How can I swim a Sub 20 minute in a 1.5K?

Respectfully, my opinion would differ. If I were advising someone who said, "I can swim a sub 20:00 1500 but I would really like to go under 1:00 for 100," I would absolutely advise switching to a six-beat kick for the shorter race. But if a two-beat kick works for you most of the time, it's probably your best kick for 1500, especially if you are going to follow up that 1500 with a 40K bike and a 10K run. Maybe I am missing something, but I don't see a mention of this 1 mile swim as a portion of a triathlon. Terry, could you clarify your goal a bit and let us know if ourswimmer's assumption is correct? Terry has been stuck on a swim plateau for three years... and I think a pretty drastic change is needed to achieve the desired results. That is why I suggested earlier that he switch things up a little bit and try something new. Simply joining a team and swimming with people could be that change. So could the kicking. That "motorboat" 500 I mention, I swam in a 5:01. the year before I was at 5:12.9 w/ a two-beat kick. The drastic change was a broken wrist that forced me to do kick-only workouts for 6 weeks and realize the importance of kicking. For me, building my leg strength meant shredding off over 2 seconds per 100 in 1 year. Kicking is an integral and oft-neglected part of the crawl. To illustrate the importance of one's kick, lets do a "3-second glide" drill with a 2 beat kick. The swim feels and looks like a 15-year old trying to drive stick shift for the first time. Now lets do the glide again with a 6 beat kick. A lot smoother. I know it isn't practical to do that drill in a race/timed environment, but I think it illustrates how a two-beat kick can quickly become one long start/stop/start/stop process, and why my opinion on kicking is that even with distance, the more beats the better.

Maybe I am missing something, but I don't see a mention of this 1 mile swim as a portion of a triathlon. Terry, could you clarify your goal a bit and let us know if ourswimmer's assumption is correct? ------------------- A 1.5K swim (.93 miles) is the beginning event in the triathlon. I swim now 22 minute for this distance and I need to go under 20 minutes for that distance. I attended a Master group this morning, however, it's a small group no one in the group is able to push me on the swims. The Coach has an outstanding background, however. Can this Master group still be beneficial or should I look for another? Thanks, Terry

I can swim a sub 30 sec.-50 yards and a sub 1 minute in a 100 yards but cannot hold a fast pace over the longer distances. My best distance splits are: 500yds. = 6:18 (=1:15.7 per 100 yds.) - (pool swim) 1.5K = 22:10 (=1:21 per 100 yds.) - (open water w/wetsuit) I don't think those times are all that inconsistent. 30 secs for 50 yards is pretty slow to hope to do a sub 20 minutes 1500m IMO. If I use the FINA pts calculator, 33 secs for 50m free translates to 22:34 for 1500m free, for example. I've done 1500m free sub 18 minutes (SCM pool), but I'm afraid I don't have any advice on how I became able to do it other than the more I train the faster I get. I was doing 30km a week leading up to my sub 18 min swim at age 35. When I started Masters swimming, it took me 1:06 to do SCM 100 free, so not much different to your speed, but I couldn't break 20 mins for SCM 1500, it took me over 22 mins back then. My SCM 100 had come down to more like 1:02-1:03 when I raced my first SCM 1500 and did 19:32. I've always found doing max effort 1500m swims in training to be helpful for getting used to how to pace them, you can't afford to swim a 1500 too comfortably, you should be swimming a 1500 significantly faster than the pace you could hold for 3km, say.

I don't think those times are all that inconsistent. 30 secs for 50 yards is pretty slow to hope to do a sub 20 minutes 1500m IMO. If I use the FINA pts calculator, 33 secs for 50m free translates to 22:34 for 1500m free, for example. I 100% agree. It seems that you are expecting to maintain the same pace whether it be a 50, 100, 200, 1500, or more. That just isn't the case. Here's my thoughts on getting there. 1) Always train alternate breathing (either by stroke or by lap) Only breathing to one side over time will severely throw your stroke out of balance and teaches a very bad habit. What happens in a tri where the landmarks are on the left but you breath on your right? Or worse, waves breaking on your right and you only breath to your right. Your screwed. Practice sighting during practice too if you only have access to a pool for ow training. 2) Train more at race pace. You're spending an awful lot of time putting in what is known as garbage yardage. I don't mean that in a derogatory way. It just means yardage for yardage sake. Do 6 x 50's or 100's at race pace with at least 4+ minutes of rest. Many triathletes and distance swimmers get caught with the belief that just doing more yardage is all that is needed. When I was growing up, that's what we did. Today, quality has become much more important and world records are falling because of it. 3) Train all 5 strokes - back, ***, fly, free, and YES IM. It is called cross training. If you are swimming freestyle all of the time, you are not giving a chance for those muscles to recover and other muscles are not being worked. Many triathletes don't want to train other strokes but this really hurts them. 4) Learn how long to taper. This varies with every individual. If you're putting in 4000 yards 3-4 times a week, you might want to consider at least a 2 week taper before your big events. Tapers are critical for swimming fast. Taper doesn't mean stop swimming. It mean gradually cut down on quantity but continue to emphasis quality. It does not mean switch to nothing but race pace the week before! 5) If you are going to race with a wet suit, you need to train with a wet suit occasionally. That can be difficult especially if your pool is warm. Watch your temperature. 6) Find a good coach and attend their practices. Pick their brains and when you are swimming on your own try to implement what they have told you. Every team and coach is different. Shop around. 7) You didn't mention doing any kicking other than you have a 2 beat kick. In recent years more emphasis has been put on upping kick rates. I would add significant kicking sets to your workout. Both with and without fins but no boards. They are bad for neck, shoulders, back and body position. Kick on side, back or underwater. Also, vertical and wall kicking. If you are not working your legs, you're letting your arms carry to much of the work. Hope that helps, Allen