If you are training for a triathlon or open water swim, you will need to practice differently than you would for a pool sprint. These practice sets focus on building the strength and endurance you will need for a swim of 1500 meters or more.
Swimming at least three times per week, adding 100 to 300 meters each time you swim, and alternating hard laps with easy laps are all ways to build endurance. You may find that your times decrease, or they may stay the same while you finish each set stronger than before.
Set long and short-term goals when training for a race. Don’t train at the race distance every time you swim. Build your strength and endurance with training sets for the best results.
Key Points:
- Depending upon the ability level of the swimmer, some initial goals should be to swim at least three times per week and to swim at least 30-minutes per workout.
- Increase the time spent swimming by 10% to 20% each week.
- In a general sense, frequent shorter sessions are more productive than a few long sessions each week since maintaining technique becomes more difficult as the length of the workout increase.
“Some long-term goals might be to swim up to 5 times per week, with some workout sessions as long as 90-minutes for ironman-distance triathletes (an ironman-distance triathlete might do a 2-hour workout, but not very frequently, or only if they are at the elite level).”
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