Swim workout suggestions (1)

Triathlon Forum
1

I really have my bike training and run training down for the next couple of months. I now need a good swim training routine

My goal is to improve HIM swim time by 4% by April.

I know the best choice would be just to attend masters sessions. But they are at 4:45 am, have eight kids, family time is after activities at night which means I am not able to go to bed until after 11:00 PM. Well that is my excuse and I am sticking with it.

I am pretty self disciplined so I just need a relatively simple routine to stick to. In the past my swim workout are very unstructured. Basically play around with a few drills and then swim a bunch of laps. I do 50 yard intervals sometimes. It really is pretty pathetic.

I love my bike routine. Four days a week. Two days with two sets of 20 minutes at 95% FTP. Two days with one set of 20 minutes at 105% FTP. Rest of the time I just do what I feel like. This last Saturday did 1.5 hours as hard as I could go. But I always do my regular workout and then my own stuff.

I would like something similar with swimming. I am fine with basically doing the same thing over and over again and prefer it. What is the swimming equivalent to the bike workout? I am thinking the regular workout would be something like

  • 400 yard warm up
  • 20 minutes drill. I usually have something I want to work on and then find some drills on the Internet
  • 30 - 40 minutes of very structured stuff. This is what I really need. Something that improves swimming fitness. Something if I do it three or four times a week I am good. It is my structure. It has to be done every week.

I would be looking at doing this routine 3 or 4 times a week. I would then spend the other time doing my unstructured swimming. I like to do things like see how many laps I can do in a row at a certain pace. I like to see how fast I can swim 1.2 miles, 2.4 miles, etc.

Other items

  •  I have a technique swim coach.  Only use him for technique.  I will be visiting him once a month.  Might increase to once every 2 or 3 weeks.
  • I don’t kick. I don’t have interest in any kick drills. I suck at it and I am fine with this. I do longer swims and 2 beat kick is good for me
  • The intervals I do I usually do 1/3 breathing right, 1/3 breathing left, 1/3 bi-lateral breathing. I like to force this so I am more even. When I did not I swear my fitness was different depending on what side I was breathing.
  • I am good with some of the 30 - 40 minutes being with paddles.
  • I use fins as little as possible. There was a time I was working on improving kick and using the paddles and it screwed up my ankles. So I prefer to keep the use at a minimum. Pretty much just for some drills
  • I use to use the pull buoy but almost never any longer. Best thing I did was stop using it. Now that I am much better with lifting legs I am fine with the pull buoy for some.

I would guess the core to the routine is intervals. But what is the ideal length for improved 1.2 - 2.4 mile fitness?

Really appreciate any help!

2

Here’s one day: 20 x 100 on an interval that gives you :05-:10 rest

Second: 5-6 x 100 , give your self a minute:30 or 2 min rest. These… are… all out sprints

Here’s another day: 8 x 300 first four descend to fast, second four FAST (vo2 max pace).

Favorite set is 4 x 50, 4 x 100, 4 x 150, 4 x 100, 4 x 50. Drop the intervals on the way down.

3

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=3659683;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

There is a new thread every month like this one. You can literally get 100’s of different workouts from them searching back the past months. Just type in the month and fishes, and they should pop up faster than sardines in a mackerel boil.

4

I really need some variety too. I’ve upped my swimming this winter but I’m doing pretty much the same damn workout when I’m away from Masters. I ordered the swim workout book for triathletes that has a ton of workouts.

5

I’ll throw my two cents into the mix.

First my background. Adult onset swimmer. Splashed around the lake as a kid for fun (helps with comfort in open water - I’m quite comfortable).

My core philosophy is: The body only knows the work or, the product of the “stress response” everything else is just mind games. By that I mean some of the convoluted/fancy workouts may be fine; but, I’ve seen some masters workouts that need a “masters degree” to understand.

You wanna go fast? Then, swim fast pretty much all the time. That’s where you’ll get the stress response that’ll make todays’ killer 200 in say 2:25 five weeks later feel almost easy.

Me? I don’t have a fast twitch muscle fiber in my body, so get tons of benefit from doing a bunch of well rested 50’s. My favorite rest interval is ~:30 at the wall, easy 50 (25 breast, 25 free) then another :30 at the wall. That way I can keep form and go “fast” (for me). The more tri- specific distances need to climb up beyond 300, I like 400’s with plenty of rest. Then for the icing on the cake I’ll allocate on average once every ten days a full throttle 1,650 for time. In the winter after a few weeks of sprint focus I’ll do many 1,650’s day after day to really drop the time. Easy? Not for me. Works though, I’m a FOP old guy. I’ll never beat the guys who swam HS or college but I’m close enough to keep 'em honest. Lastly, except in the winter when biking is harder (darkness, cold and/or rain), I’ll swim every other day, but I psych up for it so I am ready to hammer. My best HIM this year I went 2,2,2 for SBR (age group, not, overall). No way I would have ever believed that was possible when I started this silly tri stuff. I’ve found the guys I beat don’t want to “hurt” enough - I don’t do 1,650’s 'cause their easy, I do ‘em cause they are hard, and, when I’m standing waiting for the gun to go off - I know what the outcome is going to be; the race feels like I’m doin’ what I always do.

Sorry if this came off a bit egotistical, I just wanted to thow some stuff out there that I never seem to read. Maybe you can pull an idea from the above.

Enjoy the training, the racing is “proof” that hard work does indeed pay off.

Happy holidays,
keith

6

How many of you do 4-5K in a workout during the winter in prep for an Ironman in late summer? Is this just overkill compared to the potential benefits of increased frequency rather than increased yardage?

7

I really need some variety too. I’ve upped my swimming this winter but I’m doing pretty much the same damn workout when I’m away from Masters. I ordered the swim workout book for triathletes that has a ton of workouts.

I’ve become a bit dependent on Masters. When I’m away from Masters I swim slower and fewer yards.
Something about having a coach and other folks there to push you makes a big difference. Maybe having
a larger library of workouts would help…

8

I’m the same way. I seem to swim much faster when I’m at Masters. I swim faster I think when people are around. It’s weird.

To add to things, I swim at a one pool when I do Masters and at my gym when I swim on my own. Masters pool is scy and my gym pool is scm. However, my gym pace in the meter pool is over 10 seconds/100 slower than in the scy pool. The guy I took lessons from says it shouldn’t be that much of a difference and that it should only be about 10% difference. Big difference in the pools as well. Masters pool is pretty deep. The pool at the gym is only 4 feet deep. However, I haven’t been swimming long enough to even know if the actual pool makes much of a difference.

9

I swim faster I think when people are around. It’s weird.

Why is that weird? Isn’t that basic human nature?