Category: Uncategorized

Top 10 Swimming Wizard Posts of 2015

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff

It has been a great year here at the Swimming Wizard blog.  We have had record readership (close to 400,000 visitors this year) and have enjoyed reading and posting ideas and workouts from coaches all around the world.  Below is a selection of our top posts of the year.

Send us your set at swimmingwizard@gmail.com and maybe it will make next year’s top 10!

Have a Happy New Year!

  1. The Everything Set. This challenging set includes free, descend, some “wet-land,” and packs a punch at the finish.
  2. How to Train Consistently at Race Pace was our most popular post of the year.  Get our popular pace cards and a better philosophy of my race pace philosophy.
  3. Age Group IM Set from Coach Josh Sinclair, Queensland, Australia.  Coach Sinclair also gave us a good Kick Set.
  4. Lucky Sevens appears to be a favorite with coaches even if not with swimmers.
  5. Kick Set for Underwater Dominance.  These days, you are either dominating underwater or getting dominated.
  6. 400 IM Splitting with Greater Philadelphia Coach Matt Sprang.  Good thoughts from an excellent coach.
  7. FRIM=FUN. Keep the fun in IM by taking out the fly.
  8. Stopwatch Roulette. Fun idea to help your swimmers “have a say.”
  9. F.A.T. Tuesday with Glenbrook Aquatics is cooler than it sounds.
  10. Kicking Speed Set.  Does what it says.

Bonus: 11 Creative Ways to Spice Up Your Swim Practice and my top 10 Best Things I Read, Watched, and Listened to this Year.

The 10 Best Things I Read, Watched, and Listened to This Year

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

As a coach who is interested in personal improvement and being the best coach that I can be for my athletes, I am constantly on the lookout for ideas, motivation, and knowledge that can help me.  Here are a few of the best things I came across this year.

You are missing out if you aren’t part of the (1) Swim Coaches Idea Exchange on Facebook. With nearly 5,000 members, there is nearly always a pithy discussion of technique and tons of fresh ideas.  Be sure to check out posts from Jonty Skinner to be the at the tip of the spear when it comes to freestyle technique especially.

On my drive to and from practice, I love to listen to podcasts on a variety of subjects.  By far the best podcast I listened to this year was (2) Michael Gervais’ interview with former swim coach Sean Hutchison. Interesting, inspiring, and thought-provoking.

I got my start coaching with Gregg Troy at Florida, and reading (3) SwimmingScience.net’s Notes on his talk “Garbage Yards and Other Things that Work” was a reminder of the power of commitment that he always emphasized to the Gator teams that I was around.

If you have been paying attention on the club scene, then you know about the recent success of the York YMCA and Coach Michael Brooks’ swimmers.  I found this (4) great summary of his philosophy from his time at Brophy Prep.  He took many somewhat-formed thoughts right out of my head and put them down on paper in a clear, succinct, and firm way.

Here is my (5) favorite new drill of the year from Eagle Swim Team’s Scott Ward.  Swimmers love it, and it helps them with a critical skill in freestyle.

I have no idea if (6) this is a superior way to break out, but I love it as an example of outside-the-box thinking by the coaches at Tennessee.

My favorite passage I came across in my reading this year is from “The Olympian” by Brian Glanville written in 1969 (7):

I always enjoy reading Paul Yetter’s thoughts on his Create Performance blog.  This post was particularly insightful: (8) The Road to Greatness has Dips and Turns.

It has been interesting following along with Glenn Mills and Rachel Stratton-Mills as they have been on their Quest.  This article really hit home with me – (9) “Unreal Expectations.”

Jake Shellenberger wrote (10) “My 5 Top Drills for Sprint Freestyle,” a very helpful and informative post with more detail than your typical “listicle.”

What great resources did I miss?

Here is my list from 2013 and my list from 2012

 

Swim-Dryland Hybrid Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff

Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

This set combines elements of dryland with a normal swimming set.  I like this as a change-of-pace and a way to challenge our athletes that they don’t see every day. The dryland exercise comes mid-swim and throws in a bit of fatigue.  We timed the 100 all out and really got some excellent efforts.

“In & Outs” – athlete must climb completely out of the pool (both feet onto the gutter) and then climb back in.
“Press-outs”- athlete lifts himself vertically up and down parallel to the wall.  At highest point, waist is at water level.  At lowest point, water level is at mid-chest.

 

 

Stopwatch Roulette

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

This is a fun idea to try at practice someday just for variety. Write a set that can be done in any quantities like the one below.  Start a stopwatch and hand it to a swimmer.  The swimmer stops the watch randomly and whatever digit is in the hundredths place is the quantity for the first part.  Repeat for as many times as you need.

 

11 Creative Ways to Spice Up Your Swim Practice

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

  1. Have swimmers do a number of cycles rather than a certain distance.  You can do this on a rest interval or on a regular interval. For example, instead of doing 6 x 100 free on 1:15, do 6 x 50 cycles freestyle on 1:15 or 10 seconds rest. 1 cycle  = 2 strokes of free or back, 1 cycle = 1 stroke of breast or fly.
  2. Do swims or kicking for distance rather than for time.  Instead of seeing how fast you can cover a certain distance, see how far you can go in a certain amount of time.  Example set: 6 x 3:00 swim for distance on 4:00.  Descend (increase distance) 1-3 and 4-6.
  3. Do swimming “fartleks”  Have swimmers swim for a set amount of time, and change their skill, stroke, drill or speed according to instruction each time you bang a wrench on the side of the pool.  This is good for getting aerobic swimming accomplished while sprinkling in technique work or speed work.  Especially good in a large group with lots of different speeds.
  4. Leave your stopwatch at home.  Time nothing for an entire day (or longer). This can free you up to focus on the quality of the movements your athletes are making and not worry about how fast they are going.
  5. Turn the pace clock off.  This can help your athletes focus on their movements without worrying about making an interval or going a certain time.  Put everything on an approximate rest interval.
  6. If you coach in a co-ed environment, separate the boys and girls into their own lanes and have them start at opposite ends of the pool.  Watch how not having the genders interact for an entire workout changes the social dynamics of your practice.
  7. Take the lane lines out. Do a pool open water (POW) practice.
  8. Have your swimmers write the workout.  A few days ahead of time, split them into groups and ask them to come up with the sets. Give them total time, distance, intensity, or whatever instructions (or lack thereof) that you want.  This will tell you a lot about the kind of swimmers you have.
  9. Start everything from the middle of the pool. This will add more turns to your workout and cut down a bit on excessive socializing while hanging on the wall.
  10. “Jungle Workout.” Start a set. Part of the way through, give one swimmer the details for the next set (which needs to start ASAP). Repeat again partway through that set and keep repeating.  Keep them on their toes.  Once you are done giving them sets, they have to go back and do whatever remains from each uncompleted set.  This practice will be chaotic but fun, as long as you have attentive swimmers.
  11. Write three different practices… Give them fun names.  Let your athletes choose which workout they want to perform (on an individual basis).

 

21 Club

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Brian Ruffles
Head Coach & Aquatics Director
Coe College Swimming and Diving

Three Rounds of:
7 x 100 @1:10/1:05/1:00
7 x 50 @:30/:35/:40

In each round the 100s interval decrease by :05 and the 50s increase by :05.  The 50s starting interval should be challenging while the 100s are more manageable.  You can customize it in many ways.  I have done the 100s free with the 50s specially, the 100s specialty with the 50s kick, or really whatever fits the group with the time of year.  I would make sure that the last round of 100s is not the interval that is too fast for them to make as the first two rounds will take a lot out of them.  If they make the set they join the prestigious 21 club!

Cardinal and Gold 200 Race Pace Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

This set got great reviews at practice and awesome efforts. Intervals should be kept so that the set stays Aerobic, but enough rest to really get moving fast.
Please share if you like!

3x175s DESC 1-3 to best 200 best time      stroke or FR
1×125 EZ swim
4x50s @ 200 pace                                    all FR
100 EZ swim
3x175s DESC 1-3 to best 200 best time      FR or IM
1×125 EZ swim
4x50s @ 200 pace                                     stroke or IMO
100 EZ swim
3x175s DESC 1-3 to best 200 best time, all better than Round 1   stroke or FR
1×125 EZ swim
4x50s @ 200 pace                                      all FR
100 EZ swim

Patrick Marshall
Head Swim Coach
Cardinal and Gold Aquatics

 

To Swim Fast at the Meet, Swim Fast at Practice; How to Train Consistently at "Race Pace"

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
 

I have written before on this blog about using Pace Cards at practice to help swimmers accurately and consistently train at “race pace.”  Today I am sharing the Pace Cards that we use for training.  Simply type in your best times and goal times in each event and the Pace Card will show you how fast to swim for different training distances in order to be swimming at actual “race pace.” Try it out, and if you have any questions, let me know how I can help.

Click here to download the Excel file to easily create your own SCY Pace Card.

Click here for the LCM version.

Click here to download brief instructions on how to use your Pace Card.

We use these cards frequently at practice.  Click on the “race pace” label at right to see workouts that put this powerful knowledge to use.


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Masters Swim Workout

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Submitted by reader Greg Friedlander

20 minute warm up (1000 yards crawl-timed not counting laps, but it’s about the same thing, add or subtract a couple of minutes as required)
5x(200im, 100kick, 100crawl,100kick)
200 yard warm down
I do the 100’s with flippers just to get through it quicker.

 

Note that each of the 5 sets is 500 yards so you can trip down to 3000, 25000, etc just by cutting out a set. (add back in the warm down for extra 200))

 

19.5 Ways to Get Better Even When Practice Is Cancelled

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff


You have worked hard this season and don’t want your well-earned improvement to go to waste.  What can you do to get  better even though the pool is closed? 

1. Swim in front of a mirror.  Just stand there and swim slowly toward the ceiling. Pay attention to how your stroke looks.  Don’t forget to take an imaginary breath.
2. Take a nap. A little extra rest would do you some good.
3. Watch swimming videos on YouTube.  Type in Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin, or 2008 men’s 4×100 freestyle relay.  Beware of goosebumps.
4. Stretch.  From your head to your toes.
5. Drink some water.  Getting hydrated will help you at your next practice.
6. Write down your goals or take a second look at goals you have already set.  Are you on track? Do you have long-term and short-term goals?
7. Do some ab work.  Think of your favorite ab exercises.  Don’t do those.  Do the exercises that you struggle with.
8. Do some push-ups.  Start with the most you can do in 30 seconds.  Take a minute rest. Repeat several times.
9. Meditate. Just find a quiet place to sit, relax, and breathe deeply.
10. Visualize yourself performing well.  Play a movie of it in your mind with as many specific details as possible.
11. Memorize your best times.  For an extra challenge, do it all the way to the hundredth of a second for both SCY and LCM.
12. Figure out splits for your goal times, especially IMs.  Write them down in a place where you can find them later.
13. Make up a new team cheer.  Silly or serious is perfectly okay.
14. Come up with a mantra or positive affirmation to repeat to yourself behind the blocks. Example: “I am strong and fast, ready to have a blast.” Rhyming is encouraged.
15. Make a team poster for the next meet.
16. Find your national rank in your best event on www.usaswimming.org.  Make a goal to move up a certain number of spots.
17. Stretch again, this time focusing on your ankles.  Sit on your knees with the tops of your feet against the floor.
18. Do yoga.  Google “basic yoga poses” for examples.
19. Call or text a teammate and remind them about this list.
19.5 Bake your coach some cookies.  Because cookies make coaches happy.

Make sure you have signed up for our weekly e-newsletter to keep up with the best and most interesting workouts and much, much more from the Swimming Wizard blog, delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday morning.

13 Fascinating Things I Read (and one that I watched) in 2013

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Ryan Woodruff

One topic that has garnered much attention this year is safety in football.  Thomas Lake’s The Ghost of Speedy Cannon (1) provided a riveting tale probing a long-ago death on the field.  Though I have long enjoyed Rick Reilly’s writing, he can get under the skin of some readers.  His piece about the NFL Becoming a Guilty Pleasure (2) is hard to argue with.

I love reading about legendary coaches.  Perhaps none are more legendary in his sport than Dan Gable.  Wright Thompson’s incredible piece The Losses of Dan Gable (3) is even more poignant now that wrestling has won reinstatement into the Olympics.  The Book of a Coach (4) tells the story of Bill Walsh and the legacy of a coaching legend.  Soccer fan or not, if you are a coach you will find some wisdom in Eight Coaching Keys from Sir Alex Ferguson (5).

Unless you are still using dial-up internet service, you have probably heard of Seth Godin.  I highly recommend a few posts of his from this year: The Merchants of Average (6), Choosing To Be Formidable (7), and All Boats Leak (8). All three inspire me to be a better coach.

Just read this article: Two Enemies Discovering a Higher Call in Battle (9). It will renew your faith in humanity.

This article got me thinking about the technological frontiers of swimming: Mobile Athlete Monitoring – The Next Big Thing (10).  Coaches of all sports should be keeping up with Vern Gambetta and his Functional Path Training blog.  He hit the mark in Pay the Piper (11).

How Great Teachers See (12) made me ponder how I perceive my swimmers’ talents and how powerful that perception really might be.

On a personal level, a few things I came across this year made a difference in my life. Leo Babuata inspired me to aim for Living the Quiet Life (13) and Dr. Michael Greger’s powerful video Uprooting the Causes of Death convinced me to make my most profound personal change this year.

I hope you enjoyed the list.  Have a happy, healthy, and successful 2014!

 

Training with the Hawks and @ErinQuinn11

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Erin Quinn
 
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Our Hawks Team of 125 has to contend with 10 hours in a 6-lane pool that we rent out from a college.

With that constraint, we turn and obstacle into a challenge.

For instance—A crowded Monday night, and I propose a “Swim Up the Ladder” set for our Golds/Senior group.

Here’s the workout for anyone who has crowded lanes, a ton of potential and not as much time as they’d prefer!

1200 Warm-Up (Swim, Kick, Drill)
4×25 Catch-Quick Freestyle Drill
4×25 Over-the-barrel Freestyle drill
4×25 Straight-arm finishes flags-to-wall free.
6×25 free sprints with only one breath :20 seconds
6×50 FR (1-3) on :35 (4-6) on :30
3×100 FR on 1:05
100 EZ

2×25 active-balance backstroke drill
6×25 Spin-Drill (odds) Streamline BD Kick evens
6×50 BK (1-3) :40 (4-6) :35
3x100BK on 1:10
100EZ

4×75 Breaststroke Drill— Fast Hands/UnderWater/Scull/Streamline Kick
6×50 BreastStroke (1-3) :45 (4-6) :40
3×100 Breast on 1:30
100EZ

2×25 one-arm fly.
2×25 3,3,3 Fly
6×25 Fly Sprints on :40 sec only one breath
2x100FLY from the blocks in heats.
100EZ

Relays!

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Hawks Swimming Beast Mode ON

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Erin Quinn
Hawks Swimming
Plate, NY
 
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After returning from a 3-day District Championship Meet, swimmers were given a recovery practice Monday. Today, Tuesday 7/23 it was Beast-Mode On as we have less than one-half weeks to Speedoes and 2 weeks until Eastern Zones. Before the taper begins, I wanted one last, hard practice. Let’s just say there wasn’t much talking. There was a lot of heavy-breathing and mumbling. I was proud of how hard they worked. #HAWKSNATION 

1300 meter warm-up
300FR
200IM kick
200BK (100 one-arm 100 whole stroke)
100 skull no kick
100 three strokes of breast under water, 2 above
4×50 Breast stroke (1 pullout, 2 pullouts, 3 pullouts 4 pullouts)
4×50 five strokes of Butterfly no breath, 10 strokes of free–repeat

400IM under 6 minutes
150 cool-down
3x100FR on 1:20
3x100BK on 1:30
400IM faster than first
150 cool-down
3×100 Breast on 1:45
3x100IM on 1:30
400IM all out
200 cool down

Total Meters: 4200

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Friday Beast Day with the Hawks and @ErinQuinn11

Posted on by rdwoodruff



There is not TGIF for Hawks Swimmers. Gearing up for LCM I went for Friday, #BeastDay and put our swimmers to work with a lot of race-paced swimming. They threw it down.

1400 yrd Warm-up (Swim, Kick, Drill all strokes)

800FR for time (Goal: go under the time assigned and negative split)

200EZ recovery swim

8×25 sprint body dolphin kick on back in streamline :30 sec

6×100 BK Descend 1-3 (1:15) 4-6 (1:10) the last three under 1:05 and descending!

3x200IM Descend on 2:20

Challenge: If 2 of our Hawks Backstrokers could swim within 4 seconds of their PB we would scrap the 200IMs

They did it!

6x50FR 1-3 descend :35 4-6 descend :30

8×75 IM Order Under/Kick/Sprint + 15 sec of vertical kick

Cool down–Relays!

Happy Friday!

@ErinQuinn11

CoachErin@Hawksswimming.org
www.Hawksswimming.org

We Thrived in this Workout(LCM)

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Ryan Woodruff
 

We have limited long course practice time until school gets out, so we tend to make the most out of the time we get in LCM.  Here is what we did today.

LCM
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Standard Warmup
4 x 400 w Tempo trainers @ 1:00 rest
#1 4 cycles swim at tempo/10 cycles smooth swim or drill
#2 6/8
#3 8/6
#4 10/4

300 easy swim

Main set:  prime strokes as listed above
10x
2 x 50 @ 1:10 fast
1x 50 fast + 1 x 50 easy @3:00
400 sloppy recovery
4 x 400 @ 1:00 rest with tempo trainers
1 each stroke in reverse IM order
:30 smooth/:10 underwater dolphin or pullouts/:20/:10/:10/:10
2x
3 x 75 fast kick for time + 25 easy @ 2:30
100 easy swim @ 2:00
Warm down

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"The Guessing Game"

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Ryan Woodruff,  Lynchburg YMCA

This set is useful for helping distance freestylers refine a sense of pace.

? x 100 freestyle @ coach’s send off

Continue until you achieve 3 points.

Earn 1 point by guessing your time correctly within .5 seconds
Earn 2 points by guessing your time exactly to the tenth of a second
Earn 3 points by guessing your time exactly to the hundredth of a second

Swimmers may swim whatever speed they wish.

I like to use the Guessing Game during taper, typically at the end of practice. Once a swimmer achieves his three points, he warms down and is done with practice.

Tip: Be sure to turn off your pace clock or have the swimmers turn away from the clock when you send them off. You don’t want them looking at it – there won’t be a pace clock at the meet!

This set was originally published here 12/3/2009.  Visit our archives for more excellent training sets and ideas.
 

Learning Easy Speed

Posted on by rdwoodruff
Nick Rice
Head Swim Coach
North Oakland Waves (NOW)
 
I have been having an issue lately with our swimmers over swimming their first 50 of 100s and under-swimming the middle portion of their races so I came up with a set that I think helps them learn how to control the first 50 of a race with speed but continue to push through the second half.  I am very excited to see how this training will effect our swims at our upcoming meets:
The First Set is focused on the 100 (but this also helps set up how to succeed on the 2nd set):
1×100 @ 1:30-2:00 BT +10-15%
2×50 @ :45-1:00
   1st 50:  Half of previous 100 (Not first 50 time of previous 100)
   2nd 50:  Drop :03-:05
4×25 @ :20-:30
  1 & 2:  Half of 2nd 50 Time
  3 & 4:  Drop :02-:04
The Second set is Focused on the 200
1×200 @ 3:00-3:30 BT +10%
2×100 @ 1:30-1:45
   1st 100:  Half of previous 200 (Try to Negative Split)
   2nd 100:  Drop :05
4×50 @ :45-1:00
   1 & 2:  Half of 2nd 100 Speed
   3 & 4:  Drop :30-:05
As we go through the set I like to remind the kids that adrenaline will help carry them on the first segment of their race and that they can take the time to really focus on their stroke mechanics and catch point, then use the drop segment to play with an increased tempo.  I really like to emphasize this on the first set so when we get to the 200 set they can properly swim the 1st negative split 100.

I really enjoy your site and have really found quite a few of the workouts inspirational and thought I would try to contribute.  Thanks for all the sharing.

@CSCSwimcoach ‘s 150s Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Chris Plumb
Editor’s Note: This set was previously published here at The Swimming Wizard. It uses Streamline Sticks at a distance of about 5 yards.

2 x 7 x 150

The 150 is always on a total of 2:00

#1: 50 on :30 100 on 1:30
#2: 50 on :35 100 on 1:25
#3: 50 on :40 100 on 1:20
#4: 50 on :45 100 on 1:15
#5: 50 on :50 100 on 1:10
#6: 50 on :55 100 on 1:05
#7: 50 on :60 100 on 1:00
Rest :60
For the second round, go backwards through set, starting with 100 on 1:00 etc.

 

Today’s Breaststroke Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff

We performed the set below with our sectional-level breaststroke group.  There are essentially two parts to the set.  The first part (above the dotted line) stresses technique with a LONG stroke and gradually builds to an up-tempo stroke at the end of the 100s.  During this first part, “TT” stands for the Finis Tempo Trainer Pro which we use on a regular basis.  Using mode 1, we have it set at 4.00, meaning the swimmer initiates a stroke once every 4 seconds.  This is usually an uncomfortably long time to glide for our swimmers (a good thing!).  We bring the TT down to 3.00 for the 2 x 150 and then to 2.00 on the 100s and have the swimmers shoot for 2 strokes during the 2.00 seconds in the last 10-15 yards of each 100.  This combination of technique and tempo sets them up well for the second part of the set.

In the second part (below the dotted line), we are essentially challenging our swimmers in two ways on two sets of 6 x 100s.  The first set challenges the efficiency of their underwater pullouts and breath-holding ability.  The second set of 6 x 100 just challenges their endurance and the integrity of their stroke.  The goal is simply to make all of the intervals and maintain stroke technique.

1 x 300 done as 75 br/25 free B5 @:20 rest  with TT set @4.00
2 x 150 done as 50 br/25 free B5 @:20 rest with TT set @3.00
3 x 100  50 br with TT@2.00/50 br build to 2 cycles per beep (1 per 1.00)
—————————–
6 x 100 @1:30
   2 with 1 pullout descend
   2 with 2 pullouts descend and not slower than first two
   2 with 3 pullouts descend and not slower than first four
200 easy backstroke @4:00
6 x 100 breaststroke swim
   2@1:25
   2@1:20
   2@1:15 Make it!

 

Get In Yo Face Race Pace

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Ryan Woodruff

After an extended warmup, we performed the following set to work on maintaining our race pace under fatigue.  We are quite skilled at repeating race-pace swimming for repeat 50s.  Throwing in the 100 fast swim (where we asked swimmers to approach P200) more closely mimicked actual race-like fatigue.  We saw some excellent results, particularly on the third round.

SCY

4 x 50 at P200 @1:00
1 x 100 all out @1:40
300 easy
 
2 x 50 at P200 @1:00
1 x 100 all out @1:40
2 x 50 at P200 @1:00
300 easy
 
1 x 100 all out @1:40
4 x 50 at P200 @1:00
300 easy
 

12 Fascinating Things I Read in 2012

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Ryan Woodruff

Not a workout, but some resources especially for coaches that I came across this year…

1. Former Texas A & M Football Coach Mike Sherman’s Letter To Texas High School Football Coaches by Chris Brown This is an incredible piece of writing that makes me think about why I coach.

2. The Surfer’s Guide to Taking Risks by Srinivas Rao Some great advice in the context of a beautiful sport.

3. Quantum Thinking When Coaching Swimmers by Jonty Skinner, Beijing Blog. Skinner might be on the frontier (fringe?) of modern thought on swim training and I find his ideas curiously stimulating.

4. The Toughest Coach There Ever Was by Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated A must-read for coaches in any sport.

5. The Greatest Assistant Coaching Article Ever Written by Wayne Goldsmith. This boldly titled article delivers on its promise.  I wish I had read this 10 years ago.

6. High Volume or High Velocity by Paul Yetter, Developing The Champion Within Blog. Yetter answers one of swimming’s longest-standing debates with the best answer I have heard yet.

7. Did You See The Gorilla? An Interview with Psychologist Daniel Simons by David DiSalvo: The psychology behind this is fascinating.

8. The Fifty-Nine Story Crisis: A Lesson in Professional Behavior: A powerful lesson on admitting your mistakes.

9. Standing Near Greatness by Ashley Harrell: Find out what it is like to be Tim Tebow’s teammate and Urban Meyer’s doormat.

10. Marathon Man Kip Litton is a Fraud by Mark Singer: You won’t believe the lengths this guy went to…

11. You are Not Lazy, and Still You Are an Idler by Abraham Lincoln from Letters-of-Note blog: Strong words of advice from our nation’s greatest President.

12. Rich Thompson’s Pact With Baseball by Johnette Howard, ESPN.com: An inspiring story of faith, persistence, and dreams come true.

And one last memorable tidbit, from the “Faces In the Crowd: Coaches’ Edition” in Sports Illustrated:

 

How To Finish Like a Champ

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff

The finish is among the least frequently practiced skills in our sport, in my observation. This drill serves as a mini-progression to help swimmers adjust to the presence of the wall appropriately during a finish, thus practicing for that gold medal moment.

We did this as a set of 16 x 50, 6 done like phase 1, 6 in phase 2, and the final 4 in phase 3. Here’s the progression.

Phase 1
At the conclusion of the 50, the swimmer takes his last stroke at the backstroke flags and then positions his body for the finish, kicking strong all the way to an extended touch.


Phase 2
Same idea as the first phase, just move everything closer to the wall. Take the last stroke halfway between the flags and the wall. Make sure the swimmer is paying close attention to the spacing with the wall.

Phase 3
Now do an all-out finish, touching with the body at maximum length. The swimmer should touch with the fingertips. With the wall-judging ability honed in phases 1 and 2, the swimmer should be able to time his finish very precisely.

Try this progression for any stroke. You never know when your finish will make the difference between gold and silver!

Thank you to Heath Hudgins (the swimmer in the videos) for being a willing example.

Distance Swimmer’s Delight

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff

We did the following set after about 3,000 yards of warmup, breathing pattern, and technique work.  The efforts were excellent, with swimmers totaling times that were 20-30 seconds faster than their best mile, 10-20 seconds faster than their best 1,000 and 5-10 seconds faster than their best 500.  Enjoy!

Part 1: Broken Mile (all swims finish with a turn or “foot-touch”)
25 @:10 rest
50 @:10 rest
75 @:10 rest
100 @:10 rest
125 @:20 rest
150 @:20 rest
175 @:20 rest
200 @:20 rest
175 @:20 rest
150 @:20 rest
125 @:20 rest
100 @:10 rest
75 @:10 rest
50 @:10 rest
25 @:30 rest
Dive 50 to a hand touch
Take overall time and subtract 4:00 to get total swimming time for the broken 1,650 free

500 easy swim @ 8:00

Broken 1,000 free (all swims finish with a turn or “foot-touch”)
50 @:10 rest
100 @:10 rest
150 @:10 rest
200 @:20 rest
200 @:20 rest
150 @:20 rest
100 @:30 rest
Dive 50 to a hand touch
Take overall time and subtract 2:00 to get total swimming time for the broken 1,000

500 easy swim @ 8:00

Broken 500 free
Dive 25 @:10 rest
50 @:10 rest
75 @:10 rest
100 @:10 rest
100 @:20 rest
75 @:20 rest
50 @:20 rest
25
Take overall time and subtract 1:30 to get total swimming time for the broken 500

500 easy swim @ 8:00

See the follow-up to this set here.