Training Times

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2004-12-09 7:53 AM

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London
Subject: Training Times
Have recently embarked on the 3x Balanced 16 week couch to sprint program in prep for my first tri, I have previous experience in fairly long listance cycling and 10K races. I am NOT as yet competitive, not do I intend to be for my first year of triathalon. My question revolves around the swim portion of the regine. Many of the swim programmes I have read on this site are looking at distance of between 1000 - 1600 metres, and the time alloted to swimming in this programme is insufficient to complete them. How should I be looking to approach this? Swim sessions on the program last between 14 and 30 minutes. How am I best to utiise this training time in the pool?

thanks!

2004-12-09 12:10 PM
in reply to: #90727

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Subject: RE: Training Times
My strength is running and I've just adapted the kind of training I use for running - a varied combination of workouts - to swimming. So I do some long swims - 1000 m or more at a time - where I don't even think about how fast I'm going. And I do some more intense workouts - 50s, 100s, 200s or 400s - where I shoot to do each interval in a goal time. Sometimes I'll do these as a series of repeats at one distance, and sometimes I'll mix up a few different length intervals. Occasionally if I'm trying to practice a new skill (I'm trying to learn to breathe bilaterally right now), I throw in a few laps where I just drill on that technique.

Like I said, I'm originally a runner, so maybe someone with some real swimming experience might have some more specific tips for you.
2004-12-09 12:13 PM
in reply to: #90727

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Subject: RE: Training Times

for the 3x sprint program - you peak at 40 minutes a week before you taper...it takes 40minutes for me (the slowest swimmer in the world) to complete an open water olympic swim.  therefore, for a sprint swim, you SHOULD have no problems doing the openwater swim on race day by just using the program as-is with a semi-operable freestyle - u wont be the fastest, but that is not the goal of the program...the program starts assuming you have very little swim base and probably cant do more than a few laps before gasping and needing a minute to rest.

some stats from sprint tri swims are form 10min to 35minutes to finish for a half mile.

econway wrote an excellant treatise on the the subject of how to spend swim workouts...you surely dont have to follow the times in the program if you already have some endurance - you will want a more focused approach to get better teqnique and will utilize different swim workout types.  most of your sessions may well be over the times i put down for this program. 

see http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=256 

2004-12-09 12:22 PM
in reply to: #90805

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5

London
Subject: RE: Training Times
thanks both very much for you help. I have read may articles and will pour over thjs one in my tea break! This sight is a superb resource and the 3x training programme fits in with my available time very well, I appreciate the effort that hios gone into them!

PS. Ron, nice music taste, did you ever catch the Sasha and Digweed Northern Exposure series a few years back? They had some incredible PA's over here and thought that they might take it over the water
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