SWIM PACE STRATEGY FOR LONG COURSE TRIATHLON RACING

Recently I competed at the International Triathlon Union (ITU) Long Course World Championship Triathlon, in Immenstadt Germany. ITU uses a "Triple Olympic" (a.k.a. "O3") format for long course: a 4-kilometer swim, 120-kilometer bike and 30-kilometer run. (OK, if you do the math, the swim should be 4.5K. That would be just fine with me!) This particular race course included a 130-kilometer (80.6-mile) bike course in the Alps, with over 6,400 feet of climbing and grades up to 18%. It was kick-ass bike course!

During the entire 2010 racing season, I’ve committed to using bi-lateral breathing for the swim leg (uh, arm?) of my tri races (all half-iron and longer). All of my open water training swims have also been bilateral breathing. My rationale for this? I will maintain a very sustainable level of intensity that is well within my aerobic capacity. In the past, I’ve gotten rather cavalier with the swim leg of Ironman races (3.8-kilometers) – starting right on the front, in the fray, and sprinting out the first 400 meters with all the other speed freaks. From there I’d settle into my annihilator mode – maintaining technique just at my aerobic threshold. This strategy worked well to place me often in the top 3 of my age group on the swim, (giving me "cred" as a swim coach) but came back to haunt me on the bike in the form of leg cramps. It’s discouraging to have athletes pass me on the bike in "6-packs". Something had to give.

Since the Immenstadt race required uber bike legs, I decided to try a more conservative, even humble approach to my swim. In the weeks leading up to the race, I trained open water (with and without a wetsuit) and used a tempo trainer (TT). In the wetsuit, I started the TT in the range of 1.20 – 1.16 and swam for a set number of strokes (usually 100-200). Then I dropped the value by .02 (increasing my cadence speed by two-hundredths of a second) and swam the same "stroke-distance". I continued this progression until my technique got ragged. For the conclusion, I bumped the value back up (slowed the cadence) to a 1.08 – 1.12 range, and swam two or three times as any strokes.

After 3-4 weeks of this format (always with bilateral breathing), I’d built to a max cadence of 0.98 for 200 strokes in the wetsuit. Yes, my technique was ragged by then – from both the cadence and from the duration. However, I developed the ability to maintain technique at faster cadence and maintain bilateral breath. For my non-wetsuit swims, my cadence baseline was slower, since the increased drag and decreased buoyancy resulted in a slower glide speed.

My longer swims concluded with a time-trial of one 950 meter length of the Lake Placid Ironman course at a cadence ranging from 1.08 – 1.12, with bilateral breathing.

Race day in Immenstadt dawned with water temps at 17 C (63 F) – brisk for this skinny tri geek! I was happy to don my 2XU V:1 wetsuit! I slipped into the water and set my TT at 1.08 – a tempo I felt comfortable sustaining for 4 kilometers. The cannon sounded and we were off! For the first 10 minutes, my 1.08 cadence seemed dreadfully slow. I confess! I disregarded the tempo for a few minutes, and I even took a few repeated single-side breaths. However, I soon settled into the rhythm and cruised the swim, passing a fair number of athletes during the last third. I emerged from the swim in 1:05:41 feeling very relaxed (and yes, a little cold.) Out of a field of 800, I was 184th out of the water (at age 53). While I wasn’t "Mr Elite" in the water, I enjoyed the epic bike course with nary a cramp! I finished 31st out of the 64 in my age group who finished. (Over 80 started, so that bike course claimed a lot of DNF’s).

Please note that USMS regulations forbid the use of a TT in competition, but I am not aware of any such rule for triathlon. Even so, for me, the bilateral breath practice alone is a great way to regulate intensity for long course triathlon.

Shane Eversfield is a Master Coach for TI, manages the Lake Placid Swim Studio and leads workshops and open water clinics. He is author of the book Zendurance and numerous magazine articles. His dvd "TI Chi for Athletes" will be available through the TI website beginning13 September. Shane@totalimmersion.net