Triathlon Swim Workouts for a Triathlete - Key Swimming Sets

Important or key triathlon swim workouts for a triathlete involve race simulation, swimming skill proficiency, sustainable swimming speed, and time to recover after a swim. These factors, along with the athletes experience and goal triathlon race distance, will help a swimmer balance the types of swimming workouts done in the swimming pool (or lake, river, or ocean) among emphases of technique sets, endurance sets, strength sets, and speed sets. For more on how fast and how often to do these workouts, review the article How Often and How Fast.
Only working on technique will not make a triathlon swimmer much faster, some work must be done at speeds and efforts that could cause technique to deteriorate. Improvement comes through stress and recovery.

Work on technique, work on going faster, work on holding good technique while going faster, but don't work on only one of these elements. They are all important. The triathlon novice may need more technique work, but will have greater overall swimming gains from mixing workout set emphases between technique sets, fitness sets, and combined sets.

One of the key triathlon workouts for a triathlete is swimming the race distance at a steady, sustainable, non-stop effort at least once, essentially a simulated race. If possible, it should be done in the same clothing that will be used while in the race. Completing this set helps mentally, since the athlete will know he/she can cover the triathlon swim distance; it can also help to find any problems with triathlon clothing choices. Alternately, this swim can be done with mixed efforts, mimicking the race effort pattern (but not necessarily mimicking race intensity level) to simulate the different parts of the swim leg.

Increasing swimming ability is not all about speed and effort - increasing swimming efficiency pays huge benefits. Swimming is the most technical portion of a triathlon (not counting the intricacies of a bicycle or of race nutrition). Good swimming looks almost relaxed and effortless. This becomes even more apparent when highly skilled swimmers are compared with less proficient ones. How do swimmers move towards that effortless looking performance? By increasing their skill level - but how is this done?

There are at least two ways that could be considered an improvement in skill level (not necessarily fitness, but the ability to maintain technique is related to fitness):


Swim a distance in a lower number of strokes in the same time; this is increased efficiency, getting more distance from each stroke:
Day 1: 25m swim in 25 strokes with a time of 45s
Day 14: 25m swim in 23 strokes with a time of 45s

Swim a distance in the same number of strokes in a lower time; this is increased tempo, taking each stroke more frequently:
Day 1: 25m swim in 25 strokes with a time of 45s
Day 14: 25m swim in 25 strokes with a time of 42s

Both are good. Increased efficiency will probably yield lower energy expenditure, helping a triathlete perform better in the bike and run, leading to a better overall time. Increased tempo will probably yield a faster swim time, again leading to a better overall time, but only if that increased tempo does not result in excess fatigue, which would lead to a slower bike and run.

I have found that increased efficiency is important, while increased tempo is good to learn but not as vital to a successful triathlon swim. Tempo changes become a tactical tool, often used early or late in a race, or to latch on to a swimmer ahead for drafting purposes, with long-term energy-savings as a result.

While the peak velocity of a swimmer will influence the range of velocity a swimmer can achieve, that peak velocity is much less important than the peak sustainable velocity. What speed can a triathlon swimmer maintain over the distance of the race? The swimming speed that can be held for the duration of the race (that still allows the athlete to bike and run effectively!) is the triathlete's race pace. Going very fast early in a race, then slowing down as the race goes on is not a great strategy in most instances. Starting a race slightly faster than goal pace to clear out of the crowd, then dropping into a sustainable race pace or rhythm is often successful. The key is that sustainable pace, the highest speed can you maintain for the duration of the race that still allows you a good bike and run performance.

On the following pages are 7 basic swimming workouts for a triathlete. How you mix them into your routine depends upon your needs. The workouts will help you become stronger physically and mentally, help improve your technique and speed, and should get you ready for a great swim in almost any triathlon - sprint, Olympic, half-ironman, or Ironman distance.