Freestyle Pacing and Control

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Coach Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCY

This set was seeking a very specific pattern of pacing on each 600, as indicated by the line graph for each one. Failure to split it correctly meant repeating that 600. To interpret…
1 – 300 at a consistent pace, 300 at a faster pace, also consistent
2 – 3 x 200 descend, each one at a consistent pace
3 – 2 sets of 3 x 100 descending
4 – 4 x 100 descend + 200 fast and consistent
5 – 3 x 100 descend + 300 fast and consistent
6 – 2 x 100 descend + 400 fast and consistent
The second picture shows how it turned out for our swimmer, with splits written next to each graph. We had to do the first 600 twice due to some early set rusty-ness. Splits for the first of those two are not included.

I.M. Finisher

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Coach Heath Grishaw, Liberty University.

“Had a great 200IM practice with the team… I loved the finisher. Essentially a broken 400IM minus a 25 FL and 25 BR. Wanted to see where they might be once you minus the 1:00 worth of rest from the time they go. And then you could easily add the missing 25’s pace into the time to give the hypothetical 400 IM.

Finisher: I put the set on a rest based to help get the guys into a that feeling of the race once they reached the 1×75 BR and 125 FR. Had multiple guys push 1:10 at the end for the 125 and one pushed a 1:08. Had two Pre-Sets before I sent them into this.”

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. 

Creating an Automated Starting System for Practice

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Ryan Woodruff

Several years ago, I was coaching between 12 and 20 swimmers at practice by myself, and I was looking for a way to time a series of 25s off the blocks. I wanted a system that could provide an audible “take your marks” command followed by a starting beep and repeat exactly 10.00 seconds apart. This would allow me to stand at the opposite end of the pool and accurately time the swimmers coming to the wall without having to verbally start each successive group. Below are the instructions for you to replicate the system I created.

I used a free iPhone app, a Bluetooth speaker, and my iPhone to create a system to make me a more efficient and accurate coach when we do quality sets.

First — the app. It is called IntervalTimer and is available for free in the iPhone App Store. I don’t know if it also exists for Android.

Next, I got a Bluetooth Speaker. There a lot of options available. I used the Ion Pathfinder Rugged Bluetooth Portable Speaker and set it where it won’t get wet. If you get a waterproof one, it works to set it between the starting blocks. My speaker was able to connect to my phone from over 50m away, which was helpful for long course season.

In the app, I created a timer using the HIIT template. I created 2 intervals – one called “Go” and one called “Take Your Mark.” I also chose to do 3 sets (you can choose whatever number you like), toggled “Repeat” to ON, and set it for “x100”. This creates a loop that would do starts for 50 minutes non-stop, more than long enough for most of our quality sets. Make sure you have all the settings as I have it pictured.

When setting up “Go”, and “Take Your Mark,” I set the sound settings as pictured below.

These settings show a countdown from :08 to :00, at which time the app says “Take your marks” and two seconds later sounds a loud “ding” sound.

A few final tips for usage:

  • Make sure you are connected to speaker via Bluetooth and that your phone maintains a clean line-of-sight to the speaker.
  • When you start the timer, it takes about a second for the app to begin. This is only important if you are syncing it up to your pace clock – just hit start when your pace clock says XX:X9.
  • Be sure to set your phone on “Do Not Disturb” to avoid any awkward phone calls that disrupt your timer.
  • I DO NOT RECOMMEND USING THIS SYSTEM WITH 12 & UNDERS. Make sure that all swimmers understand that if they dive in and their goggles come off, they should not stop — there is another swimmer coming 10 seconds later. MAKE SURE ALL SWIMMERS UNDERSTAND THE SET AND HOW TO SAFELY USE THIS SYSTEM.

If you use this system and have any questions or feedback, please let me know at swimmingwizard@gmail.com.

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!

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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

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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.

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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.