First Tri

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 ?

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.