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Running Races
How To Swim With Pace by Richard Pady
Most triathletes do not think the swim means a whole lot in their race day. I always challenge them by saying, “what about how it sets you up for the rest of the race?” For all athletes there are two challenges to over come in a triathlon. One is the build up of lactic acid and the other is endurance. Together these are the enemy for a novice-swimmer. Don’t get me wrong, we all have to work on our technique and I continue to work on my stroke after 18 years of swimming, but at some point you have to take your current swim stroke and swim.
For most triathletes that have been training all fall you are about to make the transition from a Prep Phase in your training, where the focus was on technique, to a Base Phase where the focus is now split between technique and endurance.
Do you know how fast you swim? If not this is the first thing you need to find out. Next time you are in the pool warm up for 200-600m slowly building your speed and thinking about your technique. Then with a stopwatch or using the swim clock swim a 200, 500, 750, or 1000 as a test swim. Select the distance you know you can swim at a hard but steady state, meaning the first lap will be the same as the last. The effort level will change but the time will be close. At the end of the swim take the total time and work out your pace per 100m (If you swim 20:00 for 1000m it = 2:00/100m). This pace is called your T-pace. So now you can build swim zones.
| Endurance | T-pace + 10-15sec/100m |
| Tempo | T-pace + 5sec/100m |
| Threshold | T-pace |
| Anaerobic | T-pace – 5-10sec/100m |
Make should you now swim on your new pace times. When it is an easy swim stick with your endurance pace and when it is time to swim hard make sure you push into your Anaerobic pace. The biggest mistake most athletes do is always train at TEMPO pace. If you have not used pace times in the past you will learn a lot about you’re swimming and I’m sure you will see great results next summer. Repeat the test swim at the end of each month on your rest weeks. Happy Training
I hope these ideas help your off season training.
If you have any
questions regarding any of these drills or techniques please feel
free to contact a coach at Team
HR.by email at info@healthyresults.ca