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Shaping Up for a Triathlon Swim

A swim workout plan for triathletes - the last 4-weeks

By , About.com Guide

You do these 4-weeks of workouts during the last 4-weeks leading up to your race. The last weeks before your event, decrease the number of intervals by 1 each week, the long swims by 25% from the longest duration, and keep the min/max just as it is up one week before before the event. The final week perform a long swim and two min/max sets (once with the full 12 repeats, once with only 6 repeats).

Remember, all workouts should include:

  • 5-10 minutes of easy swimming and kicking to warm-up
  • 5-10 minutes of technique work
  • 5-10 minutes of easy swimming (and more technique work) to cool-down

  • Week -3

    Workout 1 - Test Swim

    • All Distances - 10 x 100 on :10 seconds rest

    Workout 2 - Long Swim

    • Olympic Distance Triathlete - 10-minute straight swim
    • 1/2 Ironman Distance Triathlete - 20-minute straight swim
    • Ironman Distance Triathlete - 30-minute straight swim

    Workout 3 - Technique & Power Swim

    • All Distances - 12 x 50 max/min on 1:00 rest

  • Week -2

    Workout 1 - Interval Swim

    • Olympic Distance Triathlete - 3x(4x50)
    • 1/2 Ironman Distance Triathlete - 3x(150 + 4x50)
    • Ironman Distance Triathlete - 3x(200 + 4x100)

    Workout 2 - Long Swim

    • Olympic Distance Triathlete - 30-minute straight swim
    • 1/2 Ironman Distance Triathlete - 45-minute straight swim
    • Ironman Distance Triathlete - 60-minute straight swim

    Workout 3 - Technique & Power Swim

    • All Distances - 12 x 50 max/min on 1:00 rest

  • Week -1

    Workout 1 - Interval Swim

    • Olympic Distance Triathlete - 2x(4x50)
    • 1/2 Ironman Distance Triathlete - 2x(150 + 4x50)
    • Ironman Distance Triathlete - 2x(200 + 4x100)

    Workout 2 - Long Swim

    • Olympic Distance Triathlete - 15-minute straight swim
    • 1/2 Ironman Distance Triathlete - 20-minute straight swim
    • Ironman Distance Triathlete - 45-minute straight swim

    Workout 3 - Technique & Power Swim

    • All Distances - 12 x 50 max/min on 1:00 rest

  • Race Week

    Workout 1 - Technique & Power Swim

    • All Distances - 12 x 50 max/min on 1:00 rest

    Workout 2 - Long Swim

    • Olympic Distance Triathlete - 10-minute straight swim
    • 1/2 Ironman Distance Triathlete - 15-minute straight swim
    • Ironman Distance Triathlete - 20-minute straight swim

    Workout 3 - Technique & Power Swim

    • All Distances - 6 x 50 max/min on 1:00 rest

    That's it. Decide where to put your training emphasis for your next big event - but put enough into the swim to give yourself a good bike and run.

    Good luck, stick to your paces determined by your test swim, and do some kind of technique swimming work every workout. You can add other sets - like kicking and pulling - to round out the main sets if you desire - but these workouts should be enough to get you through a triathlon swim with energy to spare.

    Swim On!

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