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.
Parents
Former Member
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
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
