7 weeks until first sprint tri

Many swimmers and coaches on here can give better advice than I on this topic, but I definitely recommend getting some longer sets that cover the race distance and possibly beyond.

Start building from whatever distance you can comfortably do without stopping, let's just say it's 200 meters.  Each week, add 50-100 meters on top of that as your long set.  I do my long set at more of a moderate pace than a race pace but other more experienced swimmers may disagree with that philosophy.

Good luck on your first race, you'll have a blast!

can you swim 500m without stopping ?

if not, I would start adding a long swim along with your shorter speed sets.

what I sort of meant, is if you are swimming multiple times per week, separate your swims into Speed Day and Long Day.

So you should have enough time to get in your long swim.

Maybe you should slow down. It sounds to me like you are sprinting instead of jogging. Pardon the running terms. Slow it down and see how many yards you can go without stopping.

x2, I truly believe that slower is faster when swimming.  Try slowing down a bit to find a jog type pace and you may find you actually keep your same speeds....just my 2 cents

^^^^This. Keep swimming, just like the poster said, side, back, breast, whatever. Keep moving.

How many times per week are you swimming? If you're swimming 3-4x a week then I'd recommend having one day of drills & speed work (short distance, high intensity at the end). Say you're going for 1800 yards. Spend 400 yards warming up. Nice and easy back and forth, do like 150 swim, 150 kick, 100 pull (focus on keeping a tight core without disconnecting your hips and upper body, no leg movement). Then 500 yards of drills and swimming. My favorite go-to is 20x25's as [3 25s drill, 2 25s swim]x4. Then 10x50's hard but not sprinting, focus on maintaining a long strong stroke. Then 10x25s. Then 250 yards of cooling down.

One day for 100 repeats and one to two days for long-distance efforts at a more "jogging" pace (200 to 300 yards with short rest). You're doing good by leaving 15-20 seconds to rest. Incorporate drills after your warmup all the time. Its a good habit to get in to. They increase yardage, keep your form up and don't tire you out very much. Drills can be specific drills or just separating your kick and pull, or even just swimming extremely slow to really focus on how your body is positioned in the water. Anything that focuses on stroke-improvement.

Edit: Several folks here have a lot more experience on giving pointers. This is just kind of a generic approach; same thing with the set I just listed. its a quick go-to for a fast-paced session. One speed day, one threshold day, the rest are longer efforts. Good luck!

I followed these programs when I was training for my first sprint....enjoy!

http://ruthkazez.com/ZeroTo1mile.html

http://ruthkazez.com/Zeroto1milePreamble/pre-zero.html