Workout Wednesday: The lunch hour swim

Many triathletes choose the lunch hour as an easy time slot to fit a quick workout in. Here are two of our favourite lunch hour swims you can easily fit into an hour with some adjustment to match your paces. One is an endurance focus while the other is speed-oriented. You can extend the warm-up and cool-down if you have some extra time to spare, but these workouts pack a lot into a short period of time so they’re great for when you’re time-pressed.

Speed (30 to 35 minutes)

Warm-up — 200m (repeat x 2)

• 1 x 50 swim
• 1 x 50 choice

Build up — 400m (repeat x 2)

• 4 x 50 swim (descending speed on :55, rest interval on :10)

Core — 600m

• 100 kick (hard effort on 2:00)
• 100 swim (hard effort on 1:50)
• 2 x 100 with paddles (on 1:45, rest interval on :10)
• 1 x 100 pull (on 1:40)
• 2 x 50 (on :50, rest on :10)

Cool down — 100m

• 100 swim easy

Endurance (35 to 45 min)

Warm-up — 100m

• 100 swim

Build up — 400m

• 3 x 100 swim, negative split (+/- on :55, rest interval on :15)
• 2 x 50 hard swim (on :45, rest interval on :15)

Core — 1000m

• 2 x 200/150/50 swim; progressive (3:35/2:25/:45, rest intervals on :20)
• 200 pull, even pace (1:55 per 100m)

Cool down — 100m

• 100 swim easy