Here's a 1hr swim training session that promises to fire up your aerobic stamina and help control pace.
This is a good aerobic endurance workout which can be easily scheduled into your training week, as it shouldn’t be too taxing or affect other sessions.
It could be done on the same day as a harder bike or run session – just be sure to refuel well before going to the pool.
Warm-up
400m front crawl, 400m mixed strokes.
Main session
1 x 200m, 1 x 100m, 2 x 150m, 2 x 75m, 3 x 100m, 3 x 50m, 4 x 50m, 4 x 25m. Increase effort as you progress through the set, so the final 4 x 50m and 4 x 25m are 90% effort. All on 10secs rest throughout.
Cool-down
300m cool-down.
Adapt for Ironman
Add a longer warm-up to the session. For example, 1,000m with every fourth length breaststroke, backstroke or fly.
Do a prep set before the main set to increase overall volume, such as 8 x 50m (easy-fast; fast-easy) and 8 x 25m (alternate fast, easy by 25m).
Look out for tomorrow's session, a strength training session for hip muscles