Swim Sessions

Saturday Swim Session: 2,000m TT

Longer reps such as this 2,000m TT workout are a great way to develop stamina and enhance your efficiency, as well as improve your pacing. 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 Warm Up;
  • 1,500m Time Trial;
  • 200m Cool Down (1,900m)

Option B

  • 300m Warm Up;
  • 8x 50m Drill/Swim;
  • 2,000m Time Trial;
  • 200m Cool Down (2,900m)

Option C

  • 1,000m Warm Up;
  • 8x 50m Drill/Swim;
  • 2,000m Time Trial;
  • 200m Cool Down (3,600m)

Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) covering 200m (Option A), 300m (Option  B), and 1,000m (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 for Options B and C (Option A skips this and goes straight to the Time Trial) is a drill set of eight repetitions 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:

  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 Main Set is made up of a 1,500m Time Trial (TT) (Option A) or 2,000m Time Trial (TT) (Options B and C). Swim the TT as fast as you can, keeping the pace nice and consistent for the entire duration. Don’t start too fast and slow down.

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: 100’s

Get my 12 Weeks To An Ironman Swim PB Training Plan – Swim Faster with Smart Training through Training Peaks. Results Guaranteed. Purchase here. Use discount code CR30 to get a 30% discount.

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