Building your ability to sustain your threshold pace in a swim is an important capability for triathletes and open-water swimmers. These sessions further develop that ability by progressing your fitness by completing reps at a fast pace that you can sustain. This session will benefit triathletes of all distances, as well as other open-water swimmers.
Each Saturday I will post a Swim Session, and 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.
Read this article here for an explanation of Swim Intensity.
The inspiration for today’s workouts come from a Beginner’s Guide to Triathlon published by Triathlon Plus and was free with Issue 42 in the Summer of 2012. These sessions come from Ralph Hydes and Paul Ryman.

Option A
- 400 WU;
- 10x 100 15RI;
- 400 CD (1,800)

Option B
- 400 WU;
- 15x 100 15RI;
- 400 CD (2,300)

Option C
- 600 WU;
- 20x 100 15RI;
- 400 CD (3,000)
For the Warm Up (WU) start with a 400m (Options A & 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.
For the main set there are ten (Option A), fifteen (Option B) or twenty (Option C) 100m repetitions. Swim these as fast as you can maintain with only fifteen seconds Rest Interval (RI) after each rep.
For the Cool Down (CD) swim 400m. Unlike the previous sets which have to be freestyle, the Cool Down (CD) (like the Warm Up (WU)) 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 (CD).
If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.
I am the Head Coach & Director of Qwik Kiwi Coaching.
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.
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