Tri Swim Training

Saturday Swim Session: 800’s

Swimming 800 metre reps is a great way to develop stamina and enhance your efficiency. This session is perfect for Ironman and Olympic distance triathletes or people doing longer Ocean Swims.

Each Saturday I will post a Swim Session, most weeks I will load three options up for you to do. Option A is for swimmers who are after a workout between 1,000 & 2,000 metres. Option B is for swimmers who are after a workout between 2,000 & 3,000m and Option C will be greater than 3,000m.

Option A

  • 200m WU;
  • 8x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
  • 800m;
  • 200m CD (1,600m);

Option B

  • 400m WU;
  • 8x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
  • 2x 800m 60sec RI;
  • 200m CD (2,600m)

Option C

  • 600m WU;
  • 8x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
  • 3x 800m 60sec RI;
  • 200m CD (3,600m);

Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) covering 200m (Option A), 400m (Option B), or 600m (Option C). During the warm-up feel free to stop and stretch as needed.  It doesn’t need to be a continuous swim.

Next up is a drill set of eight repetitions (for Options A, B, and C) of 50m Drill/Swim, where you do a drill for the first 25m of the repetition and then normal swimming for the next 25m swimming. Feel free to use fins whilst doing the drill/swim set.  Do the drills below twice through to make eight reps:

  1. Kick On Side (KOS) left side 
  2. Kick On Side (KOS) right side 
  3. 6/1/6 
  4. 6/3/6

I wrote an article about swimming drills previously. Click here to read and watch it.

The next sets involve swimming a set of one (Option A), two (Option B), or three (Option C) reps of 800m. Take a 60-second Rest Interval (RI) between each rep.

For the Cool Down (CD) swim 200m. Unlike the previous sets which have to be freestyle, the cooldown (like the warm-up) can be any stroke you wish to swim.  You can also stop and rest after any length.  I encourage you to stop and stretch during the cool-down.

If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.

I am the Head Coach & Director of Qwik Kiwi – Endurance Sports Consultant.

I specialise in assisting first-timers and recreational athletes to achieve their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729. Make sure you sign up for my informative newsletter.

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If you enjoyed this workout, I published a similar session 12 months ago.

Saturday Swim Session: 500’s, 400’s or 300’s

Coach Ray is the author of the successful 12 Weeks to an Ironman Swim PB – Swim Faster with Smart Training eBook.

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