“Now What?”

It’s a common phrase uttered by many triathletes at the end of their season. They find themselves a bit lost or adrift as they look to navigate the post-season months.

This is not a time to do nothing. Instead, it’s the perfect opportunity to look back on the season, identify a weakness, and put forth a focused few months of improvement. For many athletes that weakness is the swim. Yet we hear the same excuses: 

“I learned to swim too late in life to make the proper changes.”

“I always just go slower the harder I swim.”

“I’ll only see a time drop of a minute or two, so why bother?”

None of those statements are true. 

A focused block of swim training will not only make you a better swimmer but a better athlete. When we improve the swim, we’re not just improving speed. We are also improving efficiency. We get faster in the swim while using less energy. This enables us to come into T1 fresher, so that we can go harder on the bike and run. It also improves cardiovascular capacity, which has a direct impact on overall athletic performance. 

So what does a focused swim project look like? It should take place over about 3 months, and go something like this:

1. A 1000 TT benchmark swim near the beginning of the project to set a baseline for where you are at.
2. Swim analysis or on-deck coach (NOTE: current Puple Patch athletes can take $25 off Swim Analysis with the code PPF_Lifejackets_Off). Purple Patch Swim Analysis uses a great app called OnForm. Athletes film themselves swimming from prescribed angles. I analyze the videos and provide feedback via voice and diagram overlay, so you have a clear understanding of where you can improve. I also prescribe specific drills and swim sets to address those specific elements. We go over this in detail in a 1:1 video consultation. (If you have a in-person swim coach with open water/triathlon expertise, that’s another great resource).
3. Implementation. Now that you know what to focus on from a technical standpoint, it’s time to do some swimming. You will want to increase volume, going from 2-3 to 3-4 swims a week. You’ll get in some hard work, but the real goal is to work on applying better technique to harder swimming, allowing the body to adapt to new movements and build muscle memory.
1. Even if you aren’t able to do Swim Analysis or in-person swim coaching, you can still make some beneficial adjustments to your training. Begin by replacing a supporting run and/or bike with an extra swim, and lean into the drill elements of the post-season swims. You can also add in a dry land swim band session 1-2x/week to improve swim-specific strength and help ingrain the feel of acceleration in the pull portion of the stroke.
4. Follow-up. For Swim Analysis athletes, you’ll gather additional video after about 4 weeks. This followup will focus on the technical issues addressed in your first analysis: what’s improved, what still needs work, and how we can build a strategy for continued progress.
5. Back to work: continue to drive on the areas of improvement while maintaining a higher swim volume. Give yourself another 4 weeks or so to really dial things in.
6. Post-project benchmark swim. Now it’s time to measure improvement. Again: it’s not just about being faster. It’s about using less energy and being more efficient in each stroke.

Throughout the project, it’s important not to view any single session as a pass/fail validation of your work. Progress isn’t linear. However, you can set yourself up for the best possible success by remaining truly present in your sessions. These swims are a time to bring your best focus, to eliminate distracting thoughts, and to immerser yourself (pun intended) in the work. For many athletes, establishing a true “feel for the water” is a challenge in itself, so work on truly connecting with the position of your body and the sensation of your stroke. Don’t simply focus on swimming hard; focus on swimming well.

But at this point I know what you’re thinking: “what about my bike and run?!” 

When we tackle a swim project, we use the bike, the run, and strength workouts to support your swim. When we frame it in this way, we almost always see an improvement across all three disciplines. Last year I worked with an athlete who took on a swim project and improved his TT by 10 seconds per 100 in a couple of months. He ran a half marathon at the end of his project – on far less run volume than usual – and still finished less than 1 minute off of his all-time PR. 

A swim project won’t only make you a better swimmer. It will make you a better athlete.