Triathlon Swimming: Pacing

Triathlon Swimming: Pacing

Our recent Swim Squad sessions have been about pacing, about control, about staying relaxed. 

To help us do this, we have increased our interval distances. 

Within the Squad I usually like to do lots of 50s and 100s. Big sets, strong pace, high heart rates, building great swim fitness and resilience.

In the past four weeks or so, we have focused more on 200s, 300s & 400s. And I have asked swimmers to drop the intensity. 

We have done this for a reason.

Controlled Speed

Our Swim Squads are getting quicker. New 100m best times are regularly being set. Everybody is improving over short distances. We can maintain strong paces on short intervals for long sets. It’s brilliant to see. 

We want to develop this short distance speed and convert it into a sustainable ‘cruise speed’.

And it all comes down to pacing.

In other words, deliberately swimming at lower intensity and maintaining a pace, rather than starting a little too strong and fading.

Finding A Sustainable Pace

Finding a pace you can maintain is often about swimming a lot easier than you think you should. Try doing an ‘easy 100m’ and then holding that easy 100m pace for a 400m or more. That easy pace suddenly feels quite challenging. We need to feel what ‘easy and sustainable’ feels like.

We did this set last week (several times through):

4 x 100m at 5/10 pace / effort.

1 x 400m at 5/10 pace / effort.

We wanted the pace per 100m to match. I wanted swimmers to understand what actual 400m pace felt like when doing 100s.

Staying relaxed. Breathing well. By focusing on this easy pace, our heart rate stays low and breathing is easier. And we are able to maintain form and pace much longer.

Swim Easier

It sounds easy doesn’t it? Swim easier. 

Much like swimming fast, swimming easy and relaxed takes focus. Perhaps more focus than swimming fast. You have to think about what you are doing to make yourself slow down, to swim a bit easier than ‘normal’ swimming, whilst still maintaining great technique. Some focus includes:

• Breathing
• Kicking
• Stroke rate
• Stroke power

Our Focus – A Little Glide

Prior to a set of 200s at our Monday evening sessions, we did a short warm up. As part of this warm up, I asked swimmers to think about their hand entry and extension and include a little glide – or moment – on each stroke. This helped create length in the stroke, helped with swim rhythm and kept swimming relaxed. 

It helped swimming feel easier.

There are lots of other things we could have done to help swimming feel relaxed – this was just our focus for this session.

Second Half

After our set of easy 200s, I asked swimmers to repeat the set. However this time, the 200s were building pace. Swimmers were asked to start off at the pace they had been swimming the ‘easy 200s’ and then gradually increase the pace so that the last 50m was a strong effort. 

By starting easy, swimmers had the space to increase effort and pace.

Had they started at their ‘normal’ swim pace, they would have maintained pace or even faded a little through the 200s. 

For those that found it hard to increase the pace through the 200m, I urged them to start a little slower. 

Easy Swimming Equals Fast Swimming!

The sessions over the past few weeks have shown us that focusing on ‘easy’, staying relaxed at the beginning of a longer interval distance, can actually be quick swimming.

Many personal best times have been achieved by our swimmers over 200m and 400m distances.

Technique stays together.

Pace is maintained – no fading.

The difference between ‘feeling easy’ and ‘putting effort in’ can be as little as a couple of seconds per 100m.  In our 200m session, one lane went out ‘too quick’ on the first 200m, swimming a 3.10. On the next one, they started a little slower and swam a much easier 3.15.

Five seconds over 200m – and a very different feeling!

The Difference Good Pacing Makes!

Compare the pacing of a swimmer in these two 400m intervals at a recent Squad session. These are their 100m splits.

A – Normal Swimming

1.25

1.28

1.35

1.38

6.06

Summary: Started too strong and faded badly.

B – Focusing On Easy Swimming

1.29

1.30

1.30

1.28

5.57

Summary: Started easy, maintained pace well and able to finish strong.

In the second interval – the focus on easy swimming – the swimmer looks like they could have continued at this pace for a lot longer. Whereas on the first interval, the ‘normal swimming pace’, the swimmer was hanging on and just getting slower. Over a longer swim, the time gap would have widened further between the two pacing strategies. 

All because the first 200m of the swim was a ‘pushing 2.53’ rather than a ‘more relaxed 2.59’.

The difference those six seconds made!

Don’t Misunderstand

I am not advocating doing lots of slow, long distance swimming. The big sets of 50s and 100s have given us the fitness, the speed, the resilience to swim strong. They have given us a strong foundation.

In these recent sessions we are simply learning how to channel that swim speed into better paced, quicker – and easier – longer distance swimming.

---

---

Triathlon Swimming: Pacing

• Mail
• Facebook
• Instagram