OS Swimming

grosso27

How are you all handling swimming this outseason?

I buy the EN diminishing returns theory, however I'm not up to the 'fast enough' point yet.

I had initially planned to swim on rest days, but I don't want to ruin my body's chance to recover if I will be messing up the process.

I get up super early for work, so am not a big fan of working out in the morning, but then again, swimming back to back with running or biking is not exactly easy on the body either.

 

mancona

Some general thoughts:

If you are not at the fast enough point yet, your swimming should be very focused on technique and form. The swim workouts should not be challenging but should have a lot of drills. Help from a good coach is huge and well worth it.

I did this last year and saw my best improvements with the least swimming volume.

Personally, this year I'm in a different place as I believe i am at the fast enough point and my swim coach thinks so also. Therefore I am now swimming with a masters team. The ROI will likely be very low, but I am aware of that and I'm ok with a lot of work to only gain minutes as a few minutes are very important to me.

dadkinson

For some  context, my IM swim times have been 1:04, 1:05, 1:02 and 1:06. So I'm "EN - good". This has been based on year-round swims two or three times per week. I know that what really picks my swim times up is an open water swim focus close to the race. I usually have an August family holiday in Europe (Mallorca, Lanzarote, etc) and swim in the sea every day for 30 or 40 mins in addition to some warm-weather biking and running.

This year will be different, as my first IM is earlier in the year (June), so it'll be mostly pool swims and I'll only have done some sporadic, chilly lake swims in the build-up.

I'm new to EN and don't think I'll be able to completely let the swim go. Aside from anything else, it's the only workout my upper body gets and vanity alone will see me in the pool But I'm quite happy to keep these sessions at 2km, and even after 2 weeks on the EN OS plan I can tell they're gonna be recovery-type pace rather than 20x100m - otherwise I'm going to be toasted. I read a post elsewhere on the EN forums from someone who planned to make them 'top end' workouts in addition to the threshold bike/run work. I know that would push me into over-training, but I'm 45, which is a factor too.

 

ironmtngrl

@Des - my tri club had a series of open water swim in a local lake and I agree - it really had an effect on my swim times.

Coach Patrick

I know we talk about Mon/Fri swim options, but a part of me believes if you can sneak to a pool on Sat or Sun that might help as well. Hard to find I am sure, but worthwhile. Re @Mancona above, he's a Kona guy who can handle insane volume...no way I'd recommend Master's to the average Bear. I personally don't swim and do the swim cords exercises (plus some core work / pushups) a few times a week (before runs usually).

dadkinson

Please can I just clarify: the advice is to lay off the swim in the OS irrespective of whether our IM times are 'EN-good' or not? I understand that whether you focus on swim technique or swim fitness sessions should be dictated by this, but the Haus-members with Kona aspirations seem to be swimming year round...

mancona

Des, I actually took 2-3 months off of swimming last year and then went back to it by taking a few lessons and getting off to a good start at the end of the OS. I saw big improvements with that approach, however now I WANT to swim more and see more improvements. That said, swimming is my third priority after running and biking and will be the first workout I skip if needed. Also, if fatigue from swimming every starts to affect my running and cycling workouts I will back off on the swimming.

At the end of the day we are all self-coached and have to decide what we spend our time on. I think everyone agrees that the ROI on running and biking is significantly higher.

Chris G

 I find that swimming helps me feel better in general so I tend to do it year round although not religiously.  Tend to average about once a week in the fall/early winter.  I like to swim the most on Thursday nights following a Thursday morning long run.  Seems to help loosen up the muscles I have battered on T - W- T.  I do not think I have ever swam hard enough to have it impact my ability to bike or run the next day let alone 2 days later.

Carl

I swam all winter last year....seriously busted my rump. Come time for Kansas 70.3 and Big Pig 70.3 and my times improve by less than a minute. I was so disappointed in myself. After jumping into EN and reading through the swimming information etc I am now swimming on Monday and Friday's. I do the 2010 Swim OS plan. I have noticed though that I am very tired and seem to be struggling through the end of the workouts.

My swim coach/stroke coach here though told me he has noticed that I appear more smoother going through the water and likes the improved stroke.

Lots of stroke and body techniques. I am looking for a nice gain come this June. My swim last year I believe was 39 min. I really want a 34!!!!

Never done an IM but come 9/11 I am so would love to be under 1:30!!

ianbal

I swim twice a week on the run only days. Just enough to keep some feel for the water. Admin time is not that big on issue as I can swim at work at lunchtimes. A five minute walk is all it takes.

Cheers

Ian

Jon Bergmann

I am following the EN advice. I will not swim. I am a good swimmer. I swam competiviely as a child and still have the technique. My last IM swim was a 1:03. I live a long ways away from the pool so it has a high ROI. My weakness is the run so this plan looks great for me.

morpheus

yesterday was my first swim since Augusta, late September. Just worked on the position drills with lots of recovery between lengths. did progress with the Swim Golf.

I'll be trying to get in the water 2-3 x week, pretty much for feel, gliding and drills.

Ironically, I had this approach last year before EN. My 'A' race was a very long du, multiple series of bricks, 300 miles. So, swimming was lo priority. Being a tri guy, I continued to swim working only on 3-4 drills, 2x week, for recovery purposes. Longest workout...maybe 2000 m. Longest set....300 m. For recovery. My 'A' race came and went in July and I found myself talked into signing up for Augusta at the last second. Didn't cram any swimming in, kept my routine the same. And my swim time at Augusta was actually faster than the previous year when I was so stressed about it, trying to cram 8-10k in the weeks. Now, Augusta is a downstream swim, but still...my results from that experiment have given me a ton of confidence in the EN approach to this.

As others have said, I will be getting in the water a couple of times per week, but mainly for tech work and recovery purposes, just to keep the feel.