Essential Swimming Workouts for Triathlon – Your Essential Guide

Training for a triathlon is an exciting prospect but the swimming leg can often feel somewhat daunting for both new and experienced athletes. Unlike cycling and running, which are familiar activities for most of us, swimming requires a little more thought surrounding stroke technique, breath control and even adapting to weather conditions.

Therefore, if you’re preparing for a triathlon, it’s important to spend plenty of time training for the swimming leg. This will improve your efficiency in the water, increase your stamina and even help you deal with the mental demands of the event.

In this guide, you’ll learn about essential training principles, different types of swim workouts, how to develop your technique, the differences between open water and pool training, how to create a swim training plan, what equipment you need and how to remain safe throughout your training.

An Introduction to Triathlon Swim Training

If you’re going to be successful during a triathlon, you need to put effort into all three disciplines – swimming, cycling and running.

As triathlons typically start with the swimming segment, it often sets the tone for the rest of the race. Not only does it require a combination of technique, endurance and mental strength to thrive under pressure, but it can also present challengesa to athletes due to unpredictable water conditions.

Therefore, although the swimming portion of a triathlon may be the shortest leg, it’s important to prepare strategically to perform well in the water and master energy conservation for the subsequent cycling and running sections.

Essential Training Principles

It’s important to do the basics well when taking part in a triathlon. Therefore, to give you the best chance of success, you should consider the following essential training principles:

Building Endurance

Endurance is crucial for triathletes and this is especially the case if your event is over a longer distance. Focusing on steady, longer sets when training will help you maintain a consistent pace throughout the swimming leg.

By giving yourself plenty of training time, you can start with shorter swims and then build them up over time. Give yourself achievable targets as you improve, such as swimming 1,000 metres continuously before moving on to attempt 2,000 metres.

Mastering Technique

Maintaining proper form throughout your swim is key to reducing drag and conserving energy for later in the event.

Focusing on correct stroke form, body position, and breathing techniques is a great way to continually improve your swim. There are lots of fantastic resources available online to help you with this goal, including our How to Improve Swimming Speed guide.

Balancing Speed and Endurance

Although endurance is essential for triathletes, it’s also important to balance the ability to swim for long periods with the speed to make you competitive.

An excellent way to find a balance between endurance and speed is to introduce sprints into your training. Start by sprinting for shorter distances, such as 25 metres, and then work your way up to 50 metres and beyond. This will help improve your overall pace and power.

Types of Swim Workouts

Triathletes can benefit from several types of swim workouts, with emphasis placed on elements currently lacking:

• Interval Training: This helps to improve speed and stamina. An example of this type of training session might include 10 sets of 100-metre swims at your desired race pace with 30 seconds of rest between each.

• Sprint Sets: These help to improve speed over shorter distances. An example of this type of training session will look like the interval training outlined above, but swimming as fast as you can with the proper form.

• Distance Training: This helps to build stamina. An example of this in practice might include increasing swim duration each session.

Developing Technique

It takes time to develop your swimming technique, but it’s something you should be focusing on every time you train. By doing so, you’ll give yourself the best opportunity to improve your time when race day arrives.

Below are a few technique drills you can practice to ensure efficient swimming:

• Fingertip Drag Drill: By dragging your fingertips along the water’s surface after each stroke, you can encourage high elbows and develop improved arm positioning. This technique reduces drag and leads to a more efficient stroke.

• Catch-Up Drill: You should practice extending one arm forward while the other is completing its stroke. This technique develops improved timing and leads to a more streamlined stroke.

• Breathing Drills: Open water can be unpredictable, so it’s important to practice breathing on both sides to navigate potential waves. Furthermore, breathing bilaterally every three to five strokes will help to promote a balanced stroke and may improve lung capacity and endurance.

Open Water vs. Pool Training

One of the biggest challenges for triathletes is experiencing enough open water training before race day. There is a big difference between this and pool swimming due to currents, cold temperatures, and even visibility.

Therefore, practising regularly in open water is beneficial, but it’s important to ensure you do this in a safe place. Furthermore, it goes without saying that you should prepare correctly by sourcing a good-quality wetsuit and any other equipment, such as goggles, beforehand.

Sample Swimming Training Plan

Understanding the types of swimming training you should be doing is one thing, but it can be tricky to know how to put it into practice.

Everyone is different, but the following is an example of a training plan a beginner or intermediate swimmer might follow:

• Create a Balanced Weekly Plan: Consistency is important when training for a triathlon. A balanced weekly swimming plan might include three sessions, with one focused on endurance (longer continuous swimming), one on speed (sprints), and one on technique drills with a mix of distances.

• Track and Adjust: To ensure continual progress, you should track your swimming times and distances. As your endurance and speed improve, slowly increase the length of sets or reduce rest periods to continue to challenge yourself and progress. A swimming watch or app would be ideal for this task.

Safety Considerations and Best Practices

Before you take part in any open-water swimming, it’s important to ensure you do so safely. For example, checking tide times and currents can help you avoid dangerous situations while swimming with a partner or a club is the best way to ensure safety.

Dealing with cold water can be tricky, so it’s important to wear appropriate equipment, such as a wetsuit, and to warm up before you start swimming.

Performing a cool-down session after you’ve finished will also help to reduce muscle soreness and will aid recovery.