From Mat Luebbers,
Your Guide to Swimming.
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Several key swimming workouts for triathletes were explained in an earlier About Swimming article, Important Swim Workouts for a Triathlete. Here are a few more training details - how often to swim these workouts and how fast to swim them:

• Brain Work:
  • Speed= race pace or slower, but always the same speed through the entire swim.
  • Frequency= every 2-3 weeks - remember to start with less distance and build-up.
• Race Simulation:
  • Speed= race pace.
  • Frequency= every 3-6 weeks - remember to start with less distance and build-up.
• Technique Golf:
  • Speed= varied speed from slower to faster than race pace to experiment with stroke rate, stroke distances, etc. As experience is gained moves to a narrower range, and moves towards race pace or slightly slower early in the set to race pace or faster later within the set.
  • Frequency= every week.
• Sustainable Pace:
  • Speed= overall race pace, with variation between segments narrowing with experience.
  • Frequency= every 1-2 weeks.
• Hold a Pace:
  • Speed= Fastest speed that can be sustained for all repeats.
  • Frequency= every 1-2 weeks.
• Count-down:
  • Speed= average race pace, starting below race pace and ending faster than race pace, with the variance narrowing with experience.
  • Frequency= every 3-6 weeks - remember to start with less distance and build-up
• Hard-Easy Hard:
  • Speed= As fast as can be done for four swims in a row. It might be so fast you cannot hold that speed for every repeat; speed could decrease 5s-10s from first to fourth swim and from 5th to 8th swim, but if the slow-down is greater, then the inital speed was too great!
  • Frequency= every 1-2 weeks.

I also have a few random thoughts to add...

• Swim is not the place to try and win unless it is a drafting race, then still better not to win but draft off the leader in the swim!

• Balance of effort and speed - much more to come in the race after the swim is over.

• Swimmers will often say that the swim leg of a triathlon is too short, and non-swimmers will say the opposite - this probably relates to the level of technical proficiency of the swimmer, not necessarily their fitness.

• Not taking into account the benefits of a wetsuit, you will not swim faster in a race than you swim in practice (and still be able to bike and run well afterwards).

• You must do some swimming in practice at efforts below, at, and above race pace. Short races require a bit more emphasis on swimming at or faster than race pace, and longer races slide down to an emphasis on race pace and below. Works the same way as training for a run of 1 mile or 26.2 miles - training for the longer race tends to have less running at race pace!

Swim On!