Triathlon Training : Swim Workouts

9:37 AM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments

Here are a couple of pool workouts that are great prep for triathlon swimming. These are especially fun if you can get a group of 3-6 people together - then you can rest after each set while the group finishes. If you do this solo make sure to take the rest when you need it, if you need it.

Use whatever measurement system is at your pool, meters, yards. Don't cheat on the drills. Keep that fist closed. This drill will help you learn to use your arm to increase cadence and pace.

Cool down with a few laps of breast stroke or backstroke to use different muscles. Have fun!

Workout #1 Warmup: 300 to 500 freestyle, 200 to 400 kick, 200 freestyle (alternating drill 25/swim 25)

Main set:

900 steady swim, change who leads the lane each 75 (One but no more than two-minute rest interval )(RI)

600 steady consisting of 3 x 100 fist/100 swim (One but no more than two-minute RI)

400 pull (paddles and buoy) One but no more than two-minute RI 200 pull (buoy, no paddles) One but no more than two-minute RI

6 x 50 backstroke on 1:10 Goal of the main set: 2400 yards or meters of steady swimming at an aerobic pace.

Cool down: Swim an easy 100 to 200 yards, choice of stroke

Total distance: 3200 to 3700

Workout #2: Negative-split Threshold Swim

These workouts help athletes learn to meter their energy and not go too fast at the beginning of the workout. Before beginning this workout, first determine the highest average pace per 100 you can hold for a set of three repeats of 300, with only 30 seconds rest between each swim (3 x 300 w/ 30 second RI). Call this your T-Pace. Next, add 15 seconds to your 100 T-Pace--this is your swim interval or send-off for the entire main set.

For example, if your T-Pace is 1:30, your swim interval is 1:45. You will push off the wall every time the clock ticks off one minute and 45 seconds. The speed or pace that you need to be swimming during each swim interval is listed in parenthesis.

Warmup: 300 choice of stroke swim, 300 kick, 200 freestyle catch-up drill


Main set: 6 x 100 (T-Pace minus 1 to 2 seconds)

100 very easy recovery swim followed by less than a minute rest 4 x 100 (T-Pace minus 3 seconds)

100 very easy recovery swim followed by less than a minute rest 4 x 100 (T-Pace minus 5 seconds)

100 very easy

Cool down: 1-2 x 300 consisting of (50 catch-up, 25 right arm only, 25 left arm only, 50 "perfect stroke", 150 swim)

Total distance: 2800-3100

Cool Down Thoughts:  For some variation, you can increase the intensity of Workout #1 by having only the leader swim their 75 as fast as possible during the 900. For those of you who aren't strong swimmers, cut everything in half. As your season progresses, you can keep the same send-off, but try to further improve the pace you swim during Workout #2. A second option is to retest your T-Pace to see if you can decrease your send-off time for Workout #2.