racing swimming intensity
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vanjames posted 1 year ago.
What's your time in a HIM swim?
For shorter distance races swimming at max is probably fine as those races you should tend to be anaerobic the whole time anyway. Where endurance comes more into play (HIM and IM) you can lose it in the swim by going too hard - putting yourself into an anaerobic state and depleting muscle glycogen putting you in a deficit to maintain nutrition. Longer races tend to be more aerobic in nature - the key being able to sustain a moderate effort the whole time not a fast pace for the first part and slowing the remainder. In general if you are a mid packer you are better off saving some energy in the water for the bike and run. What's 5-10minutes over 1.2/2.4miles? You still have 69.1/138.2 to go.
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MartinMuehl posted 1 year ago.
As far as I know the swim splits of the top triathletes even on IM distance are not much slower than their swim-only times. So I think you shouldn't be too worried.
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Anton posted 1 year ago.
It's a roll of the dice:
"Do I go hard in the swim and hope I don't blow up later or do I go easier early and save that fuel for later on?" Even though you might use different muscles the fuel is still coming from the same kitchen.
I'm the soul of caution and always go easy early....This works for me as I always seem to pass more people than pass me on the bike and run.
Try it yourself...and see what works better for you.
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brittda posted 1 year ago.
vanjames;64452 wrote:
What's your time in a HIM swim?For shorter distance races swimming at max is probably fine as those races you should tend to be anaerobic the whole time anyway. Where endurance comes more into play (HIM and IM) you can lose it in the swim by going too hard - putting yourself into an anaerobic state and depleting muscle glycogen putting you in a deficit to maintain nutrition. Longer races tend to be more aerobic in nature - the key being able to sustain a moderate effort the whole time not a fast pace for the first part and slowing the remainder. In general if you are a mid packer you are better off saving some energy in the water for the bike and run. What's 5-10minutes over 1.2/2.4miles? You still have 69.1/138.2 to go.
Agreed--You go all out on the whole thing for a sprint/olympic. The approach in an IM or HIM is different for the entire race as well as the swim. I race with my HRM but that is another thread.
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fittycent posted 1 year ago.
It is kind of a roll of the dice. I can see the argument for swimming at an easy pace for a long distance race, but I believe it's in your best interest to push the pace in a sprint or oly - not "all out" like IM athletes tend to say - to me, "all out" means 100% effort and no one can sustain that for more than a few seconds - but anaerobic, yes.
I agree with your thinking though, Dave - you can afford to fatigue your lats and arms in a short race by swimming hard.
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wilsondaj posted 1 year ago.
vanjames;64452 wrote:
What's your time in a HIM swim?swam a 2k HIM swim in 30:33 last summer although was drafting a guy for most of the first lap which really helped
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vanjames posted 1 year ago.
Thats a great time (in my opinion). If you are relatively fresh getting on the bike then I wouldn't change a thing just be sure to get some nutrition in in the first 20mins and maintain it regularly for the long distances especially IMs. Bear in minf that RPE in the water is usually a little higher than an actual HRM reading (at least that's how it works for me). Nice going.
I was reading some post recently, and most people were saying that they try to go fairly easy in the water and come out with thier HR under control.
I was wondering what everyone thinks about this.. I personally tend to swim as hard as I can for whatever distance I am competing in (up to HIM) and come out of the water huffing and puffing. Now that being said, I tend to be a very arm dominant swimmer so my legs are not very lactic when I exit (or at least compared to my arms). I still manage to bike as fast as I do when I am just biking although my run has been known to fall off a bit at the end of longer races.
Has anyone raced both ways (very controllled effort vs. going very hard) and what effect did it have on your race ? Why wouldn't you go very hard on the swim as it uses different muscles then the other two events ?
I dont race with a HRM although I do train with one, but I know my HR tends to settle down after a few minutes on the bike.
Thanks for the input
guess I could have made this a poll...
Dave