Big Progress, Big Fun, Gosh this is Hard Work!
In my last post I discussed the immediate results I found from hiring a swim coach. I spent two one-hour sessions with Rachel, and have since taken a few weeks to practice what I've learned. Here's a recap of how it's gone:
- I'm still doing mostly ocean swims at a moderate pace. I'm trying to build to a three-mile wetsuitless ocean swim by the end of summer. So I'm focusing on building my base endurance, lengthening a long ocean swim each week (I'm now up to around 2 miles), and lengthening the time I can swim without a wetsuit (I'm now up to almost 1 mile, in 67 degree water temps).
- It can be hard to practice technique in the ocean, especially when conditions are rough. My focus can switch from arm/body position to simply breathing and staying on course.
- I find that when swimming into a chop or current I really want to shorten my stroke and glide less so as not to come to near-stop on each stroke.
- I'm swimming 4-5 days a week. I find this frequency really helps retain my comfort level in the water, and to not forget the things I've learned.
- Some of my sessions are short--20 to 30 minutes. I'm trying to be careful to not ramp up my swim hours too quickly. In any sport, a sudden burst of training hours is a recipe for injury.
- I'm doing one session a week in the pool of speed work--sets of 50 and 100 yards.
The Results (so far)
My base endurance is improving drastically in ocean swims. And I can generally keep up with people who I consider solid swimmers.
And as for my speed work in the pool--I'm extremely thrilled with my times. I consider my swim fitness for speed work extremely low right now. I've done very little since I was peaking for Wildlfower back in April. Then I was doing sets of 50 yards, touching in 47 seconds and leaving every 60 seconds. Yesterday, I did those same sets of 50 yards, touching in 45 seconds and leaving every 55 seconds. I attribute all of that gain to stroke adjustments.
What's Next?
I (and a lot of others) think that success in triathlon boils down to daily exposure to at least one of the sports--week after week, year after year. In the first few years of a new sport, that simple repetition--without even worrying about intervals and speed work--can bring huge improvement.
And only after those basic skills (technique and base endurance) have been established do intervals and speed work really pay off.
Looking back on my training diaries, I'm forced to accept that I've not done that with swimming. While I'm finally dialing in my technique after 3+ years, for most of that time I was only swimming 2 times a week (sometimes less...). Which was far less than I was running and/or cycling. No wonder that swimming is my weakest sport.
So, first, I'll continue to swim 4-5 days a week (for frequency of exposure) and continue my long ocean swims to build base endurance.
But, like in other sports (once base endurance and technique have been established), if you only swim slow you'll teach yourself to always swim slow. So I'll continue my once-a-week pool sessions where I'm doing intervals and speed work. I'll build my fitness so I can do a mile's worth of intervals, and then reassess when I get to that point (hopefully within 4 weeks).
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