Why Swim Training is Important for Triathletes

The other day I'm sitting on the side of the pool with my feet in the water contemplating the workout I'm about to start, knowing just how much parts of the next 65 minutes will suck. This is a common occurrence, as I rarely just jump in the water and get 'er done. I am not a swimmer. Prior to joining a masters swim program when I was 32 years old, the extent of my swimming was confined to jumping around in the ocean when I was a kid and my grandfather's 16x32 backyard pool.

Yes, I did take swimming lessons in Lake Carasaljo when I was a kid, but I was not a swimmer. I didn't swim laps when I was 4 years old, nor did I swim for my high school team (because we didn't have a pool, let alone a swim team). I started to swim as a way to cross-train for my marathon training, not because I was planning on doing an Ironman (well,  it might have been in the back of my mind ...).

I can honestly say I will never be a great swimmer. I like to refer to myself as a "great" non-swimmer, as I have put in enough quality pool time to have reasonable swim splits at all triathlon race distances. It's taken quite a few years - and a whole lot of work - but I have found it to be worth the effort. And, not sugarcoating it, becoming a competent swimmer does take effort.

Not surprisingly there are many a triathlete who would prefer to only put in just enough pool time to make it through the swim and get to the glamour of the bike and the grind of the run. In a way I cannot blame them. Swimming sucks. If you have been swimming most of your life you are probably burned out from all the time you put in during your school years. And if you are not a swimmer, you don't have the technique and, without the technique, swimming is a huge challenge. Doesn't matter how much run fitness you have or how much power you can produce on the bike, poor technique = slow swim. To get the technique it takes time ... lots of time. Making the argument further, the swim is such a short portion of a triathlon relative to the bike and the run.

I'm here to say putting in the pool time is hugely beneficial.

For all distances of triathlon.

Seriously.

For racing short - Sprint or Olympic Distance - you can "get by" with little swim training and finish the race. If that's your plan, you are fine. If, however, you want to be competitive, do you really want to give your competition a 3 to 10 minute (or more) head start out of the water? Maybe you are that bad-ass of a biker and/or runner, but even on a local level you are putting yourself at a big disadvatntage at best. Same goes for the 70.3 distance.

For the Full Ironman Distance, swim training is so much more important. If you have ever gone the distance you are fully aware that 140.6 miles is a completely different beast than other, shorter distances. Long course racing is about your fitness level and not fatiguing over the course of the day. Sure, the swim is the shortest portion of your day ... almost like a warm up to the bike and run. But, in order to really treat it like a warm up, you need swim fitness in you so as not to burn energy on the swim.

See, the energy you burn in the water has a direct effect on your bike and your run. You may not know it. You may not believe it. You may even deny it. Truth is, if you burn a few matches as you make your way around the swim course you will pay for it later in the day. In the worse case, you go into the event undertrained and the swim kicks your ass. And nothing says fun times like being drained before you even get on your bike ...

From a training perspective, smart swim training has a nice spillover effect on your bike and run. If you ever watched "real" swimmers train you may notice the amount of training they actually do, and the intensity level they hit for some sets. From a triathlete's perspective, integrating high intensity intervals in the pool allows you to work your anaerobic engine without putting stress on your body. Think about the stress you put on the body running short intervals around the track vs. a set of hard 50s or 100s in the pool. Both suck; Both stress your upper levels of fitness. But only the running places a high level pounding on your body.

From a racing perspective, swim training helps condition the mind to deal with the physical and mental exhaustion that comes from racing all day. Don't believe me? I don't care how fit you are, do a set of 3-4 x 1000 on 30 sec. RI and tell me you aren't at least a bit drained by that set. Kudos if you aren't talking to the black line by the beginning of the fourth set.

The moral of the story? STFU, apply ample doses of Rule #5, and Get. In. The. Pool.

So next time you run into me at the pool and I'm sitting on the deck, staring at the water and I tell you I'm trying to decide on what I'm going to do ... now you know what's really going on.

Train hard. Stay focused.
Jon