Three Swim Sets to get you ready for your first race of the season

Three Swim Sets to get you ready for your first race of the season

Dust off that wetsuit and find the anti-fog solution for those open water goggles and re-awaken those pre-race butterflies. It’s triathlon time! Finally the dark winter months give way to the first tri of the season. You trudged through the cold workouts for this, for the racing. Incorporating these three race specific workouts in your final preparation for the upcoming season will set you up for that swim PR you have been training for all winter.

You dial in every other part of your race day preparation from the architectural arrangement of your transition towel to timing of kilocalorie consumption, why not practice your swim warm up as well? Here’s your chance to practice your physical and mental preparation for the first leg of the tri. Often swim workouts begin with elaborate warm-ups complete with kick and pull sets and a few drills thrown in for good measure, but is this how you are going to warm up on race day? Probably not. For these workouts practice your real race day warm up.

Endurance Set

Warm up: 500-800 meter swim with some pick ups/accelerations

Rest outside of the pool for 2-3 minutes (imagine a race director shouting incomprehensibly on a bull horn)

Hop back in and GO!
200 meters all out- imagine those feet and arms pummeling you as you fight for a good position in the pack.
15 second rest (just enough to catch your breath as if you found the perfect feet to draft)
12x100 meters (or 6x200 meters) at race pace
5-10 seconds rest
Finish off with 100 meter sprint kick to get some blood flow to the legs getting them ready for the bike (and simulating the sprint up the beach)

Lactate Tolerance Set
Again practice your pre-race warm up then
20x50 on a consistent send off allowing for 15-20 seconds rest.
For example if you are swimming 40 second 50’s with 20 seconds rest, the send off is 1 minute. If your 50’s drop to 43 seconds, you only get 17 seconds rest. The goal here is to maintain consistent times (you have to work to earn your rest)

Race Simulation
Grab 2-3 of your closest friends (well at least your swimming/triathlete buddies who swim).
Warm-up: Swim on your buddies feet. Practice drafting in a pace line switching the leader every 50 meters. Do this for 800-1000 meters.

Turn Buoy: Set a turn buoy 6-8 feet from the wall. Start at the opposite wall all together and fight to be the first one at the buoy and around it and back to the wall.
6x50 of these should be ample time to elbow each other, work on your acceleration in the water and practice buoy turns while you’re at it. While it is race simulation, try not to give your buddies black eyes, they will be less likely to practice with you in the future.

Finish up with a 2x600 swim fartlek alternating 50 meters at endurance pace and 50 meters fast.

Start the season off right with a swim PR by incorporating these race simulation swim sets into your preparation for optimal performance on race day. Not only will you be physically prepared, you will be mentally focused, practiced and sharp come that first cold dip into the open water