To swim or not to swim...intervals

the received wisdom is form and technique work till you hit 2min/100m. i'd stick with the drills and such till you get nearer to 2mins.

just my two pence worth

Yes, you are short changing yourself (IMHO).  Swimming is vastly different than running or biking in that sure, you can swim a straight 2K, but how much of that 2K is proper form and technique?  Biking and running longer for base is OK becuase form is not as much of a factor.

I think you might be thinking of "intervals" as hard sets.  In swimming, intervals might be hard, but they might also be easy.  More often, they're referred to as "sets"

By incorporating intervals or sets, you are allowing your body a slight rest during which you can refocus on technique.  And intervals are not all about speed.  You can do 100 intervals on 1:30, or 1:45, or 2:00, or 2:30, etc.  You get the point.  You can do speed intervals.  You can do base intervals (4 sets of 500 on a certain time, etc). 

For example, for a 2000 yard workout,  you could do 3 x 100 and 4 x 50 as a warmup incorporating drill work, then for your set do 8 x 100, or 4 x 200 or 6 x 150, etc for the main set, then 200 warm down.

On occasion, to remind those slow twitch muscles, you can do a 1000 yard set or go the full 2K.  But if all you do is long slow swims, all you'll be is a long slow swimmer

To swim fast you have to train fast BUT at 2:17 per 100m your speed will improve a lot more by getting swimming lessons and/or MORE time in the pool. You could add interval sessions; the problem I see is that with bad technique you'll just reinforce bad habits while swimming harder and not necessarily that much faster…

Keep working on technique but not just technique.

You are where I was last year maybe a bit faster. All last winter I did different interval sets minimum of twice a week and my time per 100 dropped more than 30 seconds. I started doing short intervals..goal to keep same pace or get faster as I went through the set...not go super fast first couple and then be toast later...taught me to pace better.  In time I did longer intervals and ladders from shorter to longer.

Thanks, everyone, for the advice.

Its the reinforcement I needed to make a change in my swim training regimen. Fortunately, I can fairly easily juggle my schedule to start attending a Masters Swim session during my lunch hour.

I've been contemplating it for a while now, but having just learned to freestyle/frontcrawl in late June, i think I have just been intimidated by the prospect of trying to hang with all these great swimmers. But, the coach has always been very inviting, so I will go for it next week.

Yes, absolutely, no question about it. See Swim Myth #13. See swim.net for some guidance in creating an interval-rich workout plan that suits your training level.

The 18 Biggest Myths in Pool & Ocean Swimming, by Clay Evans:

1. I need more technique
2. I need more stroke drills
3. If I practice the wrong technique I will establish bad habits
4. Breathe every third stroke
5. I will draft off someone in the race
6. Swimming a straight mile lap swimming style is a good use of my workout time
7. Keep your head down and in balance
8. Fins are bad because I will get dependent on them
9. The sharks will get me
10. The under tow will get you
11. Swimming in a pool or lake is the same as swimming in the ocean
12. Swim with a buddy
13. Practice for a distance race doing non-stop swimming
14. Kicking really hard makes you go faster
15. To speed up I will rush my stroke
16. Only swim in the pool for ocean racing
17. Only swim in the ocean for ocean racing 

Wise choice.  Not only will doing intervals make you a better swimmer, swimming in a masters group will make you a MUCH better swimmer.  The motivation from other people in the pool will amaze you, and you will likely do sets you'd never do on your own.

There's a thread over on ST, but make sure the masters coach is mixing it up and not just hammering all the time.

Yeah, it's intimidating joining masters.  I was intimidated, most everyone is, and then you get over it

To expand this discussion a bit:

Since some of you think swim technique is important only to certain extent: What would you guys consider a good benchmark to change focus from technique to speed? Someone swimming on avg 2:00 per 100 Yds? 1:45? 1:30? Depends on the distance? Depends on the athlete's goals? Depends on swimming volume? Both should have similar focus? Does it even matter?

This I'd really like to know also.

As a newbie, over 200-300m I can hold 2'00"/100m; but over 2000m my pace drops to 2'17"/100m.

What 100m pace over what distance should I be training towards (for AG 35-39) do you think?

Edit: I just checked '06 race results for my first Sprint (800m swim) of next season. Top swimmer, out of the water at a 1'31"/100m pace. In my AG (35-39), MOP seems to be 2'08"/100m (I'm almost there), and BOP were pushing 3'10"-3'30"/100m.