not to beat the "no swimming in the OS" dead horse, but...
First of all, I have no swimming background, and before starting to swim for triathlon 2 years ago, I had done no swimming for exercise in almost 20 years. I did a 1:03:44 at Louisville (no wetsuit) this year on roughly 7000 yards per week in 2 sessions, most of which did not contain any intensity. I can swim 1:30/100 SCY all day long but if I take it to 1:20 I can only hold that for maybe 500, and if I go to 1:15 maybe 200.
As the type of person who likes to improve weaknesses and exploit potential, I would like improve my swim so that I could hold 1:20s for longer, and break an hour for a non-wetsuit IM. I have never had any swim instruction and if it really is 70% technique then maybe I can make some gains through that alone. I can see the logic of the OS "no swimming" philosophy for me, but I have a few concerns.
1. I see that during the race prep period, we will be expected to swim 3-4 times per week which I absolutely cannot do. I work a 24 hour shift every third day, and cannot swim on my work days which means I would have to swim every single day that I'm not at work which is going to cut into my bike and run sessions.
2. With no swimming background, was I able to do my Louisville time because of all the volume I did earlier this year?
3. I have the time to swim twice a week, I don't get up at 5am to get there, I don't have limited pool access, it doesn't cost me any SUAs, and it doesn't cause me to be fatigued (maybe I'm not swimming hard enough).
So my plan is to swim 1-2 times per week during the OS at no more than 2000 yards per session, with most of it being high intensity, not unlike the bike and run workouts we are doing right now, then in the spring start adding volume back up to my previous 7000 per week in two sessions while keeping some of the intensity I was doing all winter.
If the swimming experts really think I can skip it altogether and come back strong in the spring, keeping in mind that I will NOT be at the pool 3-4 times per week during race season, then I will consider skipping it.
Comments
I would say your swim at Louisville had more to do with technique than volume. Seems like you were swimming enough.
I definitely think you could take some time off and come back strong. I experienced it in 2008-2009 OS and have seen it with many around here. That being said, I think you should swim if you want to especially considering your goals. I'm actually a 1:06 IM swimmer and am going to swim masters 1 or 2 times a week during th OS. I have decidied to make the time sacrifice for this and I have the buy-in from the family. If I can take a minute or 2 off my time, it will be worth it to me. I also like to swim and feel like it helps with recovery.
I have nothing to add here except I can't even swim that fast in my dreams. Chris, if swimming is your weakness, the rest of the tri world is in trouble.
I was 57th overall in my AG, 24th in the swim, so it is my strength, but unfortunately being a good swimmer is not a requirement for a good time, and thus the reason RnP don't harp on it. I swam faster than 4 of the 8 Kona qualifiers in my AG, but was blown away on the bike and run so I know those are where I need to improve the most.
I will need every second to qualify for Kona, and if I have the potential to gain even a couple of minutes on the swim through some new techniques that I could be practicing all winter without getting in the way of my bike and run training, then it will be worth it to me.
I will propose my strategy in the Micro thread as Mike suggested once I read the whole swimming ebook.
You've got it in perspective.
Chris and Matt I'm with you. I am a Kona qualifier hopeful ( LP in July) and need every second to make this happen. I also have the time to swim w/out sacrificing family time.
My plan is to swim on Mondays and Fridays. Mondays is all technique work, very low intensity. Fridays I will rachet up the intensity with some speed work in the form of 25's and 50's but only swim for about 45 min.
I have never done speed work in the past, I know I need to improve my swim, I swam a 1:10:00 at IM Wisc this Sept.
I will certainly not swim and take the time off if my body tells me to. As much as I would like to improve my swim I realize it is the bike and run where I need to make up the most time.
are you a firefighter? I am, I also live 26 miles away from the nearest pool. My IM swim times are about 1:04 wearing a wetsuit @ IMLOU I swam a 1:10.
I've worked the same shift x8 years and did the early morning swims from about 2003-2009 with little exception @0500.
I swim on my way to work monday-friday because the pool doesn't open until 6 on weekends. So you can do the math of how many actual swims I get in per month. I might try and slip away to the pool when the shift falls on a Wednesday so I bet I average 1.8 swims/week throughout the summer
Start at the beginning of this thread and note the days as well as my follow up.
http://members.endurancenation.us/Community/Forums/tabid/101/aff/24/afv/topic/aft/251/afc/31581/Default.aspx
http://members.endurancenation.us/Community/Forums/tabid/101/aff/24/afv/topic/aft/251/afc/31581/Default.aspx
Chris, your swim time is VERY unusual for someone so new to swimming. Again, it's all about ROI and decreasing rate of return. I can swim 54-55' in an Ironman, consistently. I've put up 52's a couple times. But it took me 16yrs+ of competitive swimming to get there. So my 16 yrs buys me about 10 minutes on you? You could invest a ton of time and effort in the swim and maybe swim a 58', which is a great swim. But how much time are willing to invest for that 6' when there are 6' much easier to be found in other parts of your day, as a function of increased fitness and improved race execution skills?
If we all had inlimited time...go for it. But in the real world we do analysisisis and decisions like this all the time: time invested and rate of return. Tri should be no different.
You should be able to qualify with a 1:03 swim....just ask Matt Ancona. Listen to what your goals are....put in two hours of swimming per week during the off season....for a 2 minute gain. Now think about putting those two hours into more biking or running and think about how much time gains you'll make. My opinion is that you get much more benefit from more bike and run time.
And putting on the speedo is a great way reminder to stay vigilant about body comp during the winter months.
Yes I am a firefighter/paramedic but I take my kids to school on work mornings so I cannot swim on those days. They get to school at 6:30, I get to the station at 7:00.
Yes I did this all last year; constantly moving workouts around to fit the schedule. I am not even going to bother the Micro thread with this stuff, as I'm already used to doing it myself.