The Top 20 Rules for Faster Triathlon Swimming

wear red - it is faster

#21 is missing: Eat oranges for best swim recovery.

Other than that, can't find a one to disagree with, which is rare for me regardless of source or subject.

Thanks, Axenhottie!

Love! It!

To swim fast, you have to swim fast.

I like everything, except for:

8. Include some quality in every swim. If you are swimming less than 5x per week, having easy swims is a waste of time. Always include quality, from band, to paddles, to sprints, in every swim.

9. Don't count strokes. See rule #2. The objective is to get faster, not take fewer strokes.

The objective of the swim is to get you to the race in position to win, place, show, PR, or finish.  No one has ever won a triathlon by whooping up on the field in the water.  (Andy Potts).  From my own experience, and as a fairly able swimmer, I watched about 300 people pass me on the bike at CDA, and another 200 on the run.  It happens in most races.

At least 1/4 of my swims are easy, just to make sure that I remember that it is fun to be in the water.

The other 18 are dead on, and a GREAT REMINDER.  Thanks so much for sharing!!!  Head down, baby!

I'm pretty confident that Andy Potts has won his fair share of races...

Coeur d'Alene 2010... although he was 2nd out of the water

And Cozumel 2010.

At any rate, I was actually going to post the same thing, I swim 2-3 X per week, usually near the FOP on the swim (and passed constantly afterward) and usually in there somehwere is 2-400 of an easy swim.  Sometimes it just feels good to flop down the pool 

Love these rules.

Thanks for posting!

I agree with all of it............

1:50/10 puts you MOP already.  Yeah, triathletes (I include myself) really are that bad at swimming (collectively -- of course there are exceptions).

I agree with all but number 10.   A wicked kick is what separates the front of the pack from everyone else.  And a good kick separates the middle of the pack from the back of the pack.  The back of the pack, well, bless their hearts.

Yes, I am a swim snob.  

Keep training and keep trying.  I mean tri-ing.

Two and a half minutes to take a wetsuit off. Jeez Louise.

Check out his Olympic and 70.3 results from this year alone. Wasn't it something like 7 straight races? He seems to be more interested in those races than the Full IM.

Well that's good to know. Let's hope my guesstimate is accurate. Well ... I'll hope ... you don't really need to.

I'll do a time trial soon.

I'm pretty sure that he is a decent cyclist and runner, too.  And I checked his race splits.

 1 08:24:40     3 POTTS, Andy                 34 COLORADO S CO  USA    46:28  4:42:04  2:52:48  
 2 08:38:17     9 OGDEN, Courtney             38 PERTH      WAA AUS    53:47  4:44:35  2:56:29  

After the swim, he had a 7:19 head start over Ogden. (but did NOT have the best swim split. 2:31 more in the bike.  3:39 more on the run.  He didn't just swim his way to victory, he did EVERY event well.

I hear what you're saying but check out Craig Alexander's splits from 2011 CdA:

50:46 | 4:38:44 | 2:46:54

Twilsek was even faster on the bike.

Those S/B times are basically flip-flopped with Potts from 2010.  A great swim won't win it for you but it sure can give you a safety buffer - especially with Potts conserving energy drafting behind Flanagan in 2010.  4 minutes is a good sized margin for pros.

Loved these rules

But one question: based upon what was stated I am only swimming 2-3x week (off season) and was going to only do speedwork once a week but sounds like I could increase to 2x per week?

 1 08:24:40     3 POTTS, Andy                 34 COLORADO S CO  USA    46:28  4:42:04  2:52:48  
 2 08:38:17     9 OGDEN, Courtney             38 PERTH      WAA AUS    53:47  4:44:35  2:56:29  

No one really wins anything competitive by whooping up in any one discipline. It's necessary to be at least decent in all 3. You seem to be flipping on whether Potts is good or not from your first post.  Had you said Flanagan instead, maybe that would have worked better. But I don't think anyone would really disagree. See the first two sentences of this response.

Personally? I would say so, if you're interested on max return on your investment. Truth is, all your swims could be based on hard intervals if you're willing to go that way. It's just not easy and for some it takes the enjoyment out of swimming, so people need to adjust for individual goals and balance.

Agreed.  What were you planning on doing for the other 1-2 workouts?  That's not a sarcastic comment, what you are already planning for the other workouts may be fine, just curious.