I’m 56 and retired from triathlon last year (at least I thought I did). In the months since then I have dabbled at everything (weights, 3 - 4 mile runs, elliptical, yoga…) working out about 4 - 5 hours/week. For the last 2 months, I have done pretty much nothing but yoga (4/week) and have decided I’m not yet ready to hang it up. I’ve been competing on and off for 30 years and have done all distances. I did my last 70.3 six years ago and my last 140.6 five years ago.
I am not a strong swimmer and have never spent a lot of time there and at my age do not want to make the investment and don’t want to be in the pool any longer than I absolutely have to (i’m guessing there others of you out there). I assume that for some of the purists, this attitude is repulsive and feel you can’t be a real triathlete unless you swim as much as you bike or run. Well I apologize to those who may feel that way but I am okay with it and don’t plan to change.
I’ve decided Steelhead 70.3 will be my A race (26 weeks out) and want to ask if anyone has any recommendations on training plans that they might recommend, given my age and desire for minimal swimming.
**I am not a strong swimmer and have never spent a lot of time there and at my age do not want to make the investment and don’t want to be in the pool any longer than I absolutely have to (i’m guessing there others of you out there). I assume that for some of the purists, this attitude is repulsive and feel you can’t be a real triathlete unless you swim as much as you bike or run. Well I apologize to those who may feel that way but I am okay with it and don’t plan to change. **
From what I can tell, your attitude is the norm. It’s no skin off my back if you don’t like the swim, do whatever you want. At the end of the day, you are supposed to be enjoying the sport. When I was doing triathlons more regularly than I am now, the only time I ever swam was on race day.
as far as training plans go, just use whatever training plans have worked for you in the past (assumng you’ve used them before) and drop one or two swims per week.
Over 30 years in the sport…Have done all distances…(I imagine many times in 30 years)…And you think some anonymous person on here is going to know better than you on what it will take for you to complete the swim? Trust yourself
Long time ST poster Murphy’sLaw is a strong advocate of the Total Aversion Swim program. Basically, the training consists of, on race morning, putting on the floatiest wetsuit you can buy, flailing around for 40 minutes praying to make it to dry land, and then ripping the bike/run.
I created one a couple of years ago; PM me your e-mail address if you want and I’ll send it to you.
Like any plan, cookie-cutter or not, you should tailor it to your own needs and YMMV. It’s in an Excel spreadsheet so it’s pretty easy to change things around.
No detailed training plans here, but my two cents:
A bit of swimming is worth doing regularly. Two reasons: (a) I think it brings a lot of cv benefits; (b) it’s far more technique focussed than the other two disciplines, and technique can get rusty fast. Keeping it ticking over is good.
That said, I find going to the pool a real ballache. Just the logistics, the time spent, and (of course) the other a-holes in the pool. No one does their run training in a downtown shopping district on a Saturday, yet most times pool swimming is a lot like just that (I suppose it might be different if you’re in a club, but I’m assuming from your approach you aren’t).
The other thing is that it seems to me that your typical triathlete has to put a lot of pool time in to make time gains which can be had on the bike or run with far less bike/run training input. No doubt partially due to tri distances being relatively “swim lite” compared to the bike and the run, but also because the technique aspect can mean there is a glass ceiling when it comes to substantial improvement.
I’m about the same age and mileage. Sounds like you are committed to the minimal swim plan but more swimming is a great way to add volume without doing much damage. That said I would just substitute cycling for some of the swim sessions. At our age more running can be risky.
Warm up 5 minutes then do all out 25s with equal rest to swim ratio (EG if you swim the, in :20 rest :20 ). Do this a couple of times per week for ~20 minutes (including warm up). You will get all the low hanging fruit. If you don’t go all out you are severky diminishing the impact.
I am also not a big fan of swimming, by the time my first Ironman rolled around I absolutely hated it. I did manage to swim about 1:23 going easy and I was happy with that. Last year I swam :38 at the 70.3 distance without about 8 weeks of swim training, also a time I was happy with.
My plan for this years Ironman is to start swimming about 10 weeks out, get in the pool three times a week for 30 minute sessions at first but add in some longer workouts and possibly some 4 day weeks as the race gets closer. If I can swim 1:20ish at an easy pace I will be happy. The only downside is the first warm up sprint tri I am looking at is on the first week I plan on starting to swim.
No detailed training plans here, but my two cents:
A bit of swimming is worth doing regularly. Two reasons: (a) I think it brings a lot of cv benefits; (b) it’s far more technique focussed than the other two disciplines, and technique can get rusty fast. Keeping it ticking over is good.
That said, I find going to the pool a real ballache. Just the logistics, the time spent, and (of course) the other a-holes in the pool. No one does their run training in a downtown shopping district on a Saturday, yet most times pool swimming is a lot like just that (I suppose it might be different if you’re in a club, but I’m assuming from your approach you aren’t).
The other thing is that it seems to me that your typical triathlete has to put a lot of pool time in to make time gains which can be had on the bike or run with far less bike/run training input. No doubt partially due to tri distances being relatively “swim lite” compared to the bike and the run, but also because the technique aspect can mean there is a glass ceiling when it comes to substantial improvement.
I agree with all of this. Especially the bit about the hassle involved with the logistics of swimming.
I tried the total aversion technique one year, but that didn’t work at all. Now I go to the pool “regularly”, however that normally only means two times a week. Sometimes during the summer I get in more, and sometimes in the winter it’s only once a week. But it keeps things ticking over, and it seems like a nice way to get in a “massage”. Another poster mentioned “going all out” while you’re at the pool. That is a good idea too. I don’t see much benefit in swimming a lot of yards at a slow pace. Warm up, do 20-30 minutes worth of intervals, then cool down. I’ll never be a “fast swimmer”, but I can comfortably make it through any triathlon swim from sprints to IM. Good Luck!
My 2 cents if you don’t enjoy any of the components of tri, then just do a minimal amount of whichever that gets you through on race day (if that is what you want). Since you are 56 I would encourage you to make the investment and learn to swim better, mainly because it is an investment in the long term. There could be a time when you can’t run or bike, but there is a good chance you can still swim…something is better than nothing and since you are going to do a tri, seems like a good time to invest in some swimming, not just for the near term challenge, but the long term.
When I did not have easy access to a pool, my “go to workout” was ride to the lake, and warmup for 5 min then 30 min hard-30 min easy for 20 more min, then get back on the bike and hammer back to the office. The entire workout was 18 min bike + 25 min swim + 12-13 min bike + changing. Total time was 60 min (I would just swim in my bike/tri shorts). I’d be within 60-90 s of some of my best half IM swim times off this regime 2x per week plus I would get 100-110% FTP short ride on the way back.
I’m 56 and retired from triathlon last year (at least I thought I did). In the months since then I have dabbled at everything (weights, 3 - 4 mile runs, elliptical, yoga…) working out about 4 - 5 hours/week. For the last 2 months, I have done pretty much nothing but yoga (4/week) and have decided I’m not yet ready to hang it up. I’ve been competing on and off for 30 years and have done all distances. I did my last 70.3 six years ago and my last 140.6 five years ago.
I am not a strong swimmer and have never spent a lot of time there and at my age do not want to make the investment and don’t want to be in the pool any longer than I absolutely have to (i’m guessing there others of you out there). I assume that for some of the purists, this attitude is repulsive and feel you can’t be a real triathlete unless you swim as much as you bike or run. Well I apologize to those who may feel that way but I am okay with it and don’t plan to change.
I’ve decided Steelhead 70.3 will be my A race (26 weeks out) and want to ask if anyone has any recommendations on training plans that they might recommend, given my age and desire for minimal swimming.
Thanks in advance.
I also have a lot of trouble making it to the pool logistically. Today I thought I was gonna pull off a 2nd swim for the week…turns out the pool is closed for maintenance.
I stink at swimming. My approach is to swim once per week, or occasionally twice in the buildup before a race. Get in, warmup for 5 minutes, then swim 20 x 100 with about 15 sec rest. Swim HARD. Cool down for 5 minutes (optional). I am an adult-onset swimmer, been swimming a few years now, never more than twice per week, and I have slowly improved from 2:00/100y to about 1:35/100. Good enough for ~35 min HIM, and most importantly this swim program fits within the limitations of my life.
For those more concerned about aging and triathlon (rather than swimming, either way) I really like Peter Reaburn’s book … it addresses masters sport generally but it (and he) are triathlon-focused.