Your results may vary, but my own swimming HR (device measured) results are always taken with a grain of salt.

It's important to be able to swim slowly with decent form. Swim slow and fix up your flaws.

Agree grain of salt with swimming HR. I would do some manual testing on some longer reps. Something like 4-5 x 300-400, building each rep something like ez/140.6/70.3/Olympic/Sprint. Right at the end of each rep take manual pulse for 10-15s & multiply by 6 or 4. Write them down. Take 30-45s in between total.

But I wouldn't worry too much. Swimming seems the most demanding for me when I'm doing harder stuff. 170 is still around threshold. Maybe you don't feel like you're swimming threshold & should slow down a bit until you're able to swim more comfortably with that heart rate. Frequency is also going to come into play. If you're swimming 2 times/week it'll be hard to change that dynamic versus 4 or 5.

Highest HR's in a triathlon are almost always in the swim, near the end usually.

But before you have any angst about this, I'm gonna tell you what I tell everyone that asks about wonky or unusual HR measures. Stop on the wall when it is 170 going easy, and see manually if that is actually correct. Pool HR monitors are notoriously off, sometimes way off. But it could be right, just that you are not used to what a swimming HR is for you...

Probably something wrong unless you are a lifelong swimmer. As an adult onset I find it really really hard to get hr up on swim without heat (hot water or wetsuit). My HR zones are about 20bpm lower in the water. Same hr sensor - on form goggles. To finish my first thought: lifelong swimmers seem to be able to get their hr up more for some reason, in my ecperience.

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My Strava | My Instagram | Summerville, SC | 35-39 AG | 4:41 (70.3), 10:05 (140.6) | 3x70.3, 1x140.6 | Cat 2 Cyclist

First, like Monty said, I wouldn't trust any HR monitor in the water. It's an easy check in between sets. Take your carotid HR while you are on the wall.

Second, don't train swimming with HR. It's the best way to not improve. If you can push yourself to go faster without your technique breaking down, then do it. There is no swim slow to swim fast.

Lastly, if it just doesn't feel right, go see your doctor.

I hope this helps,

Tim

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