I have a friend who is leading a group of swimmers, mostly tris. The tris are stating that the workouts need to focus more on longer distances, such as sets of 200s, 300s and 400s.
I would like SR input on tri-swimming workouts that I can pass along to my friend.
I am coaching a group of triathletes and spend a lot of time on pace work. After several months they are pleased with the fact that their longer swims are easier and faster. We only have an hour; I usually make the main set at least 1500. I try to help them read the clock and know their pace. We'll do 100's, 200's, 300's or 400's on an interval.
Geek....not that I would ever consider a sport that includes "running"....my wife happens to be an incredible triathlete and we training with some top level pros here and in AZ.
The most common mistake I hear coaches telling these folks is to focus strictly on long distance "engine building".....it should be the foundation yes, but to ignore quality speed work and learning "easy speed" is a huge mistake.....every race starts with a "sprint" start and "sprint" finish and if a tri isn't developing a comfort level with these "gear changes" they are not seeing the big picture.
One set by the way that Sun Devil does fairly often is a "chase"...it can be any distance....the last one I was part of was an 600. You get several lanes set up with an equal number of swimmers (6 in our case)...the lead swimmer takes off and all the others pus off right on their feet....the first swimmer goes for 100 (again this can be a 50, 100, 200, etc.) then pulls out and jumps back in on the feet of the last swimmer. The other lane swims a "reverse circle" and what ends up happening is an incredibly fast drafting swim.....pretty cool......
I have a friend who is leading a group of swimmers, mostly tris. The tris are stating that the workouts need to focus more on longer distances, such as sets of 200s, 300s and 400s.
I would like SR input on tri-swimming workouts that I can pass along to my friend.
Not so much a tip but a book
www.swimoutlet.com/.../3717.htm
worked out with guys using this last night doing kicks, pulls and drills.
One set by the way that Sun Devil does fairly often is a "chase"...it can be any distance....the last one I was part of was an 600. You get several lanes set up with an equal number of swimmers (6 in our case)...the lead swimmer takes off and all the others pus off right on their feet....the first swimmer goes for 100 (again this can be a 50, 100, 200, etc.) then pulls out and jumps back in on the feet of the last swimmer. The other lane swims a "reverse circle" and what ends up happening is an incredibly fast drafting swim.....pretty cool......
During high school we use to do something like this, but after the certain amount...say you are suppose to lead for a 100, on that last 25 of that 100 the last person in the "train" has gotta haul bum up to the front of the line, passing the leader...that person goes straight into a flip turn at the end of the 100, and the group (may need to do open turns to allow that new leader to get ahead) follows...and you do that until everyone has led the train. That was really good for changing gears as well.
I have a friend who is leading a group of swimmers, mostly tris. The tris are stating that the workouts need to focus more on longer distances, such as sets of 200s, 300s and 400s.
.
sets of 100's can be great too.
Try 16 x 100 with a 5 second RI at 80% effort. (a good pace set for a mile swim)
I think any sets between 1500 and 3000 yards total with short rest intervals are great for building endurance, and preparing one to swim a good mile or two.
I thought I might as well jump in here, too, even though lots of good advice has been given.
This Sunday will be my 6th triathlon here on Roatan. The thing I have watched year after year is people blitz the start and then start to die about 250 yards later. What I read this to mean is that they have spent most of their time in race pace but without the all important gear-changing sprinting that a tri swimmer has to have to pass people, as well as deal with current changes and waves.
Depending upon the age and fitness of a triathlete, I truly believe a one mile swim should be swum as either 4x400's or 8x200's, and to obtain this, a lot of interval work needs to be done. Also, though, it is imperative that a swimmer do long swims (800 yds or more) to get accustomed to swimming for longer periods of time. And sprinting drills, not just 25s, that is not far enough, a minimum of 50s. Because I swim ocean I am able to do a drill: 20 ez, 20 fast until failure. Another way to get a good sprint in comes from Leonard Jenson and he wrote in the March/April issue of Swimmer that a swimmer should incorporate speed work within the interval; i.e. a 50 or 100 yard sprint every 200 yards or so on a longer swim. This builds great speed endurance. I would think that having swimmers who are doing a 400, have them sprint every other 50 within that 400. Just an example. It can be mixed and matched.
If a swimmer trains for a one mile swim by swimming one mile, they will most probably have a slow one mile swim.
donna
