Short swim sprints as part of Triathlon training

Kurt.Godel

It took me a long time to fully appreciate the benefits of 25-50m sprint sessions as part of a triathletes training. As a newbie triathlete I figured to race long you must train long and just swam for distance, before gradually started introducing sets of 100m with short breaks, etc. The shorter training sets got me a whole lot faster. Lately I've been doing quite a bit of flat out sprint stuff- 25m or 50m MAX with plenty of recovery. Against what I initially believed, these flat out short sprints get me faster for longer stuff- I presume because they improve form.

Brett Sutton just posted an interesting point, and he suggests mostly speed work for triathletes. Do others here do as much speedwork/anaerobic as he suggests?

68 lost souls

I would do a decent amount of speed work. I eased off a bit this year due to a shoulder injury and despite rehabbing the shoulder injury my swim times were down, partly due to lack of miles but I would say also due tot lack of speed work.

I think its important for a few reasons, it will push your upper limit so that your race pace is easier to maintain and therefore be faster, it helps to make up for lack of currents in the pool, it helps your body get used to working under pressure, it also helps for the times you need those sprints in a race to bridge a gap or get back on to a set of feet.

MojoMaker

Interested has been saying this for years - rarely a session of his doesn't have a significant dose of 25/50m efforts complimenting the longer aerobic stuff.

PK follows this model too, plenty of max efforts keeping the longer stuff honest.

peter kern

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

It took me a long time to fully appreciate the benefits of 25-50m sprint sessions as part of a triathletes training. As a newbie triathlete I figured to race long you must train long and just swam for distance, before gradually started introducing sets of 100m with short breaks, etc. The shorter training sets got me a whole lot faster. Lately I've been doing quite a bit of flat out sprint stuff- 25m or 50m MAX with plenty of recovery. Against what I initially believed, these flat out short sprints get me faster for longer stuff- I presume because they improve form.

Brett Sutton just posted an interesting point, and he suggests mostly speed work for triathletes. Do others here do as much speedwork/anaerobic as he suggests?

where does he do that ? it says 1 out of 4 sessions is speed , I would say he sugggests ( well his ghost writer does ) to swim regularly and do a balanced swim training and to look at all 3 sports in conjunction and not just one sport.
the nature of swimming allows more higher intensity than lets say runing intensity but its still a mix of all components that makes a sound swim program.
and for instance depending on your swim profile some need more speed and others need more volume

Kurt.Godel

peter kern wrote: »

where does he do that ? it says 1 out of 4 sessions is speed

1 session speed, 1 session endurance, 1 session HR/threshold (and a 4th set if we have the luxury given as aerobic or recovery swim). It was the proportion given to speed/aerobic that surprised me. You're right in that its all part of the weekly training mix, and more intensity in swimming has to be considered within the intensity across all three sports.

I would bet my last dollar that most self-coached triathlete swimmers spend their first couple of years at least, swimming endurance sets with very little speedwork.

peter kern

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

1 session speed, 1 session endurance, 1 session HR/threshold (and a 4th set if we have the luxury given as aerobic or recovery swim). It was the proportion given to speed/aerobic that surprised me. You're right in that its all part of the weekly training mix, and more intensity in swimming has to be considered within the intensity across all three sports.

I would bet my last dollar that most self-coached triathlete swimmers spend their first couple of years at least, swimming endurance sets with very little speedwork.

you would be mainly right, many good runners and cyclists seem to think that they get fast just gliding along in the pool ( and of course many swim coaches do coach this pathway and then athletes wonder why they are sh.te swimmers and dont really get faster.

but its less the endurance part thats wrong its the way they approach swimming thats wrong ( you can be good swimmer if you do the right endurance sets )but you cant get a good swimmer if you dont even try to become better or think swimming is easy as its only technical.

MD1983

my swimming in 2015 from May onwards was on a Brett Sutton type programme, if you take a look at my log from mid may 2015 onwards you would see the 4 different sets i did each week (see the end of June for the full sets as they kind of built up over a few weeks). my swimming did improve in 2015 on the back of those sets and the more swimming i was doing in general. my coach at the time was coached himself by Brett for years and i think that formed the basis of my sessions

Tokyoverde

I swim from 20 to 30 mins 3 to 4 times a week what sort of program would you recommend to improve? Up until now I usually do 100 meters handy in 1:40 each day and think if I change it about I may see some improvements. I've fallen in to the cyclist and runner category who think if I plod along in the pool I'll see improvements and it's time to try something different if at least to spice it up and bit and make it more interesting.

ray o

Tokyoverde wrote: »

I swim from 20 to 30 mins 3 to 4 times a week what sort of program would you recommend to improve? Up until now I usually do 100 meters handy in 1:40 each day and think if I change it about I may see some improvements. I've fallen in to the cyclist and runner category who think if I plod along in the pool I'll see improvements and it's time to try something different if at least to spice it up and bit and make it more interesting.

It's great that your getting to the pool 3/4 times a week. That frequency can be logistically challenging for many. Are you only staying 20-30 mins for a reason? Can you stay for 45-60 mins 3/4 times a week?

How many reps of 100s are you doing at 1:40? What is your off time for the 100s?

Can you take part in a Masters or Tri Club swim program?

Tokyoverde

ray o wrote: »

It's great that your getting to the pool 3/4 times a week. That frequency can be logistically challenging for many. Are you only staying 20-30 mins for a reason? Can you stay for 45-60 mins 3/4 times a week?

How many reps of 100s are you doing at 1:40? What is your off time for the 100s?

Can you take part in a Masters or Tri Club swim program?

It's usually most days 1,100 meters and the odd time most up to 1,600 meters at a time no breaks as I feel grand plodding along at that pace on my lunch break in work.

In the new year I was thinking of trying to incorporate some intervals to liven it up as maybe I was thinking it may help and improve my times.

But am unsure how often I should do speed work and how often longer distance. I was thining one day do 100's and swim slowly for 50m as a break and do 20 to 25 mins one day next day longer swim next day 200's and 50m slowly as a break. So speed two days a week and slower longer swim other two days or one day. Would that work do you think?

Tri club swims I can't make due to evening time constraints and masters I'll try looking into.

Thanks a mil