Congratulations, you’ve made it through the festive season!
There’s every chance you ate well and drank plenty… and did minimal training.
Don’t worry, so did we.
Once the fireworks have gone off for New year’s it can be a shock how fast the ocean swim events come at you. In fact, there are swims most weekends in the major centres for January and February.
If you’ve found yourself out of shape or you’re looking to get involved in an ocean swimming event for the first time, we have a super simple four-week plan to get you in shape and ready to conquer that first ocean swim event of the year.
We have purposely kept it minimalist so you can just get straight into it.
Good luck!
Related article: How to train for a 1km ocean swim
Where to start
Get to the pool now!
Well not really, just get back to training at the pool as soon as possible.
During the next four weeks, you’ll need to aim for three sessions per week ranging from 1-3 kilometres.
What training looks like
Over the next four weeks, your training sessions will include a mixture of aerobic base work to increase your current fitness level and speed work to give you that boost at the start and finish of your ocean swim.
If you feel like the sessions are too long coming off your holiday break, don’t stress, just skip a couple of hundred metres from each session, to make the distance suit you.
How you’ll train (by week)
Tip: Print out your training plan and put it in a zip lock bag to take to the pool.
Week 1
Focus: Building back your swim fitness while getting your feel of the water back.
Session One
400m easy swim
300m pull buoy medium speed
200m kick easy speed
100m (50m freestyle, 50m backstroke or breaststroke)
2 x 200m medium speed
2 x 100m easy speed
Total: 1.6km
Session Two
500m easy swim (breathing every 3/5 strokes alternating every 50m)
4 x 100m (25m right arm only, 25m left arm only, 50m freestyle)
3 x 200m pull buoy medium speed
2 x 100 easy
Total: 1.7km
Session Three
4 x 200m (2 x easy swim, 2 x medium swim)
3 x 100m kick
2 x 200m pull buoy
1 x 100m easy
8 x 50m (25m strong, 25m easy)
Total: 2km
Week 2
Focus: Continue to build swim fitness and aerobic base while adding some speed work.
Session One
400m easy swim
4 x 100m pull buoy
6 x 50m kick (25m fast, 25m easy)
3 x 200m (1 x easy speed, 1 x medium speed, 1 x fast speed)
4 x 100m (2 x medium speed, 2 x fast speed)
4 x 50m easy speed
Total: 2.3km
Session Two
600m easy speed
600m medium speed
600m fast speed
3 x 200m pull buoy medium speed
4 x 50m kick
Total: 2.6km
Session Three
400m easy swim
4 x 100m pull buoy
10 x 100m medium speed, 5 seconds rest between each 100m
8 x 50m (1 x easy speed, 1 x fast speed)
200m easy swim (50m freestyle, 50m backstroke or breaststroke)
Total: 2.4km
Week 3
Focus: Gain speed endurance while maintaining the swim fitness you have built so far.
Session One
500m easy swim
4 x 200m pull buoy medium speed
3 x 100m kick
2 x 75m (25m fast speed, 75m medium speed)
1 x 50m easy
6 x 100m (1 x easy speed, 1 x fast speed)
6 x 50m (1 x easy speed, 1 x fast speed)
300m easy speed
Total: 3km
Session Two
400m easy swim
8 x 50m kick medium speed
4 x 100m pull buoy
16 x 25m (3 x fast speed, 1 x easy speed)
8 x 50m pull buoy (1 x easy speed, 1 x fast speed)
2 x 200m (1 x easy speed, 1 x fast speed)
4 x 50m easy swim
Total: 2.6km
Session Three
200m easy swim
4 x 50m (1 x easy speed, 1 x fast speed)
4 x 100m (1 x easy speed, 1 x fast speed)
4 x 150m (1 x easy speed, 1 x fast speed)
4 x 200m (1 x easy speed, 1 x fast speed)
8 x 50m pull buoy
200m easy swim
Total: 2.8km
Week 4
Focus: Working on your technique and speed as you head into event week
Session One
500m easy swim (breathing every 3/5 strokes alternating every 50m)
500m pull buoy
500m fast speed
500m medium speed
10 x 50m (1 x easy speed, 1 x fast speed)
2 x 100m easy
Total: 2.7km
Session Two
2 x 200m easy swim
9 x 100m (1 x easy speed, 1 x medium speed, 1 x fast speed)
3 x 200m pull buoy medium speed
8 x 50m (25m fast speed, 25m easy speed)
4 x 50m kick
100m easy
Total: 2.6km
Session Three
300m easy swim
3 x 100m pull buoy
300m medium speed
3x 100m kick
300m fast speed
3 x 100m (1 x easy speed, 2 x fast speed)
300m easy swim
6 x 50m (1 x easy speed, 1 x fast speed)
100m easy
Total: 2.5km
