Workouts

One-Hour Workout: Swim Speed and Strength

Ready to find your top-end swim fitness? This week's workout will help.

May 3, 2023 Emma-Kate Lidbury

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Building swim speed is no easy feat. However, this is the time of year to make sure your workouts have plenty of variation in effort and intensity—and this set will help you with building swim speed. One of the biggest mistakes triathletes often make when it comes to swim training is failing to mix up speeds, especially top-end speed. This session sees you progress effort through the main set from 7/10 RPE (rate of perceived exertion) to 10/10 RPE (also known as takeout speed, the pace you swim at the start of a race).

This workout begins with an easy 10-minute warm-up, nothing greater than 6/10 RPE, to get your body moving well and to gradually raise your heart rate and get a feel for the water. You’ll then move on to the prep set, which is two rounds of 2 x 25 fast, 1 x 50 easy, 1 x 50 fast, 2 x 25 easy. More advanced swimmers (who are used to wearing them) can wear paddles for the faster efforts. Beginners or those short on time can do one round instead of two.

The main set involves 8 x 100 as: two at 7/10 RPE, two at 8/10 RPE, two at 9/10 RPE, two at 10/10 RPE, taking 30 seconds rest between each 100. You’ll then repeat this pattern, but as 8 x 75, all with 20 seconds rest between each 75—and then 8 x 50, following the same effort pattern, but all with 10 seconds rest.

There should be a noticeable difference in effort and pace as you progress from 7/10 through to 10/10 RPE and be careful not to go out too hard early in the set so you can give it maximum effort when needed.

If short on time or a less advanced swimmer, you can scale back these to 5 or 6 reps at each distance, so 5 x 100, 5 x 75, 5 x 50.

Wrap it up with 200 easy swim cooldown.