A Recipe for Technical Change

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

I have been pondering recently how to best help my athletes make technical changes.  Below are the ingredients that I have come up with in order to make this possible.  I find it helpful to consider these when asking an athlete to change his or technique.  If it seems to be a struggle, it is likely one of these is missing.

A photo posted by SwimmingWizard (@swimmingwizard) on Nov 10, 2016 at 8:00pm PST

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Group Goal 75s

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

This was a good motivating set for our group at the end of an arduous practice.

? x (75 at P200 +25 ez) @ 2:30

75s are timed to the feet.  We used our pace cards to determine Goal and Best Time 75 pace for 200 events.  If swimmer achieved Goal 75 time, he scored 2 points for the team.  If he achieved Best Time pace, he scored only 1 point for the team.  Instructions were that we would do as many rounds as it took for the team to score 120 points (15 swimmers).  We finished in six rounds.

Ascending/Descending 75s

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

We did this set recently and for whatever reason we got some surprisingly good results.  I was even encouraging swimmers to slow down as they ascended the odds, and they put up some impressive times by the end.

The up arrow means to ascend the time on the odds (start fast, finish slower) and the down arrow means descend the evens (start slow, finish fast).

Fly Plus No-Fly IM with Coach Chris Brookover

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Chris Brookover
YBCC Phoenix – Head Coach
Director of Competitive Swimming 

I read yesterday that Paul Yetter does not like to do Fly in IM sets.
I agree, breaking stroke kills me. Here is a set that can accomplish both.

4 x 25 Fly @:45
3 x 300 IM @ 4:00 (100 BK, BR, FR)
8 x 25 Fly @ :45
4 x 225 IM @ 3:00 (75 BK, BR, FR)
12 x 25 Fly @:45
5 x 150 IM @ 2:00 (50 BK, BR, FR)
16 x 25 Fly @:45
6 x 75 IM @ 1:00 (25 BK, BR, FR)
4000 yds   70 min.

 

Race Pace

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA




2x through:

100 Free at GP500 @ 1:30
   50 easy @ 1:00
2 x 75 Choice at BP200+2 @ 1:20
   50 easy @ 1:00
3 x 50 Choice @1:10
            #1: at BP200
            #2: between BP and GP200
            #3: at GP200
   50 easy @ 1:00
4 x 25 Choice at GP100 @ 1:00
   200 easy

GP = Goal Time Pace
BP = Best Time Pace

Age Group 50s Set

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Bartosz Gałota
Poland

 

#28 October Morning Session  #Age Group 12-13
#Main Set
28×50 
           1.Kick Fly @:1’10” 
           2.Backstroke @:1′
            3.Scull Br @:1’30”
            4.12,5 UW/12,5 ez @:1’30”
            5. P200 Fr @:1′
            6. All out Kr  @:1’30”
            7. Drill Fly @:1′
            8.Kick Bk @:1’10”
            9.Br @:1′
          10. Scull Fr @:1’30”
          11. 12,5 UW/12,5 ez @:1’30”
          12. P200 Fly @:1′
          13. All out Fly @:1’30”
          14. Drill Bk  @:1′


15. Kick Br @:1’10”
16. Fr @:1′
17. Scull Fly @:1’30”
18. 12,5 UW/12,5 ez @:1’30”
19. P200 Bk @:1′
20. All out Bk @:1’30”
21. Drill Br @:1′
22. Kick Fr @:1’10”
23. Fly @:1′
24. Scull Bk @:1’30”
25. 12,5 UW/12,5 ez @:1’30”
26. P200 Br @:1′
27. All out Br @:1’30”
28. Drill Fr @:1′

Groove Set for Breaststroke

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

The idea is to use this set to get your stroke feeling technically sound and in flow. Use before a race or before a challenging breaststroke set and adjust the number of repetitions as needed/desired.

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Gotta Hit Those Walls

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

So much of performing good turns in short course fly and breaststroke swims comes from spacing the cycles out correctly.  The key is that swimmers hit the wall at the conclusion of a full cycle, and not on a short stroke or a long glide.  This set is simple but demands exactly that.

6 x 25 Breast @ :35 — Hit the wall correctly at specified cycle count or it doesn’t count (take :20 extra rest and then continue
100 ez free
6 x 25 Breast @ :30 — same instructions as above
100 ez free
6 x 25 Breast @ :25 — same instructions above.
100 ez free
200 Breast  odd 25s at min cycle count, even 25s 15m speed drill, 10m long and smooth strokes

Loved this kick set today.

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

It was challenging but well-executed. Swimmers increase their distance over the five rounds of 4:00. 4 X 25 were done with #1 from a dive and 2-4 from push. We set our standards at 15m underwater on #1 and 4, 10m underwater on 2 & 3.

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8 Lifetime Bests in a Single Workout

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

Typically twice per short course season (once in the fall, and once in Jan/Feb), I have our older swimmers bring their old “tech suits” to practice one day to wear during a quality set.  The aim is three-fold:

1. Put up some fast times to validate our recent training and bolster our athletes’ self confidence.
2. Get some practice/rehearsal warming up, putting on the tech suit, and swimming with it on.  Swimming with a tech suit feels different, and we don’t want anything unexpected on race day.
3. Prepare for even faster swimming by… swimming fast!

This was last Saturday’s practice.  Each swimmer swam either 3 x 200 @ 22:00 or 5 x 100 @ 11:00 all out for time.  We had 8 lifetime bests swum during this practice and countless near-bests.

Boom!

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

This was a one hour set focused on intense quality and race pace swimming.  Swimmers focused on 200 & up events did the left column, swimmers focused on 200 & down did the right column.  It went well, but if I could do it again I would restructure the first 10 swims for Group 1 to give them a bit more rest.

Max Effort with Coach Scott Thacker, SMAC

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Scott Thacker
Head Coach SMAC Swimming
Waynesboro Family YMCA

Here is a set from this morning with our Senior Silver and Senior Gold Training Groups:

M.E= max effort
hypo= hypoxic work. Rest interval is 6 relaxed exhales. This allows them to focus on their breath and heart rate versus an interval.

Ended up being a good mix.

2x [12×50 1:00
[Rd 1: O: FL M.E E: FR 500p
[Rd 2: O: BK M.E E: FR 500p
[12×25 M.E :30
[Rd 1: FL
[Rd 2: BK
[200 ez bt rounds

16×25 FR fins hypo 3-2-1-0 x 25s 6 exhales

15×100 50 FL+50 BK 1:45
  1. DPS
  2. 25 M.E+75 DPS
  3. 50 M.E+50 DPS
  4. 75 M.E+25 DPS
  5. M.E

Freestyle Workout #7,839

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

Freestyle main focus today.  Splitting the group into “true distance swimmers” and mid-distance folks doing some aerobic work. “4.D.R.” refers to the 4-Dolphin Rule, swimmers must do 4 dolphin kicks off every wall.  4.D.R. was an idea I picked up from a podcast I listened to this summer with Tony Batis of PASA.