I’m with @mountainrunner on this, in addition I suspect guys like me, middle aged, no sporting background, middle of the field, are more susceptible to overtraining or injury on bike or run. Swim gives you fitness without risk, variety that breeds desire, and brings balance to the demands on your body.
All that said, I still find it hard to get to the pool three times a week and whilst in my ideal season I would give it equal time, in reality I can’t think of a week I’ve sacrificed a run in favour of a swim.
As a general comment, swimming will usually be the least amount of time involved, almost no matter what as it is the shortest leg of just about any triathlon. But I am usually training over 4x my race distance each week, which is right where I am with run mileage, but almost the bare minimum of what I should be doing to meet my goals. Obviously making a jump to longer distances would change that ratio, but the swim from oly to HIM is marginally longer, but the bike and run are both over 2x longer, but I won’t be changing much as far as run and biking volume once I switch over to HIM specialization, but will be adding in about 1k/week of swimming.
They are good for early technique development. They will not help build strength, but that’s not their role. They are to make sure your hands, and by extension forearm and arm, is in the correct position at various points of your stroke.
The Strokemakers are better all-around paddles that you can use for all strokes, but I wouldn’t use them for breast or fly unless you’re… let’s say advanced. But backstroke, which as I mentioned earlier, is comparatively easy.
As for a drag chute, that has a place but it can be inconvenient. Personally, I always swim in a drag suit, including open water swims without a wetsuit, except for tris and some races. It slows you down a bit, so you work harder, but you feel so much faster in a race jammer or wetsuit. Some drag suits are worn on top of a speed so you can do part of the workout w/ the drag suit. Some other piece of kit to think about. It has its place, but for me, I just wear it every workout as now a speedo feels ‘revealing.’ (I recently purchased a ‘half drag suit’ – HARDCORESPORT Cali Men's Half Drag Suit at SwimOutlet.com – it is smaller than my ‘everyday’ drag suit and feels faster. So there are options to toy with.)
This is key. Too many people don’t do this. Swimming is the most technique-reliant of the 3 tri disciplines. A good swimmer will expend a lot less energy covering the same distance in less time than a swimmer with bad technique, regardless of fitness.
I’m doing my first triathlon, 70.3 Connecticut, on June 2nd, and am also scheduled for 70.3 Lake Placid on September 9th. I’ve been looking for a couple of shorter B or C goal races to do in between, primarily to get some practice with the transitions and open water swims. The problem is, all of the ones that I’ve found, like the St. Mary’s and North East olympic tris (in the Maryland area – I’m in Annapolis) are 12-13 days before my currently scheduled races.
Would that 11-13 days be enough time to fully recover from an olympic triathlon? My goal for the first 70.3 is to come in under 5 hours 30 minutes, which I think is attainable given my current fitness level and time left before the race.
So it’s not just us on the off-road side… Funny how some triathletes are bragging on slowtwitch that triathlon isn’t declining while cycling is. Sorry for the sidetrack.
Not sure if you feel like driving that far, but I’ll be doing the rumpus in bumpass on April 20th. I think it’s a 9 am start, so I’m just driving there day of. It’s listed as 2.5 hours from my house so roughly the same distance as from naptown.
Expectations will only serve to hinder you…just go and race the best you can, the result will be whatever you manage on the day
To do your first tri less than two weeks before is not ideal, but if there are no other options AND you pace it easy, it will be sorely needed practice. If you go to the Olympic and race as hard as you can, you’ll suffer the consequences at the 70.3.
On swimming, I know I’ve pitched this before, but I really think it’ll help. I recommend taking a look at Speedo’s blog, https://on.speedo.com/blog, and their free swim tracking (think Strava except aimed at swimming and free), https://on.speedo.com/dashboard.
As for the agility paddles, if possible and when confident, I’d recommend getting the Strokemakers. Look at the red (size 3), purple (size 4), or yellow (size 5, which is what I use). See their size guide here https://www.strokemakers.com/size.php (you can order from them via the phone – the online option seems to show only the stars version) or elsewhere online, or your local swim shop.
Thoughts on which Training plan to follow up my Triathlon season?
I’m finishing up a Mid-volume Specialty phase for 70.3 this week and racing a 70.3. After that I’m taking a break from running for probably a month to let my IT Band have some off time. But I’m planning to do quite a bit of cycling racing over the summer so I’d like to basically stretch out my cycling fitness over the next 6-8 weeks, but for a very diverse set of races
30 minute Crit series April-May (C Races)
1 hour Crit May 5th (C race)
100 mile gravel race May 11th (C race)
40k TT May 18th. (B Race)
Then some down time from racing in June/July doing some bike touring. And hopefully get back into structured triathlon training in the fall.
I don’t know if I should just switch over to a Cycling Base/Build phase for the next 8 weeks, or if it would make more sense to roll into a Cycling Specialty phase. The Low Volume Cross Country Olympic plan looks like it would work pretty well covering a cross section of disciplines, but I don’t know if all that punchy work would be more than I can handle.
With this being TR I kind of expected most people to be focusing on Bike primarily, but the reason for the poll was to look at peoples swim focus and I think it’s fair to say overwhelming swim takes last place.
I voted run first, but this is the first season that has been the case and I’m marathoning in ten days.
I put in most time on the saddle, but I’m more infatuated with improving my run. I just know I can’t push my run volume too much too soon. I think my bike and run focus will flip eventually.
Ouch, that sounds terrible. I hope you bounce back quickly from your mishap. Just listen to your body as you resume training and don’t push too much at first, especially if you’ve jarred any joints in the crash.
I’m a week and a half out from a nasty spill on my road bike myself (concussion, broke nose, chipped teeth, sprained shoulder and hip), and probably will only start my first light workout again this coming weekend. I had just pulled out of St. George the week before due to a couple long illnesses, so unlike your situation at least there’s no pressure to build back up.
Again, just build back up gently. Don’t sweat the fact that you won’t complete the perfect base / build / specialty. Getting to the starting line healthy is more important.
@JoeX and everybody else, how about keeping track on who races where so people can meetup and support each other? I made the simplest spreadsheet for public access where we can track and filter.
So spent this morning at the emergency care ward of my hospital after seeing my GP – the flecks of blood I’d been coughing up were enough to get me sent over.
Bloods - higher levels of eosinophil
X-rays - all good
ECG - consultant said that I had something slightly unusual with the “conduction”, but not to worry about it I should have had it written down…
I think they suspect allergies at the cause here, which will be new to me, so going to be referred over to a respiratory consultant and have a run of tests. the end might be in sight.
Got a variety of meds to take this week though – antibiotics, steroids, nasal spray.
Eosinophils can also cause tissue damage in the lungs of asthmatic patients.[7] High concentrations of eosinophil major basic protein and eosinophil-derived neurotoxin that approach cytotoxic levels are observed at degranulation sites in the lungs as well as in the asthmatic sputum.[7]
Last time I did this sprint 3 years ago I was 1.17 (that included doing two extra lengths because I can’t count to 16), looking forward to seeing where I am today.
I should have had it written down…
the end might be in sight.