beginner training

LOL I don't know what's wrong with you! Of course we all do freestyle AND never stop! <---(My idea of a joke) Swimming was SOOOO hard for me. I literally couldn't do 20 yards with my face in the water! I am still terrible at it, but can knock out about 700 yards in 25-30 minutes. It used to take me an hour to do that with all of my breaks. I still need breaks...now they are more like 10 seconds than 10 minutes! I do 50 yards free then 50 breast for a break. It seems to bring my heartrate down a little and allows me to freestyle again. I could barely swim a stroke in June. I made the commitment to go hard 3 days a week and see what happened. I am just barely swimming long enough for a tri, but I can do it now. Good luck!!! Seriously...if I can do it, anyone can. Perservere!!

I have been doing some hiit training for a couple of months so I feel my legs and cardio are all right, it seems some of the beginner running and biking portions of the program are not pushing me very hard.  Should I go a little harder than what the program suggests or is it just designed to get my body used to these exercises.   --- I would recommend just following the plan. Not all workouts should be pushing your body its limits. You want to build a solid base.


Also I am not used to swimming and cannot go for very long without stopping, do most beginners, when the do their first sprint, go the whole way freestyle or do they use any combination of strokes? What do experienced tri people use, just freestyle? --- people use a variety of strokes in open water swims.. you will see people doing breastroke and backstroke (and sidestroke) in addition to freestyle. generally, yes, experienced swimmers/ triathletes use freestyle .. it's the fastest and most efficient.


have fun !!