i have an athlete doing 100 x 100s today…
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On 100 hopefully 
“The Birthday Set”
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Ticked that one off a month ago. 100x100 LCM on 1:30 all 1:19-1:24, but did take 2x 5x100 “rest” when I did them with fins in order to do backstroke/breastroke stretch and still get in on 1:30. Actually a fairly easy session, rode that afternoon so a confidence boost I’m already in shape to do ironman <1:20 pace.
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Yep I did a 3.8km race one Month out from IMUK, swam 49 and came out worried it felt a bit hard for a 49 target ironman, but taper had it feeling easy in race day.
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She’s doing it to support another swimmer and has done it a couple of times before. They swap lead so she gets a tow along the way…
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I swapped lead with someone in the lane who was going slower than me, then he did the last one in 1:06 and left me for dead. Learnt just how good he is at keeping his aerobic days easy.
Annoying when he’d never swam at all until 2 years ago.
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I am looking at that in awe
Swap for your bike ability?
Whilst it will be very hard to catch someone of Chris’s standard with a lifetime behind them, one way to bridge those gaps is to train as if you are a kid just setting out. Start short, work on form and speed, build up, you don’t need more time, just better use of that time.
In my usual way i pissed someone off whinging “im just not a natural swimmer”, and "i only have 4 x 1hr swims a week, i dont want to waste more time, better to cycle, its worth more ". I replied at that time “my 8yr old son swims 2.5hrs a week and can swim 30sec / 100 quicker than you and he’s not even the best in his lane” “Perhaps you dont need to swim more, 4 sessions is more than most, you need to make better use of that time”. Yer went down well. He’s still shit, still feels great after another continuous swim of 2k taking 60 minutes , still whinging “I’m not a natural swimmer”. Each to there own.
Most adult onset triathlete swimmers are only interested in getting the distance up. Tri club sessions of 3k in an hour do nothing except reinforce bad form. You do not need much aerobic conditioning in the pool when you bike and run, you need to do more good strokes. Yes as race day closes in you will need to do longer stuff to help focus on not stopping every x metres but not for physiological reasons.
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I’m no expert (understatement!!!), but that sounds like really good advice to me.
That was me also until last season.
I will admit frustration at the lack of volume, but the results were “goal achieved”.
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“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results .” Albert Einstein
When I was windsurfing a lot I was a faster swimmer.
When I focused on form, I was a faster swimmer
When I was overweight I was a faster swimmer
My upper body strength was far greater when I was windsurfing. I am convinced that this is important, at 90kg I could do 10 pulls ups. Even though I am around 70kg, I can do 4 pulls ups. My swm form was terrible, but I had the strength to muscle through
2 years ago I really worked on my swimming form and got me IM swim time down to 1:05
My current strategy is to work on swim form and strength. I will be avoiding long swims until I can be sure that I am strong enough to maintain good form
That is not saying that I don’t need to be in the water 3 or 4 times a week, but when I am in the water its about having specific goals other than distance
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Well at IM distance endurance pace is you benchmark, and it’s bike/run right rather than individual sports as they say…So I use the traditional 4h/1h brick but not max effort, it’s a race pace bike and whatever run I’m comfortable with. It’s a big session but I can train easy the next day.
For sub 9 the same would apply but scaled appropriately, say 3h/45m brick maybe.
Earlier in the season, say a few months before race day I would gauge my bike strength with a 40k TT indoor or an Olympic tri. That tells me if I’m on track for my 4/1 brick, and clarity on my threshold.
Just imho of course.
I felt good swimming when I was doing some barbell work last season, bench/overhead press/row/pulls/chins. No evidence it helped performance but it felt good.
I like setting 3hr/90min brick, instead of a weekly long ride/run some weeks as a good gauge of where we are and a decentctest of fuelling also. I believe a well known coach with a dubious history of athlete welfare also uses that session. You are looking at 120km/21k ish for a sub 9 athlete
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Ill give that one a go, sounds manageable on a flatish bike route
At Challenge Salou in April my target is 2:15 bike and 1:30 run
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Pretty tough, 4.5 hours going at/above race pace? Especially considering any residual fatigue and if not in race gear.
Then again is this the slight difference in approach between most people and the pointy end, to be able to do these sessions and recover? eg skippers recent 50km run comes to mind.
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Would need a very favourable bike route to hit 120kms in 3 hours on uk roads!
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It’s a 3hr ride/90min run, it will only be about 120k , YMMV depending on conditions
It may seem tough looking at it but its IM Pace and shouldn’t be if you are in any form of sub 9 shape.
40kmh is a lot faster than you need for 9hr IM? Especially on a training ride.
4.5hr bike leg is 40kph so not much.