There are a whole host of factors that could determine whether you swim train with a group or swim solo. I prefer swimming solo for the simple fact that I can pick and choose where and when I want to swim my sessions, as well as being led by family commitments. The downside of this for me is that sometimes I tend to lack the ‘push’ that you’d get from a group session.

A self explanatory factor that distinguishes swim training from bike and run training is that swim venues are more limited than areas for you to cycle and run in. For this reason, triathletes tend to congregate and train in groups, more often than not with their respective clubs. No matter where you are in the world, training within a formal group is far more common in swimming than the other triathlon disciplines. Next time you attend one of your weekly swim session take a look around and see how many of the faces there attend one of the club run sessions. Significantly less I would guess.

The advantages of training with a club or team are however significant. Firstly you should get a knowledgeable coach who can design and lead sensibly constructed workouts and also scrutinize, monitor and correct your technique. Additionally you get the motivational boost that comes with structure, camaraderie and the mild inter-club competitiveness. In most cases you’ll get all this for very little money. Triathletes who train regularly within a structure group environment tend to train more consistently and harder than those of us who choose not.

The average club session can cover up to 3000 meters taking up to 1hr 30 minutes, which is a fairly meaty training session , so if you’re a comparatively weak swimmer you’ll want to spend some time developing a good base of swim fitness before being thrown in at the deep end.

If and when you feel ready to plunge into group sessions make sure you know basic workout structure, as well as how to read a pace clock, pool etiquette and how to perform the most common swim drills(some of which I have already discussed).

At your first workout introduce yourself to the coach, describe your ability and goals and ask him/her to appoint an appropriate lane. Swim the session to the best of your ability and seek stroke advice from the coach in the event that none is volunteered. If for any reason you cannot complete the entire session, just climb out of the pool and prepare yourself for your next attempt of a full session.

One thing to avoid with group workouts is allowing them to become your entire source of swim training. As a triathlete you’ll need to deviate from your team sessions in certain ways in order to stick to your own. For example, most club sessions never do long steady paced endurance sessions, as you should do once a week.

When you do attend group sessions, be prepared to do what the group does and don’t try to modify the session for your own benefit. However you can customize your workout to some degree by choosing a slower or faster lane than usual. Failing all of this there’s nothing to stop you following set swim session programmes on your own. Simple purchase a ready made plan, or create one yourself, then off you go.

Group swim training versus solo will always raise for’s and against from an individuals perspective and regardless of what’s been written above there’s nothing to stop you training on your own and still become an age group champion!!
 

If you liked this article, why not subscribe to TrispaceRSS Feed.

Alternatively subscribehere to receive new articles by email.

Tags: Triathlon Training - Swim

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 2:00 am and is filed under Triathlon Training - Swim. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.