Weekly swimming frequency

Well, speaking as a former fish, I wouldn't call swim days "rest" days, but yes, they are much lower impact and quicker recovery. Unless you really suck at swim or something similar, there isn't much to be gained by the average triathlete by swimming more than 3x per week.

 John

Assuming you have decent technique, if swimming feels like a rest day, then you should probably be swimming longer and/or faster.  Technique is more important in swimming than running or biking, but once you have the basics, you need to stress your body a little so it will adapt and get stronger (faster).

After a hard swim session, I have many more muscles sore than after a hard bike or run.

Thanks docswim4 for the positive input - I'll be sure to build slowly.  I'm not a very fast swimmer - a fast lap for me is anything under 35sec!  I'm not sure what the normal lap time would be for someone like me...i just started crawling last April to prepare for my first Tri - but it took me til August to finally get to the point where i could actually do one full lap without being out of breathe.  On a good day I can now go many laps as long as i go slow (40-46 sec/lap) - not sure how many as i haven't really put it to a good test yet - most i've done is 10 without stopping but i did feel like i could keep going - but everything i'm reading says you shouldn't just get in the pool and do non-stop laps - so i concentrate on interval type workouts with warmup technique drills first. 

I'm a 57 year-old female - i've been a runner for years - 5 & 10Ks & biking for fun - which has  now turned into Tri-fun!!  So i'm not really sure how much i can expect out of my swimming as far as speed. I enjoy the swimming now and would prefer to just build up the endurance so i can crawl non-stop thru the course.  i welcome any more suggestions you may have - as i said before - i can use all the help i can get!

I think the saying goes that "Tri's aren't won in the swim, but they can be lost"  Basically, it means that you would have to be a really great swimmer to make up for time lost on the run bike.  Given that the time percentages are skewed as well (something like 20% swim, 45% bike, 35% run), your training efforts are better spent on the bike or running.

On the other hand, if you are doing this to have fun, and have no intentions of placing in your AG, then swim all you want.  It will feel great being one of the first out of the water.  Until you get passed on the bike over and over again......

^{I usually swim 4 or 5 times a week...It has help me to keep a good endurance....}

^{Good Luck!!!}