Beginner Swim Work Out
Time to get in the water! Swimming is often the more challenging sport for new triathletes. This beginner workout is meant to raise your heart rate, increase your strength and prep you for the open water- enjoy!
500 Warm Up – Do drills by 100; first swim, then try high elbows, flip water etc. This will help prep for the work out as well as keep you conscious of maintaining good technique, even when you are just getting started.
5 x 50 Kick on 10s rest, alternating fly/free by 50 -I have mentioned before the importance of a kick set in workouts for core muscle development. Don’t skip the kick set because you don’t like kicking, it helps all aspects of “your game”.
5 x 100 Pull on 5s rest, breathing 3/5-Breathe every 3 breaths down, and every 5 back. Focus on your stroke and body position in the water. Nice and smooth, this set is not for speed. I don’t particularly like paddles that much, so grab your pull buoy only for this set.
(300, 200, 100) x 2 on base interval – This is your main work out. Your fitness is tested when you come in from the first 100, have little rest, and then are forced to go into the 300. Base interval should be hard to make, that usually means if you are pushing hard, you can rest for no more than 5 seconds for 100. For example, I will use 1:20. The 300 is done on 4:00, the 200 on 2:40, and the 100 on 1:20. Ideally you will hold consistent splits for each swim.
Cool down adequately. Everyone is different, you may need 200 or you may need 500.
You don’t want too much rest on this set because the goal is to keep your heart rate up for the entire 1,200, which is more than a sprint swim, and just under an Olympic distance swim.
For those of you savvy swimmers out there who want more yardage/meters, go for 1000 warm up alternating swim/drill and make the kick set 100’s instead of 50’s. Add an extra run through the 3,2,1. This will make for an extra 1,350, so instead of 2,650 you will be around the 4,000 mark, which is a solid swim for a triathlete swim work out.
Written by Chris Berg
