Weekend Swim Workout: Race Week Swim Prep

As we get deeper into triathlon season, it’s important to get your race week swim prep dialed in. The workouts below will help you do just that – giving you just enough speed work to help sharpen you up and leave you feeling fit, fresh, and ready to hit the start line. There’s no need to hit a lot of mileage in race week – focusing on some shorter bursts of intensity is the best way to lead into race day. You can do these shakeout sets at any point during race week.

Iron-distance race-week swim set

5 minutes easy warm-up swim
6 x 50 with :10 rest (build each 50 to fast)
6 x 150 with :20 rest (steady at race effort)
400 with paddles (only use buoy if wetsuit-legal race)
100 cool-down
Total: ~2,000

Half iron-distance race-week swim set

5 minutes easy warm-up swim
6 x 50 with: 10 rest (build each 50 to fast)
6 x 100 with :20 rest
(descend 1-3, 4-6) 400 swim, sighting 2x each length
100 cool-down
Total: ~1,700 total

Olympic-distance race-week swim set

5 minutes easy warm-up swim
6 x 50 with :10 rest (build each 50 to fast)
4 x 100 with :20 rest (25 fast/75 steady)
300 swim with no walls 100 cool-down
Total: ~1,400