Workouts and framework for every triathlon distance

There is a small but mighty group of triathletes who stand apart. They come from a background that sets them up to do about 10 percent of a triathlon really well. That’s right – I’m talking about SWIMMERS. Those who first identified with being fish-like, before dipping their toes into triathlon. 

I learned how to swim when I was seven years old and immediately fell in love with it. I quickly joined a summer swim team, later started at a competitive year-round team, and the rest is history. After taking a few years off of swimming after college, I picked it back up when I began exploring triathlons. Using my experience as a swimmer, a personal trainer, and a self-coached athlete, here are some key tidbits I’ve learned about structuring swim workouts and example swim sets! (Most of these nuggets of information apply to all your workouts, not just those in the pool 🏊‍♀️)

Identify the purpose of the workout 

Why you’re training a certain way is just as important as what you’re actually doing. Examples include testing your fitness, hitting your speed intervals, maintaining moderate effort and focusing on good form, or simply having fun (unstructured workout, move how you want)! I always have a purpose for my workouts, even if it’s one simple thing, to keep me mentally engaged and working toward a clear goal. Focus on the purpose and the rest is what it is – it really helps take the pressure off. 

Workout structure depends on the purpose

It’s not flashy but it’s true. Swim sets depend on your goal – it’s no different than hitting fast cadence on the bike if you’re practicing faster leg speed. If you feel clumsy in the water, incorporate a set for drills to really hone in on your body position. Trying to increase your endurance? Add longer, sustained-effort sets.

A mix of everything makes you well-rounded (and I like being well-rounded)

Just as cross-training benefits your sport of focus, variety in your swim sets will do the same for your swim fitness. Strengthen your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses. Tip – if you don’t like it, it’s probably one of your weaknesses (and don’t feel bad if it’s the entire sport of swimming – I excel at the shortest distance of the race…so there’s trade-offs 😆) I have swim sets below that target the key areas you can focus your swimming on – give each if them a try!

LT’s personal favs and how to create your own

Note: I’m assuming you’re swimming in a 25-meter or 25-yard pool. These sets can all be adjusted up or down if you’re in a different length pool, but sorry, you’ll have to do your own math 🧮 (Yes, that’s an abacus emoji and I’m cracking up!)

Endurance

I love a pyramid. I have no clue why – maybe because it’s easy on the brain. Pyramids are also super adaptable – you can increase by more or less distance for each step of the pyramid, go as high or low to the pyramid peak, etc. Here’s a classic for me:

100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100

or if you are more visual like me:

500
400 400
300 300
200 200
100 100

The 100 and 200 at the beginning can be drills, focused on good form, or breathing drills (like breathing every 5-7 strokes) to get your heart ready. The first to the second 300 is where the endurance work is – the pace should be moderately challenging. The final 200 and 100 can be similar to the start, making sure you haven’t lost form during the workout. Rest 20-40 seconds between efforts (if you know your target pace, adjust your intervals to account for this much rest).

I’ll mix more sets like this into my training as I gear up for a full Ironman or 70.3, hitting a peak of 700-1000 and still increasing by 100 for each round. I might start at 300 instead of 100 after my warm up. The set (as it is above) is great to work into sprint and Olympic distance training. Similarly, you could adapt to start at 50, increase by 50 each time, and peak at 250 or 300. In this case, though, you’ll be focusing on something different than endurance, so always keep your workout’s purpose in mind first! 

Middle-distance

These workouts are exactly how they sound – they’re not too short or too long (I know, brilliant). Think 200s and 300s. You’re not sprinting nor will you get benefit if you take them too easy. I usually think of these like fartlek runs, where you’re changing your pace either within one continuous effort or within certain parts of the set. This set is progressive, meaning the second part has a lower “moderate to hard” ratio. (That sounds so sophisticated 😂 it’s just harder in the second part.) Target 10-20 seconds rest between each. For pull, paddles and buoy are ok (if you don’t know what that means, bless your heart – a quick google search will clear it up 😎)

4×300 – 

1. Pull
2. First 100 hard, the remainder is moderate 
3. Middle 100 hard, the first and last 100 is moderate
4. First 200 moderate, last 100 hard

4×200 – 

1. Pull
2. 100 hard, 100 moderate
3. 50 moderate, 100 hard, 50 moderate
4. 100 moderate, 100 hard 

To create your own middle-distance workouts, incorporate lengths of 100 to no more than 400 and have fun with it! Do some 150s or 250s – because we usually do even 100 multiples, a set of 6×250 will help you focus on your swimming and not worry about the clock because most people don’t know their pace for this distance. To really switch it up, try 8x175s or 2 x (125, 225, 325)!! You’ll be so focused on counting and your form that it’ll fly by! 

Speed work

It’s fun to explore your limits and see just how fast you can move through the water. Speed work sets are perfect to let you get a good burn going without burning out. When building a set yourself, I recommend choosing effort lengths of 25 to 150 (and this top end will be challenging) and paces at 80-100% of your max (your “all out” pace, full sprint). Depending on your workout goal, long / short rest or active recovery will be different ways you can set your intervals. Here’s one I really like because it incorporates a mix of active recovery and varying rest amounts as the workout progresses, with max efforts at the end. 

Progressive fast 50s (40×50 total)

16 x 50 (3 easy, 1 fast) rest 5-10 seconds between each 50
12 x 50 (2 easy, 1 fast) rest 10-15 seconds
8 x 50 (1 easy, 1 fast) rest 20-30 seconds
4 x 50 fast (all out) rest 60 seconds

If all those easy 50s feel boring, you can group them into one effort of recovery (150, 100, then 50). These workouts are particularly helpful as you prepare for a sprint or Olympic triathlon, but shouldn’t be neglected if you have a longer race coming up – it’ll be less prominent in your plan.

Hopefully this helps empower you to create your own swim sets and understand how different types of sets make you a well-rounded swimmer. I’ll leave you with a quote from one of my favorite animated fish – “Just keep swimming!”