I’ve been playing with the new workout feature in my FORM goggles. You can download up to 5 workouts to the goggles from their app catalog. love it so far, but I’m not into full IM swim mode for a few months where it just has to be some long interval repeats. Nothing very glamorous about those.
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If none of the above suggestions work, you can always just get a book like this……
I was talking to my coach yesterday. Hopefully she will go and see me swimming at some point the next few weeks.
If i want to break 5hrs in the half,.i need to correct my broken swimming soon. I’ve been hitting the pool jobless than 2x a week and doing no less than 2500 yards and nothing to show for it. I mean,.sure some improvements, but nothing to write home about, specially with all the swimming Wo I’ve put the last 5 months.
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Total Immersion drills helped me dramatically. Had some fitness and a good pull from lots of laps, but then the TI drills made me much more relaxed and efficient.
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Really it’s a whole lot of Z1 and Z2 skiing, although as you know even a recovery ski gets you up into the threshold area if you’re on a decent climb. It’s really just putting in the time much like we do on the bike during good weather. Spend 2-3 hours out there with a lot of nutrition and when you finish make sure you don’t feel thrashed.
Depending on your skill level with skis it will also impact how much distance you can cover and I’ve been skating so classic will be a bit slower. By my naïve understanding, classic is better for improving the run while skating is better for the bike. But both styles improve your aerobic engine is it’s a win all around.
Also, the last 10 days out coaching group has been doing a challenge to see how much distance we can cover. I’m not cranking out 200km a week every week. But a solid 100km is not out of the question for a typical week, and that will take me somewhere in the neighborhood of 6hrs depending on how fast or slow the snow is.
Really enjoy Joe Skipper’s videos on YouTube - i’m in awe of this effort.
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After reading that post on Swimming @JoeX That just bends my mind. They are very specific distances. I’m not sure what it all means but I have worked out one thing. I suspect my 2x 1500m a week isn’t going to cut it for a 70.3 lol. I recently tried a mates swim fins for the first time with an interest in getting my own. I could barely kick! is it normal? I’me woeful in the water.
Ok, adding to the statement of intent. Bearing in mind I have only done sprints and time trials so far, Targets for 1st HIM Cardiff; Target is 5h 40, breakdown Swim 50 mins. Bike 2h 50 mins and run 2hrs. I think this is doable. Gotta have a target.
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Ha ha - that’s the problem with a 33m pool. What were 100s, 200s, 400s, 2 , 4 , 16 lengths, are complicated math 
I was just trying to show that TRs simple workouts can be made as individual as you like and stay “in plan”.
Everyone’s first thought is to start to swim the full distance or near it. With swimming, newbies get fatigued quickly so they’ll get like 10mins of good swimming in, and 50mins of bad swimming…not a great recipe for success.
Be consistent and patient, and you’ll be fine,
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Thanks, the age old adding 10%. The UK is imperial in all but miles on the road and pints of beer… meters in the pool is a nice round figure. My local pool is a 50m pool that has been hit by the Pandemic and turned into 12ish lanes of 25m for capacity reasons. 50m was a luxury but a mentally great one.
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I’d love to swim in a 50m pool - in the summer I get to use a 90m lido and see my pace improve a lot because of less frequent turns… or is it because of the Wetsuit 
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My advice is to make you targets process driven, not time based for your first 70.3. A lot of stuff can go wrong in your first long distance race, so using time goals can put unnecessary burdens in place.
If you have good process goals, then the time will take care of itself.
Good luck and enjoy the race!!
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when you say ‘process driven’ like have a clean swim, nail nutrition don’t pee in the wetsuit?
I have processes for everything, I’m awful for it. there’s a great one for transition. Actually, the first 70.3 is an event I’ve done before so will be familiar just longer. The big unknown is the official Ironman branded event. the protocols and what to expect.
Yeah, process driven can be almost anything…stick to pre-race routine, keep to XX side of the swim course, stay in aero bars for the bike, consume XXX calories / hour.
Don’t sweat anything too terribly unique to protocols for an IM event….there may be a few unique points, but nothing huge or that should cause any pre-race stress.
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Thanks, The target I came up with was more a calculated estimate based on what I know, what I think I can do and what I want to achieve. I’m good at over-thinking things. I wrote down my step-by-step transition process before my first tri. It worked a treat. Winging it is not one of my strengths. Repetition is key.
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Nah. Once you’re at the startline you’ve earned the right to pee in your wetsuit. And on the bike.
Also, 1500m twice per week, done consistently and with full commitment to improving your technique will easily be enough to get you safe to T1. And if done right those 1500 will automatically drift towards higher yardage once your tech improves and you enjoy swimming more.
Before your do any drills or use any toys though, make sure you know exactly why your doing it, what you’re trying to fix and how you can measure whether it worked. Limit your tech work to one or two aspects of your stroke at a time and work on those dilligently for a few weeks. There are so many peple at my pool who are just randomly hacking drills and toys, with no apparent plan and awful execution. Most of them can be lucky to not make things worse.
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It’s the wetsuit :). Pushes off the wall SHOULD make you faster unless you’re turns are really bad. I’m easily 10-15s per 100 slower in open water than in a SCY pool.
Mike Plumb who runs Tri Power Multisport posts the swim workouts for his clients on a website. I’ve used them for several years for ideas for main sets. He usually posts 4 workouts a week with some workouts having distance variations. I like that they’re typically simple enough to remember without writing down, but still include a reasonable amount of variation week to week.
The only downside is that they generally don’t have a prescribed intensity, so that part is up to you.
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With those swimming and FTP benchmarks, you probably aren’t too far off of the WC bubble, but giving up 15-20 minutes due to bike choice makes it all that much harder. The first IM is always tricky with pacing and nutrition and generally best to go into the first one with finish and enjoy expectations as opposed to performance expectations.
That being said, if your TT bike fit is uncomfortable, it’s not right. Possibly (probably?) the wrong saddle, maybe too low in the front or something else all together. FWIW, my TT position is super comfortable outside and I can ride it all day, but inside on the trainer, I can’t last 10 minutes.
I’m also a little curious, are you a bigger guy? The run benchmark seems slow for someone with a 290 ftp and a 1:22 CSS.
That was my concern too. I suspect that I don’t make enough use of my legs. I usually do a couple of drills with a pull bouy and then put the stroke together and do a set of lengths
I now have a Pavlovian response to putting on a wetsuit……I could pee 10 times before putting it on, but the second it gets zipped up, I have to pee immediately.
Before one race, I said to a buddy “can we get start the race ‘cuz I gotta pee”. He responded “I’m peeing right now….why wait?” He was, of course right and now I don’t even bother to wait until I get in the water if I have to pee.
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