Swimming · Test
5,000 FOR TIME
5,000 continuous freestyle, even pace
WHAT IT TRAINS
Aerobic endurance, pacing and focus — and a benchmark you can repeat.
WHO IT'S FOR
Distance swimmers and open-water athletes. Most swimmers should start with 1,500–3,000.
HOW TO DO IT
- 01Warm up 400 easy.
- 02Swim 5,000 freestyle continuously at the fastest pace you can hold evenly. Note your 1,000 splits.
- 03Cool down 200 easy.
SCALED VERSION
1,500 or 3,000 for time.
Build the scaled version in Forge →TARGETS THAT FIT YOU
Swims use Garmin's effort levels (easy, moderate, hard, all out…). Send-offs listed as clock times are the original, elite intervals — scale them to leave yourself the rest the set intends.
THE WORKOUT, STEP BY STEP
SWIMMING
5,000 for Time
5,000 continuous freestyle, even pace · Fit File Forge Workout Library: www.fitfileforge.com/workouts/library/5000-swim-for-time
WARMUP400 mTarget: Swim instruction: EasyFREESTYLE
easy
MAIN5000 mTarget: Swim instruction: HardFREESTYLE
for time; even effort
COOLDOWN200 mTarget: Swim instruction: EasyFREESTYLE
easy
RELATED WORKOUTS
- SwimmingRace-specificDifficulty 4 of 5 — Very hard
Broken 1500
3 × 500 at 1500 race effort, short rest
50 min - SwimmingDistanceDifficulty 5 of 5 — Elite
Ledecky 11 × 400 Descending Interval
11 × 400 free; #1–9 on a send-off dropping 5 s each from 5:00
1 h 10Inspired by Katie LedeckyElite · scaled version inside - SwimmingDistanceDifficulty 5 of 5 — Elite
The 100 × 100 Challenge
100 × 100 on a fixed interval — 10,000 total
3 h
NOT HERE? DESCRIBE IT.
Type any session the way you'd tell a training partner — Forge turns it into a Garmin workout in seconds, and your coach can plan the weeks around it.
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