Category: Sets

NOVA Speed Endurance & Lactate Tolerance Set

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Coach Alex Muni, NOVA, Richmond, VA

For this one, I wanted to change things up with our athletes by loading the legs early and then going off the block with different broken reps. The idea is for them to finish the kick, hop out, get about :30 or so to get set and then send them on their way for a max effort swim. Two max effort reps in a row, one kick and one swim should spike their heart rates and blood lactate levels and force them to cope with the elevated levels for the remainder of the set. Between rounds, they should be getting anywhere from 30 to 45 seconds of rest following the recovery swim. 

175 Beats

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCY

Swimmers can choose their stroke on the 175s, but kept it the same for 3 x 175s in a row. The goal on each 175 is to beat your best 200 time. This isn’t a huge goal for 1, but as fatigue starts to accumulate, this set becomes more difficult.

Resist-Assist-BOOM!

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCY

We used stretch cords for this one. The 4-cycle sprints were done with the belt attached to a cord with a teammate holding the cord for resistance. They would quickly move to the outside lane for an assisted 25 with teammates pulling each other on the cord. As soon as possible after the assisted 25, we started the 75 off the block (OTB). We got some excellent performances on the 75s.

NOVA of Virginia Short Burst Speed and Speed Endurance

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Coach Alex Muni, Nova of Virginia

DKOB= Dolphin Kick on Back

“We are using different equipment to get different feel for the water and emphasizing/amplifying the use of different limbs to generate different speeds. In this set, I have the group descending 50s kick to a max effort and then going into a sustained speed group of 25s – they are trying to maintain tempo and overall effort under different fatiguing conditions which will help them adapt not only within an individual race, but in different races. The yardage isn’t high, but the effort and thought going into each effort should be.”

Front-Half I.M.

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

This set gave us some work on the front half of the IM, specifically descending the backstroke coming off the fly. The next time we do something like this, I will probably add a bit more fly. The last part of the set served as a little speed work before a quality set to finish practice.

Infinity 50s

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

Of course they’re not really infinite, but they might feel that way!

This one’s a mindbender. Start by doing 50s off the blocks. When coach is satisfied that the desired level of work has been achieved, the round may end and the 200 smooth commences. An even better way to end the round is to throw out a goal time for a particular swimmer to end the round for the group. Start with an outlandish number. If failure occurs, the group does another 50 and then a second swimmer gets a goal time, a bit more reasonable. Repeat until success. Carefully monitor how the team responds. Do they rally together or get negative and resentful? Use it as a team-building exercise. Coach determines how many rounds.

Inside-Out I.M. Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCY

This IM and Free set was a good one for us. The intervals indicated were for a portion of our group with 500 free times generally sub-5:00 and 400 IM times sub-4:20. We really tried to hit the 50s hard, with the big 1:30 interval serving as a decent mental break.

5 x 500
#1 – Free @6:00
#2 – 100 Free/100 IM @6:15
#3 – 100 IM/100 Free @6:20
#4 – 200 IM/100 Fr/200 IM @6:30
#5 – 5 x 100 IM @6:40

7 x 50 FPA (Fastest Possible Average) @1:30
Odds IM Order
Evens Transitions
#2 – Fly/Bk
#4 – Bk/Br
#6 – Br/Fr

5 x 500
Same as before but in opposite
order (finish with 500 free)