Stronger, Longer

Conventional swim club sets usually focus on short reps and above threshold pace. But as triathletes and Open Water swimmers, we need to learn how to sustain pace over distances from 750m (‘Sprint’!) through 3.8Km for Ironman.

To help us all in this mission we're introducing a progressive 10-week swim block, starting in January. Committing to this block either once or twice a week, combined with your other swims will result in a significant improvement in your sustainable swim pace over your target race distance.

At the start of the block, we will establish your 'Critical Swimming Speed (CSS)' through a timed 200m and 400m swim, after which we will work on progressively increasing rep distance while maintaining CSS. By the end of the block you should be able to knock out between 750m and 1,900m (depending on your Lane) at this pace.

To be able to achieve this to the best of your ability, you’re going to need to commit to your swimming; 2 sessions a week is bare minimum to improve, 3 structured swims per week will see you progress rapidly. Obviously the club only provides 2 swims at the moment, but the sets will be available for you to do in your own time in whatever swimming pool works for you.

Questions:

How will I know if I have improved? We will be testing your CSS before we start, and our aim is for your final swim to be at or near that pace for the full distance of up to 1.5km/1.9km. Be assured that will feel like an achievement!

What happens if I miss a week? No problem if you get one or two swims in elsewhere during the week. Missing multiple swims & weeks will make it harder - consistency is the name of the game.

Do I need to sign up for both Tuesday and Thursday? No, the main body of the set will be similar on both days (though there will be variations in the other sections). However, you need to swim at least twice a week to improve, whether that’s with the club or under your own steam.

So in 10 weeks, I'll be able to swim at my current best sustainable pace for (much) longer. But that pace is too slow for me – what do I do? Never fear, this is all a part of the larger plan. Pre-season training is when to improve your base endurance, just as you're hopefully doing in the run and on the bike. After this base building block, we will move to improvements in speed as the next focus.

I'm convinced. What do I do? There are a maximum of 30 spots at each of the club swims, and we anticipate that for these sessions, they will sell out quickly. So head over to the website and book yours as soon as they're available. When they are gone, they're gone. https://brightontri.org/book