I was thinking about this the other day. Basically, I am a 1:00-1:05 IM swimmer. I went swimming for all of 9 times before my last IM (for approximately 30,000-32000 total meters)
Would it do me any good to swim more often. I mean how much swimming time would I need to get in to swim between 50-55 minutes for an IM (wetsuit legal)?
Is it worth it to swim more or just use the time to bike and run more. I am a 6 hour IM biker and 4:30-5 hour runner. Standalone marathon time is 3:40.
I just figure better to work on the bike and run as the time gains are more substantial there. Would training for the swim help me in the other disciplines.
maybe the reason you run/walk 1+hrs slower than standalone marathon time has to do with too little overall training. spend more time in the pool and on the bike and you will improve your overall time, including your run.
jump in the pool tomorrow morning. Start sprinting, after 200 settle down and continue for a total of 60minutes. How do you feel afterwards? How do you feel 1,2,3hrs afterwards? Would you rather start a 112mile bike and marathon with or without that swim, what would result in faster times? You can’t skip the swim in an IM but you can spend hours in the pool that will increase your efficiency and endurance. That will help your swim, bike, and run.
I agree that I don’t train as much as I’d like, but due to work and family commitments I only have a finite time. So basically, it comes down to should I swim more at the cost of the biking and running than I already do or something else.
Well that is sort of my question. Is there any real value gained for me to devote more time to swimming? Remember it isn’t an option for me to increase swimming, as well as running and biking time. Moreover, increasing swimming time comes at a cost of biking and/or running.
As a corollary, how much training time do you or others think it would take to swim 50-55 minutes for an IM swim. I think it would be kind of fun to be up in the real front of an IM at least for one leg of the race.
The real question is, “am I doing this to get better and qualify, or am I doing this to have fun?”. If your doing it to have fun, then stick to what you enjoy most, but if you want to dramaticaly decrease your splits, you have to put the time in the pool if you want any chance of getting a spot. Of course mega time on the bike and run is a prerequisite also…
Would training for the swim help me in the other disciplines.
IF I could swim 1:00 to 1:05 for an IM (I can dream, can’t I?), then I’d do the bare minimum of swim training such that I could maintain that ability, and get busy on the bike and run.
That swim split probably puts you in the top 25% of an IM field (other than Kona), wheras your bike and run splits are pretty much mid pack, and you certainly have more room to improve your IM run vs. open mary.
<4:20 is a reasonable and doable IM run target based on your current run fitness, and IF you improved it across the board, maybe <4:00 might be in reach.
There are only so many hours a week to train, or that one chooses to train.
Perhaps you could save 5-10 mins on the swim (always a good thing), but at what training cost?
Could that extra hour or 2 of swim training be focused on either bumping up your bike ability so you finish that part quicker and/or fresher? Or to improve your running in general, and especially off the bike?
Do the “cost/benefit” analysis for yourself, then decide what you need to do.
It seems to me that you want to swim enough that your swim is relatively easy. Swimming the same time with less effort likely means biking a little faster and then running a lot faster during any tri. If you can go five minutes faster, then all the better. I used to swim D3, but if I swam as little as you did, completing any tri swim would really tire me out.
How is you heart rate during the IM swim? If you can swim 1:00 - 1:05 at aerobic HRs I don’t believe you are “blowing your wad” in the swim.
With a 6-hour bike I am assuming 5:50 - 6:10 which is not unreasonable, but the 4:30 - 5:00 run is has a lot of room for improvement. With more running you could easily hit 4:10 – open mary + 30 minutes and that would be a 30-50 minute improvement.
You definitely can not get that out of the swim, but you could off the bike.
Definitely run more if you are not injury prone, otherwise bike more.