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Developing Swim Workouts...

Monday, 05 January 2015 06:10

By Heather Lendway (for gearwestbike.wordpress.com)

Depending on the distance triathlon you’re preparing for I would recommend spending at least three days a week at the pool if you want to see improvement in your times (anything less would likely just maintain your current speed).  One session should concentrate on longer distance sets to help build your aerobic capacity.  Another session should be more quality and speed work; swimming sets at and above your endurance threshold.  The third session should have more focus on technique including stroke work and drills.  If you’re training for an Ironman distance race you may want to get in four or five swim workout each week.   That said, no matter what distance you’re training for, you’ll achieve maximum improvement swimming 4-5 times a week, but anything more would greatly increase your injury risk.   If you can get a couple extra swim workouts in I would add a quality workout then a distance workout...

Every workout should begin with warm-up swum at a comfortable pace.  I recommend including drills, kicking and non-free in your warm-up to make sure all your different muscle groups are activated.  I would also include some 50’s or 25’s build or fast to get your heart rate up in preparation for the work ahead.  A sample warm-up would be: 100 swim, 100 kick, 100 IM, 100 drill, 100 swim, taking 10-20 seconds rest between each.  Follow this up with 4×50 build to 85% with about 20 seconds rest. READ MORE