The "Good Swimmer" Trap
- trisutto
- May 4
- 2 min read
The "Good Swimmer" Trap - and Why It Might Be Hurting Your Race
Listen to Brett break this down — including how Craig Walton produced near-identical swim times but very different race outcomes depending on swim fitness.
▶️ 4-minute audio
Most triathlon swim content is aimed at people who learned to swim as adults. But what about those of you who grew up in the water? Swam squad? Maybe competed at a high level?
People call you "lucky", but that swim background can be just as much of a limiter on race day as having no background at all. Here's why.
Picture this: a 50-year-old guy who hasn't swum in 10–20 years, now 20kg heavier than his peak, dives off the blocks and cranks out a 30-second 50m. Beautiful stroke. Whole body working. Looks incredible.
He's also completely cooked. Do a second one? Not a chance.
The body remembers the mechanics. The fitness? Gone.
This is exactly what happens to triathletes who grew up swimming.
They know HOW to swim — and that's their Achilles heel. The logic goes:
"I'm already first out of the water, so I don't need to swim as much. I'll put that time into my bike and run."
Makes sense on paper. But here's the reality:
Yes, they'll still be first out of the water. But because they've dialled back swim training, they step onto the bike already buried.
In sports science terms — they can swim the same time as before, but without the mitochondrial efficiency to clear the lactate they're producing. A swim-fit body uses lactate as fuel. An under-trained body just fills up with it.
The result? The first 20–30 minutes of the bike is basically a recovery ride before they can actually race.
Sound familiar?
This is the exact same problem that faces triathletes with NO swim background when they don't train the swim 4–5 days a week, with plenty of hard efforts, not just fluffy drills.
The gap between swim-fit and swim-fit-in-name-only is massive.
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