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First Tri

new2tri19

Hi guys looking for some advice please. Have been a runner a few years and recently started back cycling on zwift mostly. I decided i'd try to enter a triathlon only problem is i've never learned to swim properly and have only ever been in a pool while on holidays and never actually swam just threaded water.

Anyway I decided to give it a go so joined up with the local pool in December and managed to swim 1 length (25m) hung on the wall for about 2 minutes and then swam another length . I kept at this until i covered 1000m . So I've kept going about 3/4 times a week I gradually decreased the rest and increased the distance without stopping , today 6 weeks after starting I swam 500m without stopping which im delighted with. I supposed my problem is I'm really slow looking at other triathletes in strava that swim . I'd like to enter a sprint triathlon in June but don't want to embarrass myself and be last out of the water.
I swam todays 500m in 2.20 per 100m pace with strokes per minute of 21 , I see others on strava doing 30+ spm do I just need to move my hands faster? I did a 50m flat out at end of session and did 1.40 per 100m pace but I was out of breath that pace wouldn't be sustainable for me.
My question is should i hold off longer or give the triathlon in june a bash ?

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new2tri19

Thanks for all the good advice lads , i’ve taken most of it on board and am now mixing my commute alternating bike and run so it’s not so concentrate on one discipline day after day .

In regards the swimming I had a bit of a rough week or two a few weeks ago where i was over concerned with times and my watch that i wasn’t enjoying the swims as much and my form was getting worse . Had a little chat with myself and got back to basics of doing the right things did all the drills in the swim smooth book and i’m now really happy with my stroke . I haven’t been using my watch just have it on clockface mode but am still recording data that i check later.
I bought the terraband and have been mixing in dry land training also .

In regards my stroke it feels so much easier my legs are doing a lot less than previously and i’m never out of breath , the only problem now is i go the pool jump in and swim for an hour or so and just feel totally relaxed get out and don’t even feel like i’ve done any exercise, im finding it hard to push myself !! if that’s a problem , my all day pace now is around 2:03-2:08 per 100m i suppose the danger is i plateau at this pace , I did a hard 100 time trial today in 1:35 . As my technique improves is it possible that i get down to 1:30-1:40 per 100m perpetual speed with the same kind of zero effort swimming or is everyone swimming them speeds actually putting out a decent effort in the pool?

I’m also pretty nervous about swimming in open water , what month do people generally start to venture outdoors ? thanks again

thejaguar

new2tri19 wrote: »

As my technique improves is it possible that i get down to 1:30-1:40 per 100m perpetual speed with the same kind of zero effort swimming

Yes, with training - but it would mean a lot of hard effort between now and then.

new2tri19 wrote: »

I’m also pretty nervous about swimming in open water , what month do people generally start to venture outdoors ? thanks again

With a wetsuit, no reason you can't jump in now. Ease yourself in. Don't worry about distance for now - it's quite different to the pool. Aim to enjoy it and increase the time spent swimming. Use the pool for technique/distance/drills.

At least, that's what I do.

peter kern

If I don't put effort in my swim I swim slow.... Which is not necessarily a bad thing. But this is where swimming is different with running even as a beginner you need more intervals to improve
At the same time a 1.35 100 m tt showsyou have good speed. But you need to swim much more at an effort where you feel you need to focus to hold that effort ( and don't worry to much about times record them but don't look at it in training focus or rpe.
No smart pain no gain.

new2tri19 wrote: »

Thanks for all the good advice lads , i’ve taken most of it on board and am now mixing my commute alternating bike and run so it’s not so concentrate on one discipline day after day .

In regards the swimming I had a bit of a rough week or two a few weeks ago where i was over concerned with times and my watch that i wasn’t enjoying the swims as much and my form was getting worse . Had a little chat with myself and got back to basics of doing the right things did all the drills in the swim smooth book and i’m now really happy with my stroke . I haven’t been using my watch just have it on clockface mode but am still recording data that i check later.
I bought the terraband and have been mixing in dry land training also .

In regards my stroke it feels so much easier my legs are doing a lot less than previously and i’m never out of breath , the only problem now is i go the pool jump in and swim for an hour or so and just feel totally relaxed get out and don’t even feel like i’ve done any exercise, im finding it hard to push myself !! if that’s a problem , my all day pace now is around 2:03-2:08 per 100m i suppose the danger is i plateau at this pace , I did a hard 100 time trial today in 1:35 . As my technique improves is it possible that i get down to 1:30-1:40 per 100m perpetual speed with the same kind of zero effort swimming or is everyone swimming them speeds actually putting out a decent effort in the pool?

I’m also pretty nervous about swimming in open water , what month do people generally start to venture outdoors ? thanks again

new2tri19

Thanks for the advice here folks , did my first triathlon today the advice here certainly helped. Training faded a bit as i’ve a newborn at home and I was burning out . The wetsuit swims are slower than my pool swims I find the wetsuit restrictive it’s a cheap wetsuit and I used a cheap stand road bike didn’t want to invest in a TT bike just yet .

Really enjoyed it I wasn’t last out of the water , did the olympic distance tri an mhi swim time 35 flat garmin says i swam further but gps could be off .
Getting out of wetsuit was tough as was getting on bike cold and wet , should have opted for longer sleeves , didn’t eat at all and only a small breakfast , should have fuelled better but never comprehended how long it would all take , I was very green not enough bricks and long bike rides . Died a lot on run the legs just hasn’t got it , bike time was 73 mins and run time 45 giving me 2:40 finish .
Have the bug now and will try train a bit more cleverer going forward , thanks again for advice and good luck in your races . I may frequent this place more often next up a full ironman i think

TiggerC

new2tri19 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice here folks , did my first triathlon today the advice here certainly helped. Training faded a bit as i’ve a newborn at home and I was burning out . The wetsuit swims are slower than my pool swims I find the wetsuit restrictive it’s a cheap wetsuit and I used a cheap stand road bike didn’t want to invest in a TT bike just yet .

Really enjoyed it I wasn’t last out of the water , did the olympic distance tri an mhi swim time 35 flat garmin says i swam further but gps could be off .
Getting out of wetsuit was tough as was getting on bike cold and wet , should have opted for longer sleeves , didn’t eat at all and only a small breakfast , should have fuelled better but never comprehended how long it would all take , I was very green not enough bricks and long bike rides . Died a lot on run the legs just hasn’t got it , bike time was 73 mins and run time 45 giving me 2:40 finish .
Have the bug now and will try train a bit more cleverer going forward , thanks again for advice and good luck in your races . I may frequent this place more often next up a full ironman i think

Well done! Sounds like how I started. Only a few steps back with a try a tri, took two years to move to Olympic distance Ha ha
If you’ve got the bug and want to move forward at a more realistic rate with better structure to your training, goal setting and race planning, I’d recommend a coach. Best thing I ever did and he understands my time constrains with a young family, work and general life. It takes the guesswork out of it and believe it I actually train less, I’m not slogging aimlessly.

MojoMaker

73 mins bike and a 45 run off the bike ain't bad at all for someone starting out, in fact a lot better than ain't bad!

new2tri19

TiggerC wrote: »

Well done! Sounds like how I started. Only a few steps back with a try a tri, took two years to move to Olympic distance Ha ha
If you’ve got the bug and want to move forward at a more realistic rate with better structure to your training, goal setting and race planning, I’d recommend a coach. Best thing I ever did and he understands my time constrains with a young family, work and general life. It takes the guesswork out of it and believe it I actually train less, I’m not slogging aimlessly.

I'd love to get a coach but at the moment I'm so busy and have to miss alot of planned sessions I don't want to waste the coaches time. When things get a bit easier at home and I have more structure its something I will definitely consider.

My swimming has improved significantly , I'm now doing my 100 repeats at about 1.40 pace I just need to translate that to wetsuit swims better although in fairness ive not been in wetsuit much at all.

I need to consider a tri bike next as all the top lads finishing seem to be on them. Entered a sprint triathlon last month and finished in 1hour 14 which I'm happy with means its less than half the olympic time I did so some improvements there. Next year going to take on a Hardman Killarney full ironamn so i'll start a a training log here so people can see what not to do

new2tri19

I'm still swimming plugging away 3 days a week in the pool on my own trying to improve. It's difficult to find the motivation sometimes but i'm sticking with it , swimming about 10 months now and I said to myself at the start i'll judge myself after a year.

I'm just a little bit lost on my training now , I've looked up plans online and tried to make some sort of plan in such that I'm not just going to the pool and doing nothing structured .
Generally I do a 500 warm up , 5 x 50m of some kind of drill (one arm swimming or paddles or closed fist swimming)
I then do 6*100m going on 2 minutes
2 minute rest and then 2 * 200m going on 4 minutes .

My paces are coming down each week/month , at the moment I can do the 100's at 1.35-1.38 and the 200's at 1.40-1.42 pace.
My cool down and warm up would be 1.50-1.55 pace and this would feel very relaxed.
I want to do a half and full ironman next year , do I keep going as I am or reduce rest or increase distance? Should I sack of the intervals and just keep doing 1900m non stop as fast as possible to get me ready for a half ironman.

Last thing is my stroke rate is still very low Garmin measures it at 24 strokes per minute (single hand ) so about 48 strokes per minute but guys like effortless swimming on youtube are advising above 65 strokes , I do have great feel for the water and my arm feels anchored and pulling alot of water back so much so that I struggle to get my arm out of the water any quicker to increase rate.

Thanks

peter kern

6 x 100 is just not enough you need to built that up to to triple 18x 100s or something like that

you need vo2 set week plus tempo set each week so find out what that is and your session should be an hour
your other session you could aliterate week long interervls ^600 plus or "drills" with shore 25 sprints

also don't rush with the full build up the yers first

EC1000

peter kern wrote: »

also don't rush with the full build up the years first

Definitely agree with this. It's about the journey and forming good lifestyle habits. Don't be in too much of a rush.

dickidy

you have dropped more time in 1 year then i have in 4 so i will be following what the lads say myself. ive nocked maybe on average 15 sec off my 200s but i am going further.
i shall follow with interest

new2tri19

peter kern wrote: »

6 x 100 is just not enough you need to built that up to to triple 18x 100s or something like that

you need vo2 set week plus tempo set each week so find out what that is and your session should be an hour
your other session you could aliterate week long interervls ^600 plus or "drills" with shore 25 sprints

also don't rush with the full build up the yers first

Thanks got to read this before my pool swim today ,was very tired hitting pool legs heavy from bike but did 18*100m going on 2 mins ,I aimed to come in at 1:45-1:48 range and was feeling it swam hard last two days so took a minute rest after 9 sets of 100m .

Thanks for that advice have a renewed focus now 18*100 ,I suppose I could do 9*200 aswell or 4*450 once I'm getting about 1800-2000 worth of work .

Is there any calculators online for tempo pace v02 max pace for swimming ? I found a calculator for css pace I'm guessing that could be my tempo once I do a 200 and 400 time trial .

Swimming is hard mentally to keep the discipline of going on exactly 2 mins when your body is crying out for an extra couple of seconds , I wonder will I reach my ceiling potential training solo soon as I start to feel I need someone else there to hold me accountable ,lots of negative thoughts of not finishing the 18*100 today, disappointed with myself taking a minute rest after 9 , need to toughen up if I'm going to get better .

new2tri19

dickidy wrote: »

you have dropped more time in 1 year then i have in 4 so i will be following what the lads say myself. ive nocked maybe on average 15 sec off my 200s but i am going further.
i shall follow with interest

I try get to the pool 3 times a week , some weeks I have only managed one swim . I got stretch chords for days I don't make the pool. I will lie on a modified bench I made and simulate almost the full stroke , I do this for about 20-30 mins , I modified a piece of timber onto a hand paddle that stops my wrist from bending and I just repeat the same stroke about 1000 times counting the strokes making sure each stroke is perfect , these are hard and muscularly I feel like I've had a hard swim . If I miss a week of pool and just do these stretch chords I don't feel like I've lost swim ability.

griffin100

new2tri19 wrote: »

Thanks got to read this before my pool swim today ,was very tired hitting pool legs heavy from bike but did 18*100m going on 2 mins ,I aimed to come in at 1:45-1:48 range and was feeling it swam hard last two days so took a minute rest after 9 sets of 100m .

Thanks for that advice have a renewed focus now 18*100 ,I suppose I could do 9*200 aswell or 4*450 once I'm getting about 1800-2000 worth of work .

Is there any calculators online for tempo pace v02 max pace for swimming ? I found a calculator for css pace I'm guessing that could be my tempo once I do a 200 and 400 time trial .

Swimming is hard mentally to keep the discipline of going on exactly 2 mins when your body is crying out for an extra couple of seconds , I wonder will I reach my ceiling potential training solo soon as I start to feel I need someone else there to hold me accountable ,lots of negative thoughts of not finishing the 18*100 today, disappointed with myself taking a minute rest after 9 , need to toughen up if I'm going to get better .

My 2c...........

If you’re worried about reps before you get to them then you’re not concentrating on your stroke enough

Seriously though, think about the rep you’re on, not what’s to come. Concentrate on your stroke, body position, etc. and you won’t be worried about anything else. This is a good habit to get into as when you start upping distances in the pool or OW the last thing you want to be thinking at the start of the set is ‘will I finish.’ It’s somerhing I have to work on myself even after years of swimming, especially on a set like 400m x 10 or a long OW race.

You should also mix up your sets. 100’s are great but consider 2,3 and even 400’s.

One of my favourite short sets is 100 x 4 / 300 x 4 / 100 x 4. Given your current pace swim all 8 of the 100’s off 1.50 and the 300’s off 6 mins - don’t take a break. You’ll be struggling for the last 100’s

Also consider doing sets of 5- 10 x 100 off less than two minutes.

You can also try what my kids all an alpine set - 100 / 100 / 100 / 200 / 100 / 300 / 100 / 400 / 100 / 300 / 100 / 200 / 100 / 100 - swimming the 100’s flat out and the entire set off 2 minutes per 100.

You’ve gotta keep it interesting.

new2tri19

griffin100 wrote: »

My 2c...........

If you’re worried about reps before you get to them then you’re not concentrating on your stroke enough Seriously though, think about the rep you’re on, not what’s to come. Concentrate on your stroke, body position, etc. and you won’t be worried about anything else. This is a good habit to get into as when you start upping distances in the pool or OW the last thing you want to be thinking at the start of the set is ‘will I finish.’ It’s somerhing I have to work on myself even after years of swimming, especially on a set like 400m x 10 or a long OW race.

You should also mix up your sets. 100’s are great but consider 2,3 and even 400’s.

One of my favourite short sets is 100 x 4 / 300 x 4 / 100 x 4. Given your current pace swim all 8 of the 100’s off 1.50 and the 300’s off 6 mins - don’t take a break. You’ll be struggling for the last 100’s

Also consider doing sets of 5- 10 x 100 off less than two minutes.

You can also try what my kids all an alpine set - 100 / 100 / 100 / 200 / 100 / 300 / 100 / 400 / 100 / 300 / 100 / 200 / 100 / 100 - swimming the 100’s flat out and the entire set off 2 minutes per 100.

You’ve gotta keep it interesting.

Thank you that's interesting stuff there , 400*10 :eek: now that would put the fear in me , I suppose it depends on how fast you are doing them . My longest pool swim is 3000m wasn't continuous but I was in bits for days with sinus problems after it .

That's another thing I'm starting to struggle with my nose seems to be blocked for a couple of days after swimming . I have read about nose clips but I exhale through nose so that doesn't seem to make sense.

On hard 200's I often lose count with the reps when I'm pushing hard its amazing how hard it can be to count to 8 lengths of the pool. I'm not so much avoiding longer reps its just at lunch time in the pool there are two fast lanes and doing long reps is very hard because inevitably people start getting in your way , nothing more annoying like on Thursday when some guy kept going ahead of me in fast lane just as I was coming into wall to turn and he sets off doing breast stroke

like he could see I was coming into the wall to turn and clearly moving much faster than he planned on moving , once i can understand but he then repeatedly did it and also kicked me in the side as I passed doing his scissor kick motion

, anyway I guess its a learning curve.

I'll try them sets that alpine set looks like murder.
I'm a little confused on the 300*4 in your favourite set , you say don't take a rest , so why not just say swim 1200 at 2min pace ( which seems like it would be fairly easy tbh ) or is it a case of just stopping for a second or 2 to check pace and continue.

Thanks

griffin100

On the set when I say don’t take a rest between the 100s and 200s what I mean is go straight from the 100’s to the 200’s and back to the 100’s on the interval times. So 1.50 after you start your 4th 100 you will start your first 300, and 6 minutes after you start your final 300 you will start your final set of 100s and swim these off 1.50.

The faster you swim your 100’s and 300’s the more rest you get, but the quicker you fatigue. If done right you will be hanging on the last couple of 100’s. If the set is too easy lower the interval times.

On the sinus thing fill a squeezy water bottle with clean water and after your swim squirt the clean fresh water up your nostril until it runs down the back of your throat. Do this to both nostrils. It cleans the chlorine out. If this doesn’t fix the problem then follow this up with a squirt of flixonase (you can get this a chemist) into each nostril.

new2tri19

You guys making me work hard arms hanging now but love it

Did 350 warm up
5 x 50 drills closed fist
5*50 sprints 1:30 pace average

Full Alpine set up to 100/400 then back
Did it all off 2 mins
100 fast 1:38-1:42
Slow 100/200/300/400's all 1:52

2 mins rest
5 x 100 off 2 hard coming in at 1:35

I had no more time for cool down
Total swim 3650m longest ever in pool but went by fast as had target , I probably won't be able to swim hard again tomorrow

new2tri19

griffin100 wrote: »

My 2c...........

If you’re worried about reps before you get to them then you’re not concentrating on your stroke enough Seriously though, think about the rep you’re on, not what’s to come. Concentrate on your stroke, body position, etc. and you won’t be worried about anything else.

This has made a huge difference , my stroke and breathing was all over the shop when I was doing the fast stuff as I was trying to get the reps done "hard" and on time. I had a bit of a breakthrough moment when getting to the pool did my 500m warm up easy at 1.43 pace , this is not far off my interval pace but it felt slow.

I've been working hard on the drills and not looking at the watch so much the net result is reps are getting quicker , I indentfied a flaw in my stroke from watching a youtube video and realising I was dropping the leading arm , I seem to have corrected this but it requires a concious effort during the swim .
My stroke rate has come down slightly as I spend more time out front with my lead arm but my speed has come up so its a headscrather ,I don't feel like i'm overglidng but notice as I swim beside someone in next lane I take about half the strokes they do but I generally am going past them and not vice versa , so maybe I should not worry about it so much .

new2tri19

I suppose I'll update this even if just talking to myself ! but when I started swimming just over a year ago and couldn't do 1 length of a 25m pool I googled lots of "how long will it take to get good or to swim x distance " etc. So this may help someone else looking to start out swimming. I wouldn't say I am a fast learner and my coordination kinda sucks but I've stuck at it.

The main thing is to stick at it , there was multiple times in the early days where I flung the goggles in the bag and thought I'm never going to be able to do a triathlon and I'll just go back to running and try do sub 3 etc and forget this.

Swimming is hard in so far as you can have a good day then the next day you get in and you just feel awful your coughing against the wall , swallowing water etc feeling totally uncoordinated out of your depth and in the way of the fast swimmers. You can grit your teeth and try work harder but often you end up fighting the water and getting worse / going slower.

If you can get to the pool at a quiet time and relax and just practice simple things like "sink downs" and just slow everything right down it really helps , going to the pool at peak times I found harder.

It's all about technique and in my spare time I've read the swim smooth book and watched literally 100's of YouTube videos (effortless swimming is a good channel) but its important not to try correct everything at once , so I try split it up and concentrate on different things each length .

Just keep turning up and the more you swim the better a feel you will get for the water , try not judge yourself after each swim . I'm still along way off where I want to be and I might get in the pool today and find out I've regressed and the improvements have certainly not been linear , but over time my times have come down just by getting to the pool 3 times a week .

I remember the early days 100's coming in at 2 mins was hard work and I would be delighted to hit the wall and see I swam a 1.59 per 100m and I'd be hanging against the wall out of breath now an easy warm up 600m for me would be in 1.48 range and I doubt my cardio is that much better now , my technique has just improved , I do think its a good idea to ignore the watch during the first few months , I was guilty of been disappointed with slower swims early on.

I think its important to keep pushing yourself , I got great advice in this thread but I've gradually increased the reps and the distance on my swim sets , I used to swim 1000m and get out of the pool , I moved that up to 2000m over the course of a couple of months and now I swim mostly 3000-4000m per swim , I am looking to increase that to 5000-6000m per swim over 2020.

Short rest is something that swimmers seem to have to get used to I found the short rest really hard at the start , going on 2 when you get in at 1.50 now I am more prepared its not like running where you stand around and get your breath back , you literally stop take a quick drink ( oh yeah bring a drink ! it helped me loads I think I was getting dehydrated and not realizing at sets of over 2000m) and go again.

I do my 100's @ 1.35 now / 200's around 1.38 / 400's around 1.41 pace theres still a big drop off in times , I can't bilateral breath efficiently yet without looking like i'm about to drown , I can't tumble turn ( haven't tried to learn) .
At the end of 2020 I will be doing 1.25 per 100 / 1.28 for 200m and 1.31 for 400m , I'm going to keep at it till I'm there thats why I say WILL , back yourself .

On days I don't swim I do stretch chords and bought a pull up bar a couple of months ago , couldn't do 1 complete pull up at the start and now at 3 sets of 10 , I'm not sure if this helps swimming but I've read it does.

Anyway I realize my times are still laughable compared to most here but just posting this in case it helps anyone starting out , some great advice given in thread already , oh and I've read the pull buoy debates and I think they are good if it only means you get more time in the water that you wouldn't have otherwise , if your too tired and can do an extra 500m with a pull buoy it has to be of benefit IMO getting that extra feel for the water . I've used them frequently .

peter kern

this is already a solid tri swim level and i guess on boards your are in the top 30 -35 %

very good work

new2tri19

January was my biggest month in the pool by far swimming 60,000m , I really want to nail this swimming thing as I find it very hard but don't like letting it beat me !
I managed a set of 8 x 400 today coming in at 1.39 pace for each 400 taking 1 minute rest , the only thing that is somewhat concerning is the gap between my 100m repeats and 400m repeats is very small like 100's im coming in 1.35-1.36 , 200's 1.37 , 400's 1.39 , I want to get my 100's down to sub 1.30 this year but am finding that I am a bit one paced . Any suggestions ?

zico10

new2tri19 wrote: »

January was my biggest month in the pool by far swimming 60,000m , I really want to nail this swimming thing as I find it very hard but don't like letting it beat me !
I managed a set of 8 x 400 today coming in at 1.39 pace for each 400 taking 1 minute rest , the only thing that is somewhat concerning is the gap between my 100m repeats and 400m repeats is very small like 100's im coming in 1.35-1.36 , 200's 1.37 , 400's 1.39 , I want to get my 100's down to sub 1.30 this year but am finding that I am a bit one paced . Any suggestions ?

I'm afraid I don't have any suggestions on how to get your 100m time below 1:30, but I would ask, is it really that important? 8 x 400m at the pace you swam them more than decent, and would have you ready for any swim distance in any triathlon race.

A lot of triathletes often fall into one of the three sports after starting off in tri, and if that's what's happened with you, then best of luck in your pursuit of a faster 100m time. But if your main focus is still triathlon, then unless you want to be competitive overall, there's not much need for top end swim speed in triathlon.

Looking back over the thread, I see you swam 35 minutes in Tri an Mhí this year. I swam 26:01 that day, and I wouldn't have a hope of swimming eight 400s at 1:39/100m pace. My advice would be to invest in a good wetsuit and enter as many aquathlons as you can over the summer. You'll learn far more about swimming well in triathlon in this environment than you will in the pool.

Invest your energies in improving your cycle and run. You've already made phenomenal progress with your swim and you'll likely get much better bang for your buck by focusing on the other two sports for the time being.

new2tri19

Thanks for your reply , interesting I don't think I'd have a hope of swimming 26 mins for 1500 that's a brilliant time.

The reason I'm swimming so much and trying to make gains is because I find it really hard . If I take a few days away from the pool I jump in and legs feel sinky and my form is in bits . I'm thinking if I just start swimming loads I'll build up enough muscle memory that I can cut down and still he able to swim relatively decent without looking like I'm going to drown !

It's hard to explain the mental anguish swimming causes me I'll get into pool and it's a battle to keep doing a 400 I constantly want to stop , like all I want is 2-3 seconds at wall then I'm ok , it's just not coming easy for me .longer sets are hard like I've tried to do a 1k tt a few times lately but convinced myself mid effort to do something else .
I actually think I'd be quicker doing 3*500 with 5 seconds rest than 1500 straight up , it's hard to know why.

I don't want to win races just compete and not have that fear getting into water , that fear of not been able to swim is still in the back of my mind and only starting to fade , like last year doing aquathons and a couple of triathlons I was looking around for the nearest canoe in case I needed rescuing . I have a wetsuit and have been the sea once in last couple of months but I'll be honest I sat in my car shaking for 20 mins trying to convince myself I could do it before eventually getting in , I was so nervous as I hadn't been in open water since Howth aquathons. So yeah I just want to feel like I can swim and doing 60k last month is getting me closer , I'm deliberately putting myself a bit closer to others in pool getting used to been hit with a mouthful of water as I try breathe .
As soon as it gets a little warmer I'll be going the sea regularly going to go so much that it becomes normal that's my plan .

With bike I'm working hard on trainerroad and trying to get run volume back up , i love running could run all day and forget the rest , I'm not a talented runner but I know the basics and you get out what you put in , same with cycling , swimming is a battle for me mentally as it's something I never thought I could do and even last year 1 length was a huge achievement, but open water yeah that's another obstacle I need to immerse myself into . I'm tempted to take the drive down to Lough lene and swim there when nights get longer but I'll see , after 2020 I hope to be fully comfortable in the sea , I want to be able to put on my wetsuit without shaking and get out of my car confidently and walk into water . Time will tell.

In answer to your question of why I want to get quicker my thinking is if I can break out quickly in a race like 1:15-1:20 pace I can get on feet and hopefully stay there , my experience was starting to side last year somehow getting closed in around buoys and people swimming over me was really horrible.

Kurt_Godel.

That’s a very good post, worth a few reads, and it has something to offer everyone here.
With the sort of dedication you are putting in, you’ll soon be in control of whatever you want to do in the water. I’ve little doubt you’ll get to 1:20 pace soon, and holding 1:30 will feel comfortable for you.