A Swim Training Plan for a Half-Ironman Distance Triathlon Swim

This plan is 14-weeks long. You could jump into it further down the list if you are already at that fitness level, but experience has shown that it works best by starting at the start! You do not have to do the workouts within a week in the order listed, but you should always get the first three workouts accomplished each week. Workouts #4 and #5 are good to do, but if you run out of time drop them off the to-do list for that week.

Every workout should start with 5-15 minutes of warming up and 5-15 minutes of cooling off at the end of the workout. Both of those parts could include swimming technique drills. The workouts should not last more than 60 to 75 minutes (often shorter). After the main set is completed, prior to cooling off, you can add 5-20 minutes of easy swimming with a pull-buoy (paddles optional).

WORKOUT #1 - Build the Swim Distance
EFFORT FOR MAIN SET: MODERATE, Race pace
DESCRIPTION: Negative split, non-stop swim; if the set is 2x ____, take about 1-minute rest between swims. Negative split means to start slower than you finish; swim easier at the beginning and swim faster at the end.

1. WEEK 1: 6 x 100
2. WEEK 2: 2 x 300
3. WEEK 3: 2 x 500
4. WEEK 4: 2 x 700
5. WEEK 5: 1 x 1,000
6. WEEK 6: 1 x 1,200
7. WEEK 7: 1 x 1,400
8. WEEK 8: 1 x 1,600
9. WEEK 9: 1 x 1,800
10. WEEK 10: 2 x 1,000
11. WEEK 11: 1 x 2,000
12. WEEK 12: 2 x 1,000
13. WEEK 13: 1 x 2,100
14. WEEK 14 (RACE WEEK): 1 x 500

WORKOUT #2 - Build Swim Speed for the Distance
EFFORT FOR MAIN SET: HARD, As fast as you can go and still maintain that speed for the whole set
DESCRIPTION: Fast 50's on 10-15 seconds rest.

1. WEEK 1: 10 x 50
2. WEEK 2: 15 x 50
3. WEEK 3: 20 x 50
4. WEEK 4: 25 x 50
5. WEEK 5: 20 x 50
6. WEEK 6: 25 x 50
7. WEEK 7: 30 x 50
8. WEEK 8: 35 x 50
9. WEEK 9: 30 x 50
10. WEEK 10: 35 x 50
11. WEEK 11: 40 x 50
12. WEEK 12: 35 x 50
13. WEEK 13: 40 x 50
14. WEEK 14 (RACE WEEK): 8 x 50

WORKOUT #3 - Build Swim Strength
EFFORT FOR MAIN SET: EASY to MODERATE, Negative split
DESCRIPTION: Drag suit with ~1-minute rest between swims. If two swims, then the first swim is easy, the second swim is moderate; if one swim, then it is done as negative split. Negative split means to start slower than you finish; swim easier at the beginning and swim faster at the end.

1. WEEK 1: 2 x 200
2. WEEK 2: 2 x 300
3. WEEK 3: 2 x 400
4. WEEK 4: 2 x 300
5. WEEK 5: 2 x 400
6. WEEK 6: 2 x 500
7. WEEK 7: 2 x 400
8. WEEK 8: 2 x 500
9. WEEK 9: 2 x 400
10. WEEK 10: 2 x 500
11. WEEK 11: 2 x 600
12. WEEK 12: 2 x 500
13. WEEK 13: 2 x 600
14. WEEK 14 (RACE WEEK): NONE - Do not do workout #3 this week; instead, the day before the race, do a 10-15 minute easy swim with no drag suit; include 3-4 1-minute efforts at race pace.

WORKOUT #4 - Build Swim Skills
EFFORT FOR MAIN SET: EASY
DESCRIPTION: Mixed swim drills, swimming, swimming with a pull-buoy, and kicking - none of it faster than a moderate effort. Kicking is just using your legs, no arms; you might use a kickboard (float you hold with your arms) for the kick if desired. The workout is listed as total time in the water.

1. WEEK 1: 30-minutes
2. WEEK 2: 30-minutes
3. WEEK 3: 30-minutes
4. WEEK 4: 30-minutes
5. WEEK 5: 45-minutes
6. WEEK 6: 45-minutes
7. WEEK 7: 45-minutes
8. WEEK 8: 30-minutes
9. WEEK 9: 60-minutes
10. WEEK 10: 60-minutes
11. WEEK 11: NONE - Do not do workout #4 this week
12. WEEK 12: 45-minutes
13. WEEK 13: 30-minutes
14. WEEK 14 (RACE WEEK): 20-minutes

WORKOUT 5 - Build Swim Skills and Swim Power
EFFORT FOR MAIN SET: VERY HARD, Maximum effort
DESCRIPTION: This workout is the same as "Workout #4" with one exception, after a warm-up do 8 x 25 maximum effort swims with about 1 minutes rest between each 25. The remaining workout should be mixed swim drills, swimming, swimming with a pull-buoy, and kicking - none of it faster than an easy effort. Kicking is just using your legs, no arms; you might use a kickboard (float you hold with your arms) for the kick if desired. The workout is listed as total time in the water.

1. WEEK 1: 30-minutes
2. WEEK 2: 30-minutes
3. WEEK 3: 30-minutes
4. WEEK 4: NONE - Do not do workout #5 this week
5. WEEK 5: 30-minutes
6. WEEK 6: 30-minutes
7. WEEK 7: 30-minutes
8. WEEK 8: NONE - Do not do workout #5 this week
9. WEEK 9: 30-minutes
10. WEEK 10: 30-minutes
11. WEEK 11: 30-minutes
12. WEEK 12: NONE - Do not do workout #5 this week
13. WEEK 13: 30-minutes
14. WEEK 14 (RACE WEEK): 20-minutes - only 4 x 25's this week

Remember to do some swimming technique work as a part of every swim workout. Good luck with the training and at the races. Want a copy of the workouts to take with you to the pool? Click on the "print" icon on the upper right of this page.

Swim On!

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