for all the tips! Do you know what is the average cost per hour for a standard 1on1 swim coach?
that still counts as a bit of run background. It’s more than you have for swimming 
No idea on $$$. If that’s an issue, find a HS or college swimmer. Not as qualified but can spot major errors — and far cheaper. Email a Y coach or HS coach and see if any of the kids are interested in making some money.
Your stroke *count *is about the same as mine, but I’m going about 1:10/100yds in the pool (and under 1:20/100 in races). That means your stroke *rate *is a bit more than half of mine.
Time to turn those arms over.
I wouldn’t say genetics. I’m guessing you may not be pushing the pace during your swim workouts. It’s not just about having a strong pull. You gotta work on your top end swim speed. Try doing 10x25s with 20-60s rest between each really working on getting arm speed up. As you get used to it decrease the rest and increase the reps.
I was swimming about twice a week, once during practice once during a race, is this a major factor? (I know other triathletes on the team who swim twice a week and can still go around 1:40/100m)
Huge factor. If I told you “I suck at running. I only run twice a week.” What would you tell me?
I swam with the swim team over the summer everday and still swam around a solid 2:00/100m in sprint distance races, not sure what i’m doing wrong.
Probably lots of things, most of them stroke-related.
Your first best bet is some swim lessons one-on-one.
Your second best bet, after that, is swimming 5 times a week for 45 min or so.
I think triathletes who are swimming 1:40/100m without much practice put in a lot of yards beforehand to get there. Your turn to do that work.
Join the December Fish Challenge
You are correct on the whole. But… if I swam twice a week & ran twice a week, my swimming would kick my running’s butt
Way bigger background in running, including years & years of athletics & Australian Rules football. I somehow managed to make the school swimming team every year as a kid on zero training but didn’t ever swim with a coach until I was 27 & have rarely exceeded 10kms per week in the pool.
Why? My dad was a talented swimmer & had long arms, and so do I. That is my story & I’m sticking to it…!
Along with what others have said, flexibility is very important for swimming. ankle flexibility especially. If you can’t get your arms into a streamline position I suspect that might be a big issue. Thats like an aspiring cyclist saying they can’t bend there waist much past a 160 degree angle
I’ve never seen your stroke. However, in my experience, lack of shoulder flexibility can be a huge issue for swimmers – especially when it affects the recovery phase of the stroke. Good swimmers have an essentially effortless recovery. Terrible, inflexible swimmers struggle to get their arms out of the water and back over their heads. Your times you listed are so slow that it makes me think you are being limited by flexibility. There are exercises/stretches out there to help you.
During all my triathlon races it frustrates/saddens me to view my results with my bike/run being up in the top 25%, then seeing my swim in the bottom 25%.
My swim splits are always a little over 2:00/100m for any distance between a sprint and Iron. My stroke count is around 21 strokes/25 yards on average (working on a stronger pull now).
I was swimming about twice a week, once during practice once during a race, is this a major factor? (I know other triathletes on the team who swim twice a week and can still go around 1:40/100m)
I swam with the swim team over the summer everday and still swam around a solid 2:00/100m in sprint distance races, not sure what i’m doing wrong.
Is it because of my genes? I’m 5"10,135 lbs, Asian with a smaller frame . Forgot to mention, I have issues with shoulder flexibility (can’t go into a tight streamline anymore), working on wall angel stretches for now.
i haven’t read the entire thread, BUT…
i’m 5’11, 145 lbs. i’m a decent runner and cyclist but have never been a competitive swimmer. i am VERY inflexible, including my shoulders. i started swimming for exercise/cross training maybe a year and a half ago, and when i started, i was swimming around 2:00/100y in a 25y pool. just from swimming a couple times a week, i got that to maybe 1:50/100y.
in the last few months, i’ve been spending a lot more time in the pool - two or three swims a week, probably 4000 yards each time. i’ve watched a bunch of swimming technique videos on youtube, read stuff on here, googled things, and really focused on my stroke. i can now hold 1:40/100y easily as a steady-state pace and can do low 1:20s for short intervals. still not fast by any means from a swimmer’s perspective, but much faster than i was.
you can get faster. just spend more time in the pool and really work on your technique. watching videos helps, but i would guess a coach would be much better if you have access to one.
During all my triathlon races it frustrates/saddens me to view my results with my bike/run being up in the top 25%, then seeing my swim in the bottom 25%.
My swim splits are always a little over 2:00/100m for any distance between a sprint and Iron. My stroke count is around 21 strokes/25 yards on average (working on a stronger pull now).
I was swimming about twice a week, once during practice once during a race, is this a major factor? (I know other triathletes on the team who swim twice a week and can still go around 1:40/100m)
I swam with the swim team over the summer everday and still swam around a solid 2:00/100m in sprint distance races, not sure what i’m doing wrong.
Is it because of my genes? I’m 5"10,135 lbs, Asian with a smaller frame . Forgot to mention, I have issues with shoulder flexibility (can’t go into a tight streamline anymore), working on wall angel stretches for now.
i haven’t read the entire thread, BUT…
i’m 5’11, 145 lbs. i’m a decent runner and cyclist but have never been a competitive swimmer. i am VERY inflexible, including my shoulders. i started swimming for exercise/cross training maybe a year and a half ago, and when i started, i was swimming around 2:00/100y in a 25y pool. just from swimming a couple times a week, i got that to maybe 1:50/100y.
in the last few months, i’ve been spending a lot more time in the pool - two or three swims a week, probably 4000 yards each time. i’ve watched a bunch of swimming technique videos on youtube, read stuff on here, googled things, and really focused on my stroke. i can now hold 1:40/100y easily as a steady-state pace and can do low 1:20s for short intervals.
you can get faster. just spend more time in the pool and really work on your technique. watching videos helps, but i would guess a coach would be much better if you have access to one.
Sweet, there is hope! Did you have a coach at all, or just used the internet for reference? Also, what was your stroke count when you started compared to now?
Having come from a nearly identical situation as the OP, I disagree with all the folks who think he’s genetically limited to this performance. His form might even be terrible, but I actually suspect not.
Odds are nearly 100% that OP needs to swim more. A lot more. Experienced swimmers can get back hard-earned speed on seemingly minimal effort, but that’s because they’ve put in tons of hard work beforehand (or else are quite talented.)
I was ‘stuck’ at 2:05-2:15/100 for my first 1.5 years of learning to swim for real. And it wasn’t because I was being wimpy about workouts - my arms/back/shoulders simply were not strong enough to maintain any sort of hard effort. I’m used to killing myself on bike/run intervals as I’ve been doing it for years, but in the pool, I could barely get my HR above a moderate level since my arms couldn’t pull any harder or faster.
Took me 3 months of 12,000+ meters per week to break through that plateau. Swam 4-5x/week. Not a lot by any stretch, but when you go from 2x a week of <3000m each swim to 5x week of 2800-3500m every workout, it’s a world of difference (and pain).
Try doing a dedicated 6-8 week swim block where you just try to swim as much as possible, preferably 5-7x/wk, with intervals on nearly every workout. I’ll bet you breakthrough to the next level.
Well, to say something positive… genetically, you could do a lot worse than Asian male distance freestlyer.
Sweet, there is hope! Did you have a coach at all, or just used the internet for reference? Also, what was your stroke count when you started compared to now?
nope, no coach. not by choice; just haven’t had the time/opportunity to work with one yet. would like to in the future. the downside of having no coach is that i recently hurt my shoulder. i think it was a combination of increasing volume too quickly and poor form on recovery/hand entry. probably the kind of thing a coach could have prevented.
to be honest, i’m not really sure what my stroke count was starting out. i didn’t know it was important so i didn’t really keep track. i’d guess maybe 20 spl…close to where you are. now, i’m at 16-17 spl.
Longest list of excuses yet.