How high on your priority list is improving your triathlon swim performance?
Be honest.
Consider your ‘triathlon budget’ – what you plan to spend your time and money on – before answering this question.
When you are budgeting your triathlon spend in a season, what do you think of?
Triathlon Spend
- Race entry fees?
- Accommodation?
- New bike?
- Bike fit?
- Bits and pieces for your bike?
- A new aero helmet?
- New shoes?
- An updated Garmin?
- Other bits of kit?
- Triathlon coaching?
- Training camps?
- Gym memberships?
That could – and probably does – amount to thousands and thousands of pounds.
How much do you allocate for improving your swim? Anything?
If the last few seasons have taught me anything, it is how much improvement you can make in the swim with just a relatively small investment of time and money.
How About …
Open Water 1-1 (With Video)
An open water session with swim video analysis is £60. One of these sessions has taken many minutes off some of our athletes times. You would pay £1,500 on a pair of fast wheels to achieve the same gains!
Open Water Group Sessions
An athlete was staring at a 2 hour Ironman swim until he invested £112 into an open water 1-1, four open water group sessions and a handful of pool technique sessions. He came out of the water in 1.24. Just seven hours of time and £112 bought him almost 40 minutes. I’m not sure he could have found that return on investment elsewhere.
Swim Squads
An athlete swam 1.44 for his Ironman swim last year. Shortly after, he joined our Swim Squads. This year, his Ironman swim time was 1 hour and 20 minutes. A 24 minute improvement. He did no more planned sessions than last year, the difference was investing in the power of the squad environment. A new bike, several bike fits, ceramic bearings and the best aero race kit – and thousands of pounds of spend – couldn’t get you that!
The gains aren’t limited to newer swimmers. Another athlete swam 1.04.43 for a 3.8k swim. Strong swimmer. Wanting to improve, she joined our Swim Squad sessions. Here we are, this athlete just posting a 57.35 for a 3.8k swim. More than 7 minutes quicker. No £200 carbon shoes could achieve that sort of improvement.
Open Water 1-1
Or how about the athletes who are uncertain whether they will finish the swim – or even start the event – because of swim anxiety? A £40 1-1 session and they now have memories that will last a lifetime! Without that, the rest of the triathlon spend is wasted. All for an hour of these swimmers’ time. Priceless.
So, when you’re weighing up what you could do to improve your triathlon performance next season, don’t forget about your swim – and some of the great improvements you can make there!
And remember that any improvements you make on the swim – fitness, efficiency, less time in the water – all have a positive impact on the rest of your race day performance.
Don’t go it alone, get some help, bring in some expertise to help you make a real breakthrough with your swim. It’ll be the best money you spend – and the best return on investment you’ll find!
Discover more from Triathlon Swim Squad
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.