Swimming Tips for Triathlon Class

Some tips from week 1’s class:

Have your hand enter the water directly in front of the shoulder (rather than in front of the head)

Fingertips should point toward the bottom of the pool and elbows should be high to engage the whole forearm in the pull.

Breath with one goggle partially still in the water

Rather than thinking of pulling your arm through the water, think about setting up the catch part of your stroke and pulling your body past your “stationary” arm.

Sample workouts:

This is just to give you some ideas, these distances, rest amounts, and number of repetitions is open to change, make sure to vary and adjust your workouts!

Sprint Triathlon Sample workouts

Total Workout Length 1000 yards

200-300 warm up, mix up strokes and keep it long and easy

4x50 build (start easy and finish fast) w/ 30” rest between

8x50 at race pace (what you think you can hold for a 500) with 10-40” rest (Start with what is necessary for you to maintain your pace and as you get into better shape try to decrease the amount of rest between reps)

100 very easy cool down

Work out 2:

Total Workout Length 1200 yards

200-300 warm up, mix up strokes and keep it long and easy

4x50 desc (#1 easy get faster til #4) w/ 10-30” rest between

6x100 even #’s fast, odd #’s recovery, 30” rest between

100 very easy cool down


Work out 3:

Total Workout Length 1200 yards

200-300 warm up, mix up strokes and keep it long and easy

4x50 build w/ 10-30” rest between

8x75 hold a slightly slower than race pace speed for the first 4, then try to race pace on the second half of the set, 10-20” rest between

100 very easy cool down

Longer Triathlon Swim Sample Workouts (Olympic, Half-Ironman, etc)


Total Workout Length 1500-2300 yards

300-500 warm up, mix up strokes and keep it long and easy

4x50/100 build (start slow finish fast each rep) w/ 10-30” rest between

8-12x100 try to hold the same pace each rep and take just enough rest so you can maintain that pace (try to get faster/decrease rest as you get into shape)

200 very easy cool down


Workout 2:

Total Workout Length 2200-2600 yards

300-500 warm up, mix up strokes and keep it long and easy

4x50/100 build (start slow finish fast each rep) w/ 10-30” rest between

3x500 Option 1: #1 at 75% Race pace effort, #2 90%, #3 100%, rest 1’-2’ between

Another Option: Try to hold the same pace for all 3 (solid aerobic effort but not race pace) with 30-120” rest between

200 very easy cool down