I am in a slump with swimming and the repetition of swimming. It seems I am as good as I will get without a big jump in yardage and frequency which neither I want to this winter. It seems when I take a break it comes back fast where I get back to where I was but never really improve. I wonder if most people take the winter off and pick it back in early spring, or do many of you keep looking at the black line all winter long?
Most people yes…… most people who spend their time on the ST forums No… lol
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What does your swim training currently look like?
I found masters swimming year round was hugely helpful. I just went 2x/week consistently and made pretty big improvements.
Thanks I need the encouragement you just offered. A success story of swimming year round. May I ask your yardage/meters each session? I can manage 2X week, knowing it may help in the long run. Thanks again.
Our yardage was around 2.8-3.5km/session. Usually around 3km/session. I think I started at 3x/week for a year or two, then dropped to 2x/week.
I was an adult onset swimmer. Came out of the water dead last in my first triathlon. By the end of my “career”, I was under an hour in the IM swim, around 27min in a 70.3, occasionally in the lead group in small local races. I did that all just with a few masters sessions a week, year round.
I think a few key points that I was very lucky with was:
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I joined a swim group that was focused on racing swim meets, not triathlon. Their season was built around cycles that would peak for local and regional meets. You didn’t have to race but it was encouraged. Because of this, I learned flip turns properly, I learned dive starts, all the strokes etc. Swimming is part art, it’s like dancing. It has a lot of intangibles, like feel for the water, etc, that you just need to get in the flow of, and not think about metrics like in the other sports, and I found this varied training to be hugely beneficial to my triathlon performance. Doing a block dedicated to training the 200IM made me a much stronger overall swimmer, for example. The other benefit of the group is I never had to think about my program. You just show up and let the instructors work you in to the ground.
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when I first joined, the instructor told me I was going to be doing predominantly drills for the first few months. He said don’t be discouraged, because it will feel frustrating and stupid at first. The first week, all my group did was kicking on our stomach, arms at our side. Back and forth. For two entire practices. Next week, we did the same but with our arms in the streamline position. The following week, we would kick on our side, one arm in front, the other at our side. We did a very slow progression leading up to actually swimming. We did all this balance and body position work to build a strong foundation, so when we started swimming we would have good habits. And it worked. When I actually started swimming, I moved up in to faster lanes very quickly. I went from the slowest lane to leading the second fastest lane eventually.
So, yeah, it can be done. I don’t think you need to swim massive mileage, but get quality miles in with a good group, and work really hard when you’re there. Don’t go there with the intention of being a better triathlete, go with the intention of learning to be a better swimmer.
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BC - You’ve nailed it with “getting into the flow”. That is what swimming is all about in a nutshell. If you can get into the flow, a 2 hour practice goes by quite quickly. 
And to the OP, BC also nailed it that you should swim year-round, preferably at least 3 days/wk.
Totally normal to feel stuck! Lots of swimmers ease off in winter and come back strong in spring.
If you don’t want a break but hate the repetition, try mixing it up - different strokes, new drills, or change your workout structure. Keeps it fresh without adding volume.
Or just maintain through winter and push hard when spring comes. Your fitness will stick around, and sometimes a mental break is exactly what you need to come back motivated.
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I feel like a lot of triathletes overlook that aspect of swimming. And I get it, it’s a sport dominated by very analytical thinking people. They don’t want to talk about flow, they want to talk about hydrodynamics, etc. They don’t want to work on their butterfly or flip turns, they want specificity. It’s about metrics, testing etc.
Bike and run training have largely been reduced to math equations at this point and you can get a lot of bang for your buck by training that way, but for swimming most of us not at the absolute tip of the speed spear, our focus should be on becoming a student of the water.
In my above example of swimming 2-3x/week, the reality is most of that mileage was warm up, drills and cool down. Our hard working set might be 40-50% of the total mileage for the day. So really we were swimming only maybe 3k/week of hard intervals and the rest was technique and practice.
The triathlon focused swim groups I dabbled in on occasion swam a lot more dedicated freestyle yardage than we did but never seemed to produce many, if any, good swimmers 
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Everone who responded I want thank. I received some great advise from everyone. This is exactlly the type of experience I was hoping for when I posted my question. 100% perfect responses. Thank you all.
…And in a lane with people who are faster than you. Peer pressure, and a fear of embarrassment are both great for increases in speed.
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I am on this 100 day plan to work my VO2Max. The goal is to get to 100 x 200 fly and 150x400IM before Dec 31 (I started in mid Sep). Today got to 50x200 fly and 60 400IMs. It’s a bit stupid but I never swam the four strokes until I was 53 and just trained like a triathlete but have really enjoyed the last 7 years swimming like a swimmer (of sorts).. I barely every swim more than 500m free straight other than my warmup or a triathlon !!! I find the kicking in four strokes and doing all the four strokes translates to better overall health and athleticism and body awareness (as you said it is more like dancing and requires a mindset different from math equation like training in run and bike)
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That’s what I like most about masters. There’s always someone faster ahead of you and to your right, and someone who’s trying to catch you from behind and your left. You get that mini competitive boost every practice that you will never get plodding along on your own.
Two days a week is great to have fun but you need to put more time in to reap the rewards. More time over years.
No one would tell a kid who wanted to be good at free throws to practice twice a week and hope to bring the percentages up
if two days is all you got, you need to make it count. Whether that is masters or swimming with a faster friend. I’m reluctant to say two days per week is a way to get over the plateau, though I don’t want to come across as being a prat or sanctimonious. We’ve all got priorities and finite time.
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You have gotten some good advice, but I’m highlighting this part of your post, as I feel this is important. When you get to a certain speed or level in swimming, after a break it is quite easy to get back to that place. Getting there in the first place can take years or decades even, but once achieved it is nothing to start where you left off. So should you swim in the off season, absolutely. Done right it is where you make your gains and get faster. Then you do it again, and each is a stepping stone for the rest of your athletic life. Maybe at least 3 times a week while often swimming with others better than you if possible. Coach would be a big plus too..
Here are some swimming tips and drills that might help.
Hi, I think you forgot to attach the tips to the post?