Neil Edwards
Plymouth Leander Swim Club
Not the 12 Days of Christmas!
Keith Haynes
Head Coach
Caradon Swimming Club
Here is a session for any coaches looking for something different to the 12 days of Christmas!
Friday 23rd December 2016 – Performance
Keith’s Christmas Carol Session
IM – 1 x 800 Reverse IM – fly as 3 Left, 3 Right, 3 Full
Not F/S – 1 x 200 Choice (Not F/S)
Tumbles – 6 x 20m Max Speed Tumbles from and too 10m
Hard – 4 x 100 Choice All Out Max Effort on 2.00
Easy Swim – 1 x 200 Easy as 50 BK – 50 F/S – 50 Kick – 50 F/S
BK and BR/S – 4 x 75 as 1. 75 BK, 2. 50 BK – 25 BR/S, 3. 25 BK – 50 BR/S, 4. 75 BR/S on 1.30
Long Distance – 1 x 800 F/S + Paddles
Easy Swim – 1 x 150 Easy as 50 BK – 50 F/S – 50 Kick
Arms Only – 4 x 50 F/S Pull breathing 1. 3/3, 2. 3/5, 3. 3/7, 4. 3/ No Breathing on 60
Kick – 8 x 25 Fast Kick + Fins on 40
Medley Relay – (1 x) 4 x 50 Medley Relay
IM – 2 x Suicide IM’s as 25 Fly on 28, 25 BK on 26, 25 BR/S on 24, 25 F/S on 22
Decsend – 4 x 75 F/S Descend 1 – 4 on 1.30
Winning – N x 25 Races, once you win a race you get to rest!
IM – 1 x 300 IM
No. 1 – 1 x 200 No. 1 (Not F/S) distance per stroke
Two Handed Turns – (2 x) 4 x 20m as 1. Fly, 2. Fly – BK, 3. BR/S, 4. BR/S – F/S from and too 10m
Easy Swim – 1 x 100 Choice Easy
Recovery – 1 x 250 as 50 BK – 50 F/S – 50 DA BK – 50 F/S – 50 BK
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Christmas Tree Set from Coach Kevin Harrod
Kevin Harrod
Solon Stars Swim Team
The Cookie Set
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
We did this set yesterday. Our goal today was to get in some quality fast swims of all strokes. We train primarily in a SCM pool, so it is sometimes a challenge to relate training times to SCY race times. Today’s set was an attempt to do that and it worked very well.
7 x 85m from a start @ 7:00
– timed to head crossing the line.
– first four swims had to be of athlete’s best 100 yard event
– last three were choice
– we left one lane open for warm-down between swims
– Goal: Beat your best 100 yard time. In order to meet this goal, athletes had to swim at around 93% of race pace, as 85m is about 93 yards. I estimated that this would be a difficult challenge for seven consecutive swims that began after we had already been practicing for an hour.
We had 19 people at practice, which meant there were 133 total swims. As a group incentive, I promised the swimmers that if they beat their best times in at least 80 of the 133 swims, my wife would bake them cookies for after our Christmas Eve morning practice this Saturday.
They started out a bit behind pace to make the 80 mark on the first round, but came on strong in rounds 2 through 4 to achieve the group incentive with 1 round to go.
Fire up the oven, honey!
Olympian’s Favorites with Coach Gwynn Harrison
Gwynn Harrison
Head Coach
Bridgewater College, VA
Finally, we did an ‘Olympians’ favorite set day (I only modified it a bit. Though repeated it less times with our distance group than Katie Ledecky does!!!!!)
Stroke (Missy Franklin): 2600 Swim Series
3 x 100 FS @ RED on 1:20, 1:25, 130
1x 100 Easy – Regroup
10 x 25 FLY – Descend 1-4, 6-9 to BLUE / 5&10 easy on :35
3 x 100 IM @ RED on 1:35, 1:40, 1:45
1x 100 Easy – Regroup
10 x 25 Back – Descend 1-4, 6-9 to BLUE / 5&10 easy on :35
3 x 100 FS@ RED on 1:35, 1:40, 1:45
1x 100 Easy
10 x 25 Breast – Des. 1-4, 6-9 to BLUE / 5&10 easy on :40
3 x 100 IM @ RED on 1:35, 1:40, 1:45
1x 100 Easy – Regroup
10 x 25 FS – ALT Easy / Sprint NO BREATH! :35
Distance: (Katie Ledecky) 2 x 1200 Swim Series
200 @ PINK
3 x 150 Descend to RED
2 x 100 @ RED
50 Easy
3 x 50 Race Pace +tempo on :50
50 Easy
Sprint (Alexander Popov) 3 x 650 Swim series
150 Swim – Breathing 4, 6
4x 75 – 4, 8, 12, 16 TEMPO Strokes
4 x 25 – Alt SPRINT kick w/ No breath
1 x 50 Sprint 25 to feet from dive TEMPO!
50 easy
200 focus with Coach Brad Herndon
Brad Herndon
Head Coach
Greensboro Community YMCA
High Performance Based Main Set/Practice
Distance Focus = 200
Part I. Odd Rounds Free, Even Rounds Stroke 44 min
8x
4 x 25’s Drill, Build, or Technique Work (set up for 200 fast)
1 x 75 Fast (Feel is of the first 75 of a 200, kids go ALL OUT)
1 x 100 Fast (Building legs while maintaining core strength, feel is of the middle 100, kids go ALL OUT)
1 x 75 (1 x 25 ALL OUT and finish, go straight into a 50 EZ)
Odd Rounds FREE :25/:50/1:10/1:20 (5 min)
Even Rounds STROKE/IM :30/1:10/1:20/1:30 (6 min)
Periodically we will get times on the broken 200’s in total as best we can…swimmers you are to know this as well if asked!
Part II. 20-minute Follow-Up/ Partner Dryland/Swim: 24 min
Partner-up (getting half OFF deck, and half OUT of the water): One swimmer swims a 100, this is ALWAYS done as an EZ first 50, then an ALL OUT SPRINT second 50, to mimic 2nd, 3rd, and 4th 50’s at 200 GOAL Pace, but go ALL OUT. As your partner swims, you do dryland on deck which ranges from sit-ups/planks/jump rope/push-ups/med ball tosses/med ball slams. Switch for 20 minutes in duration, all are to get in at least 6 x100’s apiece, let’s see who can get as many or more than 8 x 100’s.
Part III. Culmination: 8 min
1 x 200 ALL OUT in your specialty 200 event, individually in heats. One per lane, teammates will give you your 100 splits!
The Bridgewater 6 x 6
Gwynn Harrison
Head Coach
Bridgewater College, VA
6 sets of 6 x 50 – All on 1:00 / 1:10 / 1:15) Drill / Swim
1 x 50 FAST …… 5 x 50 (25 Drill – 25 easy, form)
2 x 50 FAST……4 x 50 – 1 easy / (3 25 Drill – 25 easy, form)
3 x 50 FAST ….3 x 50 – 1 easy / (2 25 Drill – 25 easy, form)
4 x 50 FAST…..2 x 50 1 easy / (1 25 Drill – 25 easy, form)
5 x 50 FAST….. 1 x 50 Easy
6 x 50 FAST
****Maintain times as the repeats increase
Monday Night Kick Set
The Puzzle Set
Richard Heselton
Lead Disability Coach
Harrogate
I created this set to encourage better use of the clock and board. Get it wrong and there’s a lot of tidying
Wu 400 as 100fr 100 bck 100brs 100 im
Main
5×25 Mono fin 0:40
75 fr 6 beat kick 1:45
5×75 fr kick Fins and snorkel 1:40
4×25 Mono Fin on Back 0:45
175 fr 3:30
5×25 Brest kick with board 0:45
Set x 2
If set is done correctly then equipment will land at deep end and then back at shallow end. Get it wrong and there is a long walk tidying up or another punishment of your choice
Gordy’s Fly Set
Gordy Westerberg
I gave this set to my Junior National level girl flyer on Wednesday…
3 Rounds
200 Fly on 3:30 (dsend by rounds)
2 x 100 Fly on 1:50 (#1 faster than 1/2 of 200, #2 faster than #1)
4 x 50 on 1:00 (Best Average)
E50 Free
So what we looked for was on:
Round 1 – average faster than 2nd 50 of 200 (30.75 was goal and she averaged 31.1)
Round 2 – faster than 3rd 50 of 200 (31.75 and she averaged 31.54)
Round 3 – faster than last 50 of 200 (32.6 and she averaged 31.1)
Wolfpack Speed & Power Camp; A "Symphony of Chaos and Freakishly Fast Swimming"
A Review by Ryan Woodruff
I spent this past weekend in Raleigh at the Wolfpack Speed & Power Camp, hoping to soak up some knowledge and tips from Coach Todd DeSorbo and the NC State coaching staff. The camp was billed as “1.5 days of roaring explosiveness” and DeSorbo kicked it off by describing Wolfpack practice as “literally organized chaos.” Both seemingly hyperbolic descriptions turned out to be surprisingly accurate.
Part training session and part coaching clinic, the focus was totally on sprint freestyle (as advertised). Swimmers 13 & over were taught the drills, technical philosophy, and training philosophy that the Wolfpack has employed over the last 4+ years as they dramatically ascended the NCAA ranks. DeSorbo, Bobby Guntoro, and the rest of the staff were very interactive with the campers, who got a compressed experience of what it’s like to train in the sprint group at NC State.
As a coach, I loved learning the innovative drills, unique philosophy, and weekly training plan. But the thing that made the most impact on me is how much this staff absolutely LOVES to coach. Their energy and enthusiasm on deck is contagious. After a few other coaches and I watched the campers run through their drills, we stayed and observed the college team’s practice. After a brief team meeting, the beats started pumping and speed was all over the place — it was a symphony of chaos and freakishly fast swimming. 24 hours later I am still shaking my head about how intense, fun, and alive that workout was.
On the second day of camp, swimmers got to train with Power Racks, Power Towers, and Drag Sox, using the same protocols that DeSorbo has concocted for the likes of recent Short Course 100 freestyle World Champion Simonas Bilis and Olympic Gold medalist Ryan Held. The coaches got to observe a collegiate weightlifting session and had a technical Q & A with sprint whisperer Guntoro. Camp concluded with the Raleigh Rage Shootout, an exciting tournament-style 50 free competition.
I came away with a ton of new ideas and concepts to ponder, and at a $150 price tag, the camp was a bargain. If I can manage to incorporate even a fraction of what I learned into my program, my swimmers will be better for it. Next year, I plan to encourage my swimmers to attend and would 100% recommend the camp to any coach interested in maximizing the sprinting ability of his athletes.
See SwimSprint.com for more information.
Fly Set with Relays (Yay!) That Burned (Double Yay!)
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
Three-person relay teams made this a set that burned. On the 1st round the relay required 10m underwater kick off the wall. The 2nd round required 12.5m off the wall. 3rd round required no breath in the last 10m of each 25.
Challenging Set for Back or Breast.
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
The day we performed this set, we had only 2 swimmers per lane, which allowed us to have very individualized intervals. We did this set in a SCM pool (our normal training location) using our SCY best times. Most of our swimmers were able to make their goal by 7-8 seconds and were able to push themselves pretty hard on short rest. This set could be used for freestyle or butterfly as well, we were just looking for some back and breast work.
Wednesday’s Freestyle Set
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
IM Transitions
Fly, Fly, and More Fly
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
Kick Set #4,149
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
This kick set helped us get some aerobic descending kick accomplished and also allowed us to work on our underwater kicking on the 8 x 25 set. The cumulative fatigue from the kick set and the shifting interval on the 25s made it progressively more challenging.
BOOK REVIEW: "Power & Towers & Swimming: The Guide" by Jake Shellenberger, Head Coach at Liberty University
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
This past summer I had the opportunity to share the pool deck with Jake Shellenberger, Head Swim Coach at Liberty University as his squad and mine both rented time at our local outdoor 50m pool. I would occasionally pick his brain on training, and we had many interesting discussions on a variety of topics, so you can imagine my eagerness when he told me he was putting together a book.
His recently completed “Power & Towers & Swimming: The Guide” is a rich, detailed book on how to use some of what he deems the most valuable “toys” a swim coach has: Power Towers and Power Racks. Shellenberger explains his power-based training philosophy that crystallized during his time as sprint coach at Penn State and during a particularly formative summer as an understudy at Frank Busch and Rick DeMont’s 2007 Arizona squad that would go on to win double NCAA Championships the following spring. Shellenberger has brought that learning to bear since 2009 at Liberty with much success, and distills it very transparently and extensively in this book.
His very organized thought process is reflected in the 11-chapter construction of the book. He leaves no stone unturned in outlining how to make make Power a part of the training for EVERY swimmer on your squad, regardless of distance or stroke orientation. At Liberty, Shellenberger and his Assistant Coach Jessica Barnes have every swimmer train on the Towers multiple times per week, and the book provides many real-world examples of how it has helped his swimmers improve. They don’t just do short 25 yard blasts with the Towers, but plenty of drilling, kicking, and other power-based training, each of which has its own devoted chapter. The book doesn’t just explain what they do, it gives exact sets that you can use directly or adapt for your team.
As a club coach with a background developing swimmers with a hearty dose of training, I expected “Power & Towers & Swimming” to be in the vein of much of the recent USRPT dogma. I was pleased to find Shellenberger’s treatise much more nuanced than I anticipated. His examples and distilled wisdom were extremely valuable and thought provoking, and have made a significant impact on my thought processes about how I train my swimmers.
Regardless of training philosophy, this book will have coaches pondering new ways to help swimmers get better, and is a MUST for every smart swim coach’s library.
Buy “Power & Towers & Swimming: The Guide” here.
Read Coach Shellenberger’s blog here.
Follow Coach Shellenberger on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Liberty Swimming and Diving here
Fly Set for Age Groupers – the "No Butter-Struggle Set"
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
One difficult aspect of having young age group swimmers train butterfly is that their technique often deteriorates from beginning to end of a 25. It becomes what I heard one coach call “butter-struggle” instead of butterfly, a situation that is a recipe for bad habits to form. Below is a set that could be repeated over the course of a season to help swimmers maintain their technique while they gradually increase their fitness and the amount of fly they swim.
6 x 100 @ Interval that gives approximately 20-30 seconds rest
On #1 and #2 – the first 3 cycles off the wall are fly, then go easy free the rest of the length
On #3 and #4 – the first 4 cycles off the wall are fly, then go easy free
On #5 and #6 – the first 5 cycles off the wall are fly, then go easy free
1 x 50 fast fly from dive (to measure progress from one repetition of the set to the next)
A week or two later, the set could be adjusted to 4, 5, and 6 cycles. A week or two after that, the set could be adjusted to 5, 6, and 7 cycles, and so on. The interval could also be adjusted harder or easier, depending on how they seem to be adapting.
For even better results – include a required number of dolphin kicks off the wall (though I suggest you keep this constant so as not to give them too many numbers to keep in their head.
Another option — have the remainder of the 25 after the fly strokes be dolphin kick on the back instead of easy free to prevent sloppy freestyle from happening.
Dryland Descend Fartlek Set
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
3 x 9:00 continuous @ 10:30
50 freestyle smooth breathing every 3
10 squats
50 freestyle from dive @ ~P200 +2
5 push-ups
50 freestyle from dive all out
3 in & outs (climb out of pool, hop back in)
Do as many rounds as possible in 9:00
2nd 9:00 – swimmers do br or fly
3rd 9:00 – swimmers do backstroke
Resistance Kick Set
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
This kick set was for a group of very mixed kicking abilities. The 200/175/150 allowed them to adjust based on their speed. People doing the 175 did a 150 plus halfway down and back. The 4 x 25 provided some resistance leg work and they always enjoy pushing each other around.
Simple yet effective bucket set
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
Freestyle P1000 Set
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
The purpose of today’s set was maintaining our fitness and sharpening our sense of race pace between taper meets.
This one was interesting and went well. Plenty o’ freestyle.
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
The “rebound kicking” is kicking into the wall and then pushing off of it immediately with the hands, and repeating that process four times.
Kick set
Turn Work
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
In my opinion, spending time “working on turns” is wasteful when it just involves starting from mid-pool and “doing turns.” I prefer to do something more like the following set, intended for one of our freestylers who has been having a difficult time with getting the approach to the wall right.
9 x 100 @ 3:00 from dive
#1-3 80% effort (no higher) with maximum focus on approaching/attacking the wall, getting an excellent pushoff and streamline
#4-6 same as 1-3 but at 90% effort (only if #1-3 were completed satisfactorily)
#7-9 100 % effort, same level of excellence expected on turns. If #4-6 were not done well, these last three are still done at 90%
Breaststroke Set #4,038
Groovin’ that Pace
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
I had a lone swimmer do this set in a 25m pool recently on her last day before beginning taper. The idea was for her to get into a groove with her 500 free race pace and be able to repeat it over and over again. Seemed to work well as most of the timed 50s were about 0.8-1.0 faster than her “best time” pace and near her goal pace. While I didn’t want it to feel extremely difficult, she seemed challenged and performed well and fairly consistently.
40 x 50
repeating the following set of ten for 4 rounds
1 at P500 @ 1:00
1 easy free @ :50
2 at P500 @ 1:00
1 easy free @ :50
3 at P500 @ 1:00
2 easy free @ :50
She got a bit of rest on the 500 pace 50s, while the recovery 50s only provided 6-9 seconds of rest on the wall before pushing off on the next one.
Long and fast. Short and fast.
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
Aerobic Back End Set with Coach Andy Figgins of Scotland
Coach Andy Figgins
East Kilbride Swim Team
Scotland
A bit of return speed/back end speed for form strokers and freestylers. One of my favourite sets. I like the increase in intensity as the aerobic portion gets smaller. This set is done in long course meters by my squad of swimmers 14-17 years old.
Distance Stroke Group Freestyle Group
1,000 Always last 100 750 aerobic free + 250 at 1500 speed
900 at 200 return speed 700 + 200 at 800 speed
800 650 + 150 at 400 speed
700 600 + 100 at 200 speed
600 550 + 50 at 100 speed
500 250 + 250 at 1500 speed
400 200 + 200 at 800 speed
300 150 + 150 at 400 speed
200 100 + 100 at 200 speed
100 100 at 200 speed
Stroke group interval was 1:30 per 100 from 1,000 down to 600, 1:35 per 100 from 500 down to 100
Freestyle group interval was 1:30 per 100 the whole way
The Swimming Wizard 