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.

Infinity 50s

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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

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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)

Quick Vertical Kick

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

Vertical kicking works great in our 9-ft deep end. :30 is done with three arms across the chest. :20 done with hands out of the water. :10 done in a streamline position. Blast-offs involve sinking to the bottom and then rocketing through the surface as high as possible. Hit the 25 underwater dolphin kick with as much effort as possible.

Push Your Limits 75s

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCM

This was a solid quality set for us recently. Swimmers were instructed to pick a stroke and stick with it for all 7x 75s of a round. We did this in short course meters — if we were doing it in short course yards I probably would cut the intervals down to 1:10 or 1:15. The 1:20 gave most our swimmers between :25 and :40 rest on each 75. The challenge is to hold your time as the repeats increase and then go even faster off the blocks in the last one.