I have been asked several times, “why train so hard on the swim with such minimal gains? The swim is the shortest discipline and you cannot win with just a great swim.” All of the swimming and swim drills isn’t about having the fastest time in the water to gain maybe a minute or two over the course of 1500 meters. For someone that didn’t grow up swimming competitively, swimming takes a lot of energy. I don’t know about you, but I remember the days when I couldn’t wait to get to the end of the swim and normally I was completely exhausted exiting the water. I feared the swim because of amount of energy it took and not even being confident I could make it to the end.
The swim training is more about becoming as efficient as possible in the water. It doesn’t matter how fast you are in the water, if you enter T-1 exhausted I can guarantee you, your bike and run leg will suffer to some degree. You should exit the water feeling refreshed and ready to hit the bike leg, not gasping for air, thanking God that you made it through the swim. The swim leg should be more of a warm-up for the bike and not a race of its own.
The swim training is more about becoming as efficient as possible in the water. It doesn’t matter how fast you are in the water, if you enter T-1 exhausted I can guarantee you, your bike and run leg will suffer to some degree. You should exit the water feeling refreshed and ready to hit the bike leg, not gasping for air, thanking God that you made it through the swim. The swim leg should be more of a warm-up for the bike and not a race of its own.
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