Elevating Your Swim Performance

From Triathlon July 2011 issue.

These exercises are to be done in open water, however doing them in a pool would be just as good workout.  One should get in five to 10 open water swims before each race, but if your like me, sometimes that is not always possible.  The majority of my open water swims are to work on my sitting, not to do high intensity workouts.  Nevertheless, here are the workouts:

Lactate Threshold Swim

This is a good interval for trying to chase down the faster feet in front of you.  Focus on keeping head low since swimmers have a tendency to hold their head too high during open water swims.

8-12 intervals of 2-3 minutes with 90 seconds recovery treading water.  Each interval should be slightly faster than your average race pace.

Aerobic Power Set

When in open water, try to reducing the number of times you need to site.

2-3 intervals of 10-15 minutes with 3 minute recovery either standing or treading water.

or

6-8 intervals of 5 minutes with 2 minutes recovery either standing or treading water.

Each interval should be controlled in comparison to your race pace (85-90 percent).  Be sure to spread your effort across all intervals so your last set is just as fast as your first (so much easier said than done).

Race Start Simulation

Perform your race day warm-up

Run into the water and swim for 100 meters and then continue 200-400 meters at race pace (if you can, make it an out and back).  Run hard out of the water and continue 20 meters up the beach to practice race exit.  Repeat this sequence 1-3 times.  End the session with 3-5 minutes easy swimming.  (take wetsuit off as quickly as you would in T1).