Odd Fly Set

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCM

We did this one recently for some good butterfly work on a day when we had more swimmers present than could train effectively in the space available. We split into two groups – one group would do the swimming set while the other group did dryland set on the deck, and then they switched. The dryland exercises always takes less time, so that allows for some rest before starting the next fly set.

Middle Distance Free with NOVA of Virginia

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Alex Muni, NOVA Senior Assistant.

LCM

Today’s focus was threefold: we worked on steady-state cruising, negative pacing, and descending. All the 50s were on :45 (LCM) and served as active recovery while maintaining a moderate heart rate. As the number of descending 100s increased, so did the rest—allowing swimmers to actually achieve a descending effort. 

Since negative splitting is essentially an even split, I decided to go all in on fractions and include 3/4 and 2/3 splits as well. Additionally, the longer straight swims were on a consistent interval base of 1:30. 

We wrapped up with a broken 500, with the goal of holding a near-200 effort throughout—not necessarily an all-out sprint, but also not paced like a typical 400/500/800 distance swim. It was challenging, but it kept them moving and got them in a good training rhythm.

Freestyle Negative Split and Descend

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA.

SCY.

This isn’t the most creative set ever, but it gets the job done for a cool 4,000 yds of aerobic work. The instructions for our crew were to negative split the long swim, and then make both of the shorter swims faster than half of the long swim. The intervals listed represent the A interval for our group, on a 1:10 per 100 base.

You Gotta Eat Your Veggies

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

Some training just has to be done. Because it is good for you. Even if you don’t love it.

Today’s set is in 2 parts. The first part is primarily freestyle, and the 2nd part is primarily IM. At the end of each round we did some open-ended scull/swim by 25, which allows for some recovery and re-grouping.

JMI = Just make it

FPA = Fastest Possible Average

🥦🥬🌽🥕🍅🥦🌽🫑🌶️🥒🥕

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.