Sometimes You Gotta Split the Group

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

Split into two groups – breaststrokers and non-breaststrokers

 
Breaststroke group
3 x through
600 breast 50 drill/150 swim @11:00 (1:50)
3 x 200 @4:00
#1- 50 strong br/150 fr B3
#2 – 100 strong br/100 fr B3
#3 – 150 strong br/50 free B3

Non-breaststrokers
2 x through
3 x 50 fly @:50/1:00 descend
200 back @3:00/3:20
2 x 50 fly same
2 x 200 back descend same
1 x 50 fly fast
3 x 200 back same
1 x 500 free B5 @7:00/7:30

Another Excellent IM Set with Nittany Lion Coach Ryan Sprang

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Sprang
Head Caoch
Nittany Lion Aquatic Club

Tuesday June 28th 2016 – Done in LCM

Main Set -Upper IM
4 x 100 @ 1:50 50 fly from dive 50 free smooth (get average 50 fly time and double it)
1 x 400 @ 6:10 300 smooth free, rest 10 sec., 100 fast free
1 x 100 @ 1:30 cruise
12 x 50 @ :50 odd 15m back spin, 35m free smooth, even fast back, (get avg. 50 back on evens and double it)
1 x 400 @ 6:10, 200 smooth free, rest 10 sec., 200 breast/free fast
1 x 100 @ 1:30 cruise
3 x 200 @ 3:40 breast –  100 kick strong, 100 swim (descend 100 swim 1-3 & get time on #3)
1 x 400 @ 6:10, 100 smooth free, rest 10 sec, 300 back/breast/free fast
1 x 100 @ 1:30 cruise
4 x 150 @ 2:30 free – 50 build, rest 10, 100 descend #1-4 (get time on #4 and add it to the other times for a 4 IM add-up time)
rest 1 min.
1 x 400 @ 6:00 IM race FROM DIVE (see how close you can get to add-up time)

The 10 Sculls

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Coach April Cheadle

Head Coach Bainbridge Aquatic Masters
Asst. Coach Bainbridge Island Swim Club
 
I’ve benefited from your Webpage, and thought my fellow coaches might enjoy an activity that I’ve used with both my Masters and Club athletes here in Washington state.
These are the 10 stationary sculls
The sculls are all done in the deep end, with the goal being to keep your head up, your feet from kicking, and your core engaged while transitioning from one position to the next without a break.
It really can be quite exhaustive, and it focuses on developing an awareness of how to move with and against the water. The club team guys found that doing the sculls in order from 1-10 and reverse back down to 1 as fast as they could produced a heart rate over 200.
There are many combinations you can do with the sculls. Some of my favorite patterns after the teaching phase of the sculls is completed, would be to go through the current date 3x as fast as possible using the corresponding sculls for the numbers, i.e. 9,2,8,1,6.  Or call out birthdates and cycle through those using the sculls.
A longer set would be to go sculls 1-10 and reverse back to 1, followed by 2×50 swim @ :45
Then 1-9-1, followed by 2×50
Then 1-8-1, followed by 2×50

Then 1-7-1, followed by 2×50
Until you’ve patterned all the way to just 1.

Just some feel-based surprising aerobic work than can be done with the entire team regardless of ability.

 
 

Mini Maxi 25s

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

This is a simple set designed to help your swimmers physically explore the relationship between stroke tempo, stroke length, and speed.

8 x 25 @ :35 all one stroke, choice
odds minimum cycle count (long strokes)
evens maximum speed (count cycles for comparison to odd 25s)

1 x 200 @ :20 rest
Steady swim of the same stroke as the 25s, try to hold a cycle at or within 1 cycle of the minimum count from the odd 25s.  This should be challenging, particularly if the pace is pushed a bit.

Repeat as many times as you want!

Breaststroke and Backstroke with Coach Brookover

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Chris Brookover
YBCC Phoenix – Head Coach
Director of Competitive Swimming 

Another set that turned out really well.

Breast
1×400 3kick 1 pull @ 5:30
3 x 8 x 25 @:40 Drill
1- 3 second 7 squeeze
2- Brst pull / Free Kick
3- Catch isolation
6×150
75 FR @ 1:10  75 Brst @ 1:30
6×125
75 FR @ 1:05 50 Brst @ :55
6×100
75 FR @ 1:00 25 Brst @:25
BACK
1X500 KICK @ 7:00
3 x 8 x 25 @:40 Drill
1- 6 SECOND SIDE TO SIDE
2- R ARM,  L ARM
3- SPIN DRILL
6×150
75 FR @ 1:10  75 BK @ 1:20
6×125
75 FR @ 1:05 50 BK @ :50
6×100
75 FR @ 1:00 25 BK @ :25

Kick & Distance Free Set With the Greensboro Community Y

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Brad Herndon
Head Coach
Greensboro Community YMCA Makos

I keep getting great ideas from this page, so I wanted to give back…not even sure what’s originally ours anymore, but here’s our toughest set so far this season, based on how kids worked it and feedback we got:
Distance Free set for our National/National Prep groups, faster intervals were for our National kids, slower for National Prep – set took a little over 58 minutes for Nat, a little under 1 hr 10 minutes for Nat Prep.  The goal was to build kick each swim with the same amount of effort used on the 25 x kicks.
Note arrows on the left, kids went all the way up to 500 yard free for time, which they only did once (fastest boy 4:59, fastest girl 5:27), then went back the other way down to 2 x 25’s Kick (Total set yardage = 4000, 1500 kick, 2500 swim)
 
 

The 10 Sculls

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

I love sculling. There are an infinite number of ways one can scull, and it is always good to work on one’s feel for the water.

Today we did 10 x 100 @ :20 rest, 50 scull/50 swim freestyle with max efficiency. We used a snorkel on all but #8 and #10.

Here were the sculls:

A photo posted by SwimmingWizard (@swimmingwizard) on Sep 15, 2016 at 4:49am PDT

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175s for IM Success

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

We did this challenging set yesterday, and our swimmers really did well.  I liked how not only did they swim fast, but their confidence seemed to rise when they were done.  Success leads to more success!

4 x 175 Free (Goal: Beat best time for 200)
Intervals set for about 15 seconds rest if athlete succeeds in going his or her best time
500 Free EZ, one paddle and one fin (opposite limbs)

3 x 175 Breast (Goal: Beat best time for 200)
Intervals set for about 20 seconds rest if athlete succeeds in going his or her best time
500 Free EZ, one paddle and one fin (opposite limbs)

2 x 175 Back (Goal: Beat best time for 200)
Intervals set for about 20 seconds rest if athlete succeeds in going his or her best time
500 Free EZ, one paddle and one fin (opposite limbs)

1 x 175 Fly All out (Goal: Beat best time for 200)

500 Free EZ, one paddle and one fin (opposite limbs)