question on pool work outs

Are you okay with it continuing to be your weakest link?

Shane

good point!

If you were (and some people are - they don't see the value in commiting to what is required to get fast in the water) then my answer would be to do whatever you need to do to get out of the water with a time you are happy with.

However, if you are not happy with where you are, I would aim to swim as frequently as possible with lots of hard work in the water to get faster. In general, the answer for improved swimming involves more swimming as opposed to less.

Shane

I understand that more swimming will help. I wasn't actually planning on taking a work out , out of my plan. I was just planning on doubling it up in one session. So instead of doing just the 1800 yds x 4 days, I would do 1800 yd for 2 days and then 3600 for one day. My pool gets crazy busy in the winter and with my work schedule it's difficult to get there 4 times a week.

Swimming is my weakest link as well. To be honest I haven't seen the pool in a few months now. I think 1800 is kind of low volume for a swim workout. When I'm swimming I'm closer to 3000m's 2-3x per week. That's what I did last year, which is basiclly what your talking about doing. Guess what..............swimming is still my weakest link! I certainly am no expert, and the swim ruined my entire race last year in my first HIM, but I'd bet swimming more often would have been better. This year I plan on hitting the pool 2-3x a week again, but will be adding an OWS once a week when the weather breaks.

If you can only go 3x/week, then this is what I would do but I would say that if you can keep the frequency up, then you should aim to do that as much as possible. When I say swim more as opposed to less, I mean both more volume and more frequency - most triathletes just don't swim enough to see improvements.

Generally when it comes to swimming, I would suggest swim sets of at least 2500 and if possible >3000 and then to swim as frequently as possible.

Shane

If getting there 4x a week were an issue, I'd lean more towards 3 x 3600.  Not that you have to double what it says, but I'd look to get the most I possibly could out of each session. 

I know they say more isn't always better when it comes to running or biking(although that can be argued), but it sounds like in swimming the more drills the better off I will be. Sounds like I'll just go 3 days a week with more yards each time and continue to increase them in my training.

I wouldn't just keep doing drills - I would do some drills during all your workouts (assuming you know why you are doing the drill and are paying attention to what it is trying to teach you) but the majority of your swimming time should be swimming.

Shane