Sport-specific

Preparing a Swimming Race — First Non-Stop Swims, Pool 400–1500 m, Open Water 1.5–10 km, CSS Pacing and Taper

swimming · all levels · endurance, aerobic power, technique

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A swimming race is decided by technique more than any other endurance event. Water is dense, drag rises steeply with speed, and only part of each stroke turns into forward motion, so two swimmers with the same aerobic fitness can be minutes apart over 1500 m. A preparation therefore builds three things at once: a stroke that wastes less energy, an aerobic engine that holds a high fraction of its maximum for the length of the race, and — for open water — the skills to swim straight, start in a crowd and cope with cold water, which a pool does not teach on its own.

This document covers the preparation from a first non-stop swim to a time goal, in the pool or in open water. Session structure and beginners' paces are in the fitness-swimming document.

What the Races Demand

Pool 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m

The 400 m is about four fifths aerobic (in trained swimmers the anaerobic share was 45% in the first 100 m, 20% over the race) and is swum near the speed of maximal oxygen uptake, which elite swimmers hold for about four minutes and lower-level swimmers for a little over five. The 800 m and 1500 m are swum closer to the critical swim speed (CSS), the slope of distance against time across all-out swims. Competitive swimmers held CSS continuously for about 24 minutes, so a 1500 m of 20–30 minutes is raced at about CSS and a longer one a little below. CSS sets the training paces and predicts race times.

Open water: 1.5 km to 10 km

The 1.5 km is the Olympic-distance triathlon swim, the 3.8 km the long-distance triathlon swim, the 5 km and 10 km the championship distances. Open-water swimmers hold 80–90% of maximal oxygen uptake for hours; what separates them is a low energy cost and a high propelling efficiency. There are no walls, no push-offs and no rest, and the line is never straight: elite swimmers covered a median of about 10,260 m on a 10 km course. In a world-championship 10 km the top ten held about 93% of their pool critical speed from first lap to last, while slower groups started at 96–98% and faded to 85–88%. Even pacing, on a deep aerobic base, is what the long races reward.

A first non-stop distance

For a beginner the first goal is a distance without stopping. England's adult framework climbs the same ladder: 25 m unaided, then 400 m, then 800 m and a mile for masters, triathlon or open water. A non-stop goal ends with a test swim, not a race.

Starting From Zero: Technique First

  • The prerequisite is swimming 25 m unaided and being at ease in deep water. Below that, lessons with an instructor come first: a plan can lengthen a stroke that exists, not teach one.
  • Why technique first. The energy cost of each metre depends on drag and propelling efficiency, and both differ far more between swimmers of different technical level than of different fitness. Every session starts with drills and kick after the warm-up.
  • It works for non-swimmers: sedentary women swimming three times a week for fifteen weeks swam about a fifth farther in ten minutes.
  • From repeats to non-stop: shorten the rest, then lengthen the repeats, then join them — 8 × 50 m with 45 s rest, 6 × 100 m with 30 s, 3 × 200 m, 2 × 300 m, then 400 m continuous. Three sessions a week of 400–1000 m at first; until 400 m the longest continuous swim grows by 50–100 m a week; repeating a week is normal. Every repeat is a multiple of 50 m, ending at a wall.
  • No threshold or VO2max sets until 400 m continuous. 50 m "builds", easy to fast with full rest, can start earlier.
  • Mind the shoulder. In elite young swimmers shoulder pain came mostly from tendinopathy linked to weekly volume; among masters aged 36–55 it affected one in six of those swimming under 5 km a week and most of those swimming more. Ten percent a week between loading weeks is the ceiling, one more repeat at small volumes; shoulder pain shortens the main set.

Before the Block: Readiness and Length

Coaching-practice minimums; below them, the first weeks build the base.

Race To finish For a time goal
Non-stop 400–1500 m 25 m unaided, at ease in deep water —
Pool 400 m 100 m continuous, 2 sessions 400 m continuous, 3 sessions, 2 km a week
Pool 800 m 200 m continuous, 2 sessions 800 m continuous, 3 sessions, 3 km a week
Pool 1500 m, open-water 1.5 km 400 m continuous, 2 sessions 800 m continuous, 3 sessions, 3 km a week
Open-water 3.8 km or 5 km 1500 m continuous, 3 sessions, 5 km a week 2500 m continuous, 3–4 sessions, 8 km a week
Open-water 10 km 2500 m continuous, 4 sessions, 8 km a week 4000 m continuous, 4 sessions, 12 km a week
Situation Typical length
First non-stop 400–800 m, from short repeats 6–12 weeks
Pool 400 m or 800 m 8–12 weeks
Pool 1500 m or open-water 1.5 km 10–14 weeks
Open-water 3.8 km or 5 km 12–16 weeks
Open-water 10 km 16–20 weeks
Low current volume, returning after a break, or 50+ add 4–8 weeks

Elite swimmers build in macrocycles of about 12–15 weeks; age-group long-distance triathletes prepared about 21 weeks for the whole race. The plan is built backwards from race day: taper, then race-specific weeks, then a base that fills whatever time is left.

Weekly Volume

Masters club swimmers trained about three times a week for 3–4.5 km. Age-group long-distance triathletes swam about 9 km a week (most between 4.5 and 13 km) at about 1:49 per 100 m. Aspiring English Channel swimmers swam 30–55 km a week over 5–6 sessions, 8–20 km of it in open water, and those who succeeded had swum about twice as much open water as those who failed.

Volume matters most for long races and older swimmers: six weeks of high volume raised masters' peak oxygen uptake by about 12% and improved their 400 m and 2000 m by about 3%. But college swimmers who doubled to two sessions a day gained no more than those on one, and four weeks of lower-volume, high-intensity training matched high volume: past a point, the sets matter more than extra metres.

The peaks below are coaching practice consistent with those data, reached before the taper — not starting points; a swimmer starts from their own recent metres. Goals are grouped by pace per 100 m; the open-water 1.5 km follows the 1500 m column.

Goal 400 m 800 m 1500 m 3.8 km 5 km 10 km Sessions
Finish, or a first race 2.5–4 km 3–5 4–6 6–9 8–12 14–20 2–4
Slower than 2:15 3–5 4–6 5–7 7–10 9–13 15–20 3–4
1:50–2:15 5–8 6–9 7–10 9–13 12–17 18–25 3–4
1:35–1:50 8–12 9–14 10–15 12–17 15–22 22–30 4–5
Faster than 1:35 12–20 14–22 15–25 15–25 20–30 28–40 5–6
  • About 10% more per week between loading weeks; at a few kilometres, one more repeat per session.
  • A lighter week every third or fourth week cuts volume by 20–30% and shortens the longest swim by a quarter; resume at the last loading week. In elite swimmers, loads rising in waves beat a flat pattern.
  • Reach the peak three to five weeks out and hold it two to three weeks. A swimmer already at the peak for their goal shifts the effort to the key sets.

Critical Swim Speed and Training Paces

What CSS is

With the 200 m and 400 m test, four 400 m repeats at CSS kept lactate steady and 102% of it did not; later work placed CSS 3–6% above the maximal lactate steady state. Continuously, CSS lasted about 24 minutes and 5% slower about 49, yet ten 400 m repeats at CSS with 40 s rest kept lactate steady for almost an hour: CSS is a threshold swum as repeats with short rest.

The test

  • 400 m then 200 m, all-out, front crawl, after a good warm-up and with full recovery between (or on separate days). CSS pace per 100 m = (400 m time − 200 m time) ÷ 2: 7:00 and 3:20 give 1:50.
  • Only a 400 m: in age-group swimmers, critical speed fitted across six distances from 50 to 1500 m was 92% of 400 m speed, within about 2% — a slightly conservative CSS.
  • Retest every six to eight weeks: critical speed rose about 2% in six weeks in young swimmers who trained more, and barely at all in the next eight.
  • CSS from 200 m and 400 m is a little faster than CSS from longer swims, so 400 m repeats are swum about 2% slower than 100 m repeats for the same effect.

Zones

Zone Share of CSS speed At a 1:50 CSS Used for
Easy under 85% 2:10 or slower warm-up, cool-down, drills, recovery
Aerobic 85–93% 1:58–2:10 most of the volume, the long swim
CSS (threshold) 97–102% 1:48–1:53 100–400 m repeats, short rest
VO2max 400 m pace, 104–108% 1:42–1:46 50–100 m repeats
Race pace goal pace — specific weeks
Speed short and fast — 50 m builds, full rest

Without a test, effort replaces pace: CSS is the effort of a 1500 m race, VO2max that of a 400 m.

The Key Sessions

Aerobic sets carry most of the metres: 100–400 m repeats with 30–45 s rest, or continuous swims, with pull, backstroke or breaststroke for variety.

CSS sets — the threshold work:

Form Example Total
Short 10–20 × 100 m at CSS or 1–2 s faster, 30 s rest 1000–2000 m
Medium 6–10 × 200 m at CSS, 30–40 s rest 1200–2000 m
Long 4–8 × 400 m at CSS + 2 s per 100 m, 40–45 s rest 1600–3200 m

20 × 100, 10 × 200 and 5 × 400 m at CSS, with rest of about an eighth of the repeat time, gave the same lactate response. Recreational swimmers start at 800–1200 m of CSS work; competitive ones build to 3000–4000 m. One CSS set a week from the base; trained swimmers add a second key set in the build.

VO2max sets at about 400 m pace: 8–12 × 100 m or 16–20 × 50 m with 30 s rest, 800–1200 m of work (up to 2000 m for competitive swimmers); 100 m repeats kept trained triathletes near maximal oxygen uptake about twice as long as 50 m repeats. Weekly in the build for pool races and the 1.5 km, every week or two for longer races.

Race-pace sets — the specific weeks:

Race Example When
400 m 8 × 50 m at goal pace, 30 s rest; then 4 × 100 m 6–2 weeks out
800 m 8 × 100 m at goal pace, 30 s rest; then 4 × 200 m 6–2 weeks out
1500 m, 1.5 km 15 × 100 m at goal pace, 30 s rest; then 3 × 500 m, 45 s 6–2 weeks out
3.8 km, 5 km 3–4 × 800–1000 m at race effort, 45 s rest; long swims ending at race pace 8–2 weeks out
10 km 3 × 1500–2000 m at race effort; long swims with the last 2–3 km at race pace 8–3 weeks out

The sets check the goal: if 15 × 100 m at 1500 m goal pace is not controlled three weeks out, the goal is too fast.

Drills, kick and pull. Drills come early, while the swimmer is fresh. Kick trains body position and rests the shoulders; the legs give far less propulsion than the arms, so kick is for position, not fitness. A pull buoy builds stroke length but hides a weak body position if overused. Paddles load every stroke: introduced gradually, never with a painful shoulder.

Speed: 4–8 × 50 m builds with 45–60 s rest on one or two aerobic sessions a week — the swimmer's strides.

Warm-up and cool-down. Every session opens with 10–20% easy swimming, at least 200 m before a key set, and closes with easy swimming: after hard efforts, five minutes of easy swimming cleared lactate and restored performance better than resting at the wall.

The Longest Continuous Swim

Swum without stopping at aerobic pace. For open water it rehearses the race: no walls, pacing, feeding, and in the last weeks sighting and the wetsuit.

Race Longest continuous swim Cap
Non-stop goal builds to the target; the last week is the test the target
Pool 400 m 800–1000 m about 30 min
Pool 800 m 1200–1500 m about 40 min
Pool 1500 m, open-water 1.5 km 1800–2500 m about 50 min
Open-water 3.8 km 3000–4000 m about 100 min
Open-water 5 km 4000–5000 m about 2 h
Open-water 10 km 6000–8000 m about 3 h
  • From 400 m it grows by about 200 m per loading week up to 1500 m, then 300–500 m, and is shortened by a quarter in lighter weeks rather than dropped. The longest fall three to six weeks out.
  • It is capped by time: aspiring Channel swimmers, whose crossing averages over thirteen hours, do a six-hour qualifying swim. The long swim prepares the race; it does not have to cover it.
  • It takes up to half the week on three sessions, about two fifths on four or more.

Distribution and Weekly Structure

Swimming is more pyramidal than running. Elite swimmers swam 86–90% of their volume at or below about 4 mmol/L of lactate (half of it under 2), 6–9% at 4–6 mmol/L and about 4% above; long-distance swimmers train mainly pyramidal, and a masters squad swam about 90% of its metres aerobically. For an adult: about three quarters easy and aerobic, a fifth at CSS, the rest VO2max, race pace and speed.

Sessions Structure
2 Finish goals only: technique and aerobic; a CSS set or the long swim on alternate weeks
3 Technique and aerobic; one key set (CSS, VO2max or race pace); the long swim
4 Technique and aerobic; CSS; aerobic with pull and builds; the long swim — trained swimmers add a second key set
5 Two key sets, two aerobic sessions with drills, the long swim
6 Two or three key sets for competitive swimmers, a recovery swim, the long swim
Phase Share of the block Quality work
Base first third to half technique, kick, aerobic sets, builds; one short CSS set (800–1200 m)
Build middle CSS sets to full length; VO2max sets for pool races and 1.5 km; the long swim growing
Specific last 4–6 weeks before the taper (6–8 for 3.8–10 km) race-pace sets, open-water sessions, the longest swims; CSS kept
Taper last 7–14 days volume cut, short race-pace touches, builds

Key sets are better not on consecutive days. Before an open-water race, one session a week — usually the long swim — moves to open water in the last six to eight weeks, when conditions allow.

Open-Water Skills

  • Sighting. Lift the eyes to the next buoy every six to nine strokes, more often in waves. A straighter line is free speed, but a raised head drops the hips, so the lift is brief, low and folded into the breath. Practise from the build, inside aerobic sets; bilateral breathing helps.
  • Drafting. Directly behind, 0–50 cm from the leader's feet, passive drag fell by about a fifth and oxygen uptake, heart rate, lactate and effort all fell; behind a kicking swimmer oxygen uptake fell by about 11%. Beside the leader the studies disagree. Practise in pairs in the specific weeks.
  • The wetsuit shortened competitive swimmers' 400 m by about 5% and 1500 m by about 3%, more for leaner swimmers; across studies the gain reached about 11%. Athletes often find it uncomfortable, so it is never new on race day: three or four swims in it, one close to race length. Elite rules make it compulsory below 18 °C and allowed to 20 °C, with no racing below 16 °C; triathlons and mass events set their own limits.
  • Cold shock — a gasp, uncontrolled breathing, a racing heart — peaks in the first 30 seconds and settles over about two minutes; agencies treat 10–15 °C water as cold. Enter gradually. Six three-minute immersions at 15 °C roughly halved the breathing response, for at least seven months: a few short cold swims are the cheapest protection before an early-season race.
  • Hypothermia was the commonest medical problem in a 19.2 km mass swim, likelier the longer the swim and less likely with a higher body mass index. Without wetsuits, half of lean competitive swimmers failed to finish two hours at 16 °C, and some cooled dangerously at 18 °C. Swimmers cannot feel their core temperature: comfort is not safety. In warm water, up to about 32 °C, drinking and pacing matter more.
  • Mass starts and safety. Most deaths and cardiac arrests in triathlon happen in the swim, mostly in men over middle age, and cardiac causes appear to dominate. In a first race, start at the side or back. Never train alone: bright cap, tow float, partner or supervised venue.
  • Feeding. Under 10 km, the pre-race meal and hydration are the priority; from 10 km on, carbohydrate during the race, up to about 90 g per hour in the longest, rehearsed in long swims.

The Taper

  • Cut volume, keep intensity and most sessions. The best-supported taper lasts about two weeks and cuts volume progressively by 41–60%; frequency falls by no more than a fifth. Olympic swimmers improved about 2.2% over their final three weeks, and elite swimmers' best tapers decayed slowly.
  • Shorter for shorter races: 7–10 days for 400–1500 m and 1.5 km, 10–14 for 3.8 and 5 km, about two weeks plus a lighter third for 10 km.
Week 400–1500 m, 1.5 km 3.8 km, 5 km 10 km
Race −2 — — about 85%
Race −1 about 75%, one race-pace set about 70%, one race-pace set about 70%
Race week about 50% before the race, short race-pace set 3–4 days out, builds about 50% about 50%

A non-stop goal without key sets has only fatigue to shed: the last week is lighter and ends with the test swim.

Pacing and Race Day

  • Even pace. The first 100 m is no faster than goal pace plus the push-off; in open water those who held their speed beat those who started above critical speed and faded.
  • Predicted times. Up to about 25 minutes a race is swum at about CSS; longer races are slower, by about 5% at an hour and 7–15% over two to four hours. Open water adds an imperfect line and subtracts the wetsuit's gain. The prediction is a calm-water target.
  • Warm-up. Competitive swimmers do best with 1000–1500 m touching race pace and ending 8–20 minutes before the start; adults racing 400–1500 m use 400–800 m. Without water at an open-water start, mobilise on land and swim the first minutes easier.

Strength and Dryland

  • Low-volume, high-force strength work transfers best. In competitive swimmers, two weekly sessions of maximal strength and high-intensity intervals for eleven weeks raised tethered force and improved 400 m time more than in controls.
  • Two sessions a week in base and build, one in the specific weeks, none or a very light one in race week. Shoulder external rotation, scapular control and trunk work protect the shoulder; heavy pulling stays moderate, since the pool already loads the lats.
  • Concurrent training can blunt explosive strength in the same session: separate them by three hours, and keep heavy upper-body work off the day before a key set.

Masters Swimmers (45 and Over)

  • Endurance swimming declines linearly from about 35–40 until about 70, then faster: about 0.5% a year for women and 0.9% for men in masters one-hour swims. Part of it is a rising energy cost — older masters swam with less propelling efficiency and more drag — so technique stays a priority.
  • Volume pays more with age, but tendinosis and partial tears are common in masters' shoulders: volume grows gradually and paddles stay rare.
  • Two key sets a week at most, aerobic days between them, a lighter week every third week, and the longer preparation lengths.
  • Practise in open water before racing in it; men over about 45 with risk factors see a doctor before a first open-water race.

Common Mistakes

  • Aerobic sets swum at CSS, CSS sets swum as sprints.
  • Metres before technique: more volume on a stroke that wastes energy.
  • Sudden jumps in weekly metres, or paddles all at once, then a sore shoulder.
  • An open-water race prepared only in the pool: no sighting, wetsuit, cold habituation or mass start.
  • The first 200 m of an open-water race above race pace.
  • A long swim that never reaches the length the race needs, or is always broken into repeats.
  • No taper, or a taper that drops all fast swimming.

Key Takeaways

  1. Technique first: in water a better stroke saves more energy than extra fitness.
  2. A first goal is a non-stop distance: shorten the rest, then lengthen the repeats.
  3. CSS from a 400 m and a 200 m sets the paces: mostly aerobic metres, CSS sets of 100–400 m with short rest, VO2max sets at 400 m pace.
  4. Peak volume grows with race and goal: about 4–10 km a week for a 1500 m, 9–17 km for 3.8–5 km, 15–30 km for 10 km.
  5. The longest continuous swim reaches about race distance up to 5 km, 6–8 km for 10 km.
  6. Open water needs its own practice: sighting, drafting, wetsuit, cold, the start.
  7. Taper one to two weeks, cutting volume up to about 60% and keeping race-pace work.

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Source note: Wakayoshi et al. (1992, 1993), Dekerle et al. (2005, 2010), Toubekis & Tokmakidis (2013), Toubekis et al. (2011), Zacca et al. (2016), Fernandes & Vilas-Boas (2012), Hellard et al. (2013, 2019), González-Ravé et al. (2021), Bosquet et al. (2007), Mujika, Padilla & Pyne (2002), Fujito et al. (2025), Pla & Bouvet (2026), Chatard & Wilson (2003), Cordain & Kopriva (1991), Saycell et al. (2019), Tipton et al. (2000), Tipton & Bradford (2014), Harris et al. (2017), Gulbin & Gaffney (1999), Diversi et al. (2016), Neiva et al. (2014, 2021), Lapierre et al. (2018), Pugliese et al. (2015), Tanaka & Seals (1997)

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