I am currently training for the Florida 70.3 in Orlando. Just curious, what was your longest pre-race continuous swim? What is recommended?
Are you focused primarily on completing the distance comfortably or improving your time? What is your swim experience? What is your time for 1000 meters (or yards)? Do you train with a masters group?
I can’t say what is ‘recommended’, but I usually do some 1000 and 2000 meter time trials to prep for a half.
What’s your background?
What were your last three swim workouts?
How confident are you in open water?
Me, I never go longer than 500m straight in training because I tend to start slacking off at the longer stuff, but then I’m insanely overconfident in my swim abilities. (total average workout in the 3000-3700 range)
I don’t swim over 800 yards or meters straight in training and rarely swim that far. But, one workout a week, I do a long set from between 2500 to 3200 yards or meters, doing things like 4 x 800 (1st straight, 2nd 2 x 400, 3rd 4 x 200 and last 8 x 100), or 10 x 300 (odds straight, evens broken) or 5 x 500, with not very much rest between each interval. It seems to me that you get used to the boredom of swimming a long time, but do it at a slightly more intense effort doing sets like that instead of just swimming straight through.
But, if you are worried about completing the distance in OW, then work up to swiming 3000 yards stright and that should give you plenty of confidence that you can complete the distance.
I have never raced the Half Ironman distance, but I am not worried about the distance per se. I am more interested in being competitive in the swim, and I am wondering what people’s continuous long swim distances looked like. I don’t train with a master’s group, mostly because it costs even more money than the pool membership, but I usually swim 4-5 times a week, around 3000-3600scy per swim. The longest continuous I have done so far is a 1650scy.
I did my first 1/2 last year at Pigman. 3 years ago, a single straight 100M swim practically killed me. I still like training in the pool the least and could easily do much more training than I do. I usually do 2-3X per week with about 2-3K per session. I focus a lot on form. At least one workout I go with longer sets (ladders, 300’s or 500’s and the occasional 1K TT just to see where I am). The other swim workouts still focus on form but I do shorter stuff to focus on speed and power (100’s / 200’s, PB etc…). Last year, I did only 2 tri’s. First race had a 1K swim and it was my first time ever wearing a wetsuit. As the 1/2 IM approached, I did swim the full distance in practice a couple times just to quiet the demons that told me I couldn’t go that far. First time I used a PB for the last 1K, second time I swam the whole thing. It hurt, but I easily did it and knew I would be slow…but I would make it just fine. In the race I swam the 2K in 34 mins and could not have been more shocked. Mainly because I had a bizzare issue where my goggles kept filling with water about every 50 meters and I would have to stop and clear them, only to have it happen about 10 more times. I was expecting 38-40 mins, but the watch didn’t lie.
Last year was my first HIM and I worked up to a continuous 2000m swim in the pool, timed. I also did three 1500m open water events (Boulder Stroke n’ Stride X 2 and Boulder Peak Tri) prior to the race. Having the confidence that I can complete the distance without difficulty and uninterrupted prior to race day is, for me, very important. I’m sure others will disagree, but swimming a 1900 or 2000 is nothing compared to running 13 miles (or a marathon) in training prior to a race.
I am a very confident, though not particularly fast swimmer. My 1/2 IM time is typically about 32 to 34 minutes. My long swim, with my first 1/2 of the year coming up in 4 weeks, is 45 minutes broken up with 3 3x100 sets of faster swimming. That’s about as far as I go with intervals, if you can even call them that. 45 minutes for me equals about 2,500 yards.
3300 for time. We do them at certain points in training cycles for masters practices. HIM swim time 25:43
Hi,
Good Job on your diligent self-prep for the FLa70.3…Like many of the fish on this thread, I rarely do more than a 400m or longer w/o at least momentary interruption. The broken pace sets described by others in this thread are gold, and you should consider taking that concept and tweaking it to your personal pace and form level.
One little fave of mine as I get within 3 weeks of race day, is to do some race start simulations in the pool.
So much of you destiny in the swim is determined in the first 120-200 seconds, so it makes sense to focus on maximizing self-awareness and capability in that critical time (IMO)
5x200 free…1st 25 meters at 98-ish percent, 25-125 meters at 90-95%, final 75 at 85-90, or whatever you think is a sustainable RACE pace. Rest interval is longer for me on these. I wait until my hr comes down from my finishing 168-172 to a rate of 100 (no science behind 100, it is just my hr when I run at 8:30 pace, or ride at 16mph…its that point above athletic cruise) Then I repeat.
The confidence it brings is key, and confidence in where your sustainable limits lie is a worthy pursuit
In the pool 500 meters.
Open water about 1.6 miles
jaretj
It really depends on what you consider continuous. I consider 2,000 yds worth of 500s with 30 sec. rest between 500s pretty much continuous … This as part of a 3500 total, which is about my max. for any swim workout.
A simple, boring 1000 TT nearly always gives a decent indication of fitness for most distances, IMO. That time is usually a bit faster (3-5%) than what I can swim in an oly or a 1/2. So if I can swim 13 min. then I know I am in 21 / 28 shape.
Thanks Tom (And all the other posters), very helpful information. Since I have some of the slowtwitch fish’s attention: How much do you guys switch up your strokes in workouts. I know a few triathletes who stick to almost completely freestyle, but I was reading recently that 80/20 mix of free/stroke, actually improves efficiency and power of your freestyle. Any thoughts?
Chris
P.S. I’m not trying to write a book on triathlete swim workouts, I just have been out of the pool for almost a week with a sprained ankle, so I guess I have nothing better to do than ask swim questions to people who are lucky enough to be in the pool when I can’t be. BUT… the doctor said tommorrow I can get back to it. Time to put some of this advice to work.
Hi,
Every one of us will give a different spin and to an additional extent it is also dictated by our swim team coaches and the empahsis of the day.
Here is my split when I write the script: yes it adds up to more than 100%…and at no time does a pull bouy come into play or between my legs for that matter.
Freestyle 65-70%
backstroke20%
breaststroke 15%
Fly 10%
backstroke Kick w/zoomers, no board 20%
catch-up freestyle 20% early season, 5% in season
freestyle with Zoomers 15% early season, 25% in season
freestyle with paddles and zoomers 5% early season, 15% in season
Thats my personal split
your results may vary
in the end its simple, hard/rest/hard/rest…pause, repeat
TP
I don’t think I’ve ever done anything over 1K repeats in the pool and 2k TT’s to establish training paces, but not too many of them. I did do a 5k straight swim once b/c we pissed off the swim coach so much he didn’t want to talk with us for the rest of practice.
Swimming continous is just not the best way to train. You will swim much faster by doing intervals then doing a continous swim. I’d rather see you have swim workouts in the 3000-4500 ranger 3-4 times per week then do continous swims. You’ll be further ahead out if the water and faster overall b/c of it.
There is a reason why many swim programs don’t do lots of straight long swims.
I do some fly mixed in because its fun, i guess it could help with body positioning/core strength/etc. all i know is its great to breakup some of the sets and it keeps me sane in longer workouts. To answer your original quetion about pre race swim, longest pool swims are usually 400-500y. Generally at least one open water swim a week which is my “long swim”, usually between 1-2mi.
Re: Freestyle w/ paddles and/or zoomers.
What’s the reasoning behind this? I like to use the fins when I’m doing drills so I can focus more on form and technique but I’m not sure if I’ve ever used them for straight-up swimming. I’d just like to hear some thoughts on this…
Edit: I have and do use paddles, but again, not at the same time as fins.