Accepted or Rejected

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Phil Kraus

Head Coach

Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club


I call it Accepted or Rejected and we typically do it on a recovery day.  I purchased a decision coin on a swim trip several years ago.  They have all kinds but this one has “Accepted” written on one side and “Rejected” on the other.  It is just as easy to do a regular coin with the words printed on a sticker or just call “heads” accepted and “tails rejected.

You need several (say 20) 3 X 5 note cards.  You have 2 options either write a set on it yourself or hand it out to the swimmers and they write a set on it.  Once a set is written on the cards you shuffle them like a deck of cards (review cards for knucklehead submissions).

You then turn over a card and read the set.

The coin is flipped.  Again 2 options, the coach flips or the swimmers can flip.

If the coin lands as “Accepted” the group does the set as written.  If the coin lands as “Rejected” the set not done and a new card is turned.  Another option we have done is that and “Rejected” set leads to a 100 EZ swim.

I try to keep the sets small and no more than 10 minutes but some are very short. Here are a few…

*2 x 300 on 4:30 Every 3rd Length FAST NO Free
*8 x 50 on 1:00  – Odd 25 Underwater/25 Overwater,  Even Back
*500 Swim Choice on 7:00
*12 x 25 Nasal Set on :30   Nasal Set is one breath for each number in the set so 1st 25 is one breath etc 
*500 Social Kick with Fins
*8 x 25 on the :20  Get Outs – Get Outs are Muscle up (hands to feet out of water, no knees no butts on ladders) and dive in on Interval
*Pull 300 BP 7 on 4:30, 200 BP 9 on 2:50, 100 BP 11 on 1:20 – BP = Breathing Pattern
*1 Round Sharks and Minnows
*9 x 50 Breast on 1:00  3 sets of 3 #1 BR with Free Kick work Tempo, #2 BR with Fly Kick work Undulation, #3 Normal BR
*50 Underwater Goal NO BREATH
*8 x 75 K/D/S on 1:20
*400 IM for time

The possibilities are endless.  The kids really get into it especially when a easy one gets “Rejected”

Kick and Speed set for Age Groupers

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Greg Johnson

Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club
Here’s a sprint/pace set I tried for my top-level age groupers (10-13). My thought was to get them kicking fast, making their legs tired and breathing hard, and then challenge them to try to hold 2nd 50 goal 100 pace at the end.
2 x (round 1=prime stroke, Rd 2=Fr)
K 3 x 25 FAST @ :35
1 x 50 swim @ 1’00
K 3 x 25 FAST @ :30
2 X 50 SWIM @ 1’00 (both faster than #1)
K 3 x 25 FAST @ :25
3 x 50 swim @ 1:00 (all 3 faster than 2 &3 above at around 1/2 goal 100)

Training with the Hawks and @ErinQuinn11

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Erin Quinn
 
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Our Hawks Team of 125 has to contend with 10 hours in a 6-lane pool that we rent out from a college.

With that constraint, we turn and obstacle into a challenge.

For instance—A crowded Monday night, and I propose a “Swim Up the Ladder” set for our Golds/Senior group.

Here’s the workout for anyone who has crowded lanes, a ton of potential and not as much time as they’d prefer!

1200 Warm-Up (Swim, Kick, Drill)
4×25 Catch-Quick Freestyle Drill
4×25 Over-the-barrel Freestyle drill
4×25 Straight-arm finishes flags-to-wall free.
6×25 free sprints with only one breath :20 seconds
6×50 FR (1-3) on :35 (4-6) on :30
3×100 FR on 1:05
100 EZ

2×25 active-balance backstroke drill
6×25 Spin-Drill (odds) Streamline BD Kick evens
6×50 BK (1-3) :40 (4-6) :35
3x100BK on 1:10
100EZ

4×75 Breaststroke Drill— Fast Hands/UnderWater/Scull/Streamline Kick
6×50 BreastStroke (1-3) :45 (4-6) :40
3×100 Breast on 1:30
100EZ

2×25 one-arm fly.
2×25 3,3,3 Fly
6×25 Fly Sprints on :40 sec only one breath
2x100FLY from the blocks in heats.
100EZ

Relays!

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Killer Kick Set for a 20yd pool

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Ryan Woodruff

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One of our coaches came up with this kick set for use in our 20-yard diving well.
Green is underwater.
Blue is descend
Red is Fastest Possible Average

Good Stuff

Breaststroke Pre-Set for Long or Short Course

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Ryan Woodruff

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Hawks Swimming Beast Mode ON

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Erin Quinn
Hawks Swimming
Plate, NY
 
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After returning from a 3-day District Championship Meet, swimmers were given a recovery practice Monday. Today, Tuesday 7/23 it was Beast-Mode On as we have less than one-half weeks to Speedoes and 2 weeks until Eastern Zones. Before the taper begins, I wanted one last, hard practice. Let’s just say there wasn’t much talking. There was a lot of heavy-breathing and mumbling. I was proud of how hard they worked. #HAWKSNATION 

1300 meter warm-up
300FR
200IM kick
200BK (100 one-arm 100 whole stroke)
100 skull no kick
100 three strokes of breast under water, 2 above
4×50 Breast stroke (1 pullout, 2 pullouts, 3 pullouts 4 pullouts)
4×50 five strokes of Butterfly no breath, 10 strokes of free–repeat

400IM under 6 minutes
150 cool-down
3x100FR on 1:20
3x100BK on 1:30
400IM faster than first
150 cool-down
3×100 Breast on 1:45
3x100IM on 1:30
400IM all out
200 cool down

Total Meters: 4200

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Sprint Friday with @ErinQuinn11 and the Hawks

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Standard Warmup (Swim, Kick, Drill) 1400 yards

Main Set:
25×50 Sprint
5x50Free 1) Flutter kick :45 sec. (2-4 descend :35 sec) 5) Under/Over Recovery 1 minute
5x50Back 1) Body Dolphin kick :45 sec. (2-4 descend :40 sec) 5) Under/Over Recovery 1 minute
5x50Breast 1) Breast kick 1 min. (2-4 descend :45 sec) 5) Under/Over recovery 1 minute
5x50Fly 1) Body Dolphin Kick :45 sec (2-4 descend :50 sec) 5) Under/Over recovery 1 minute
5x50IM Fly/BK, BK/Bst, Bst/Fr, Free :45 sec 5) Under/Over recovery choice 1 minute

100EZ

50×25

5×25 Sprint Body Dolphin :30 sec
5×25 Sprint Freestyle (2 breaths maximum) :30 sec
5×25 Sprint Backstroke (emphasis on breakout) :30 sec
5×25 Breaststroke 1-2 fist-swim, 3-5 sprint :40 sec
5×25 Fly Sprint (Maximum 3 breaths) :45 sec
5×25 IM Order Sprint, 5th Choice :30 sec
5×25 Flutter Kick Sprint :30 sec
5×25 Under-Waters IM Order 5th Choice
5×25 3 flip-turns hitting a false wall :45 sec
5×25 Mixed-strokes Fly w/flutter kick, BK w/Bst kick, Bst w/flutter kick, Fr w/BD kick, Fly w/bst kick

200 Cool Down

Friday Beast Day with the Hawks and @ErinQuinn11

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There is not TGIF for Hawks Swimmers. Gearing up for LCM I went for Friday, #BeastDay and put our swimmers to work with a lot of race-paced swimming. They threw it down.

1400 yrd Warm-up (Swim, Kick, Drill all strokes)

800FR for time (Goal: go under the time assigned and negative split)

200EZ recovery swim

8×25 sprint body dolphin kick on back in streamline :30 sec

6×100 BK Descend 1-3 (1:15) 4-6 (1:10) the last three under 1:05 and descending!

3x200IM Descend on 2:20

Challenge: If 2 of our Hawks Backstrokers could swim within 4 seconds of their PB we would scrap the 200IMs

They did it!

6x50FR 1-3 descend :35 4-6 descend :30

8×75 IM Order Under/Kick/Sprint + 15 sec of vertical kick

Cool down–Relays!

Happy Friday!

@ErinQuinn11

CoachErin@Hawksswimming.org
www.Hawksswimming.org

IM Madness With Coach Erin Quinn (@ErinQuinn11)

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With only two weeks left until our very “short” Long Course Meter season begins here in the North East the Hawks have boarded the #PainTrain to ensure they’re ready for the intensity of LCM training:

IM Madness (SCY

Standard Warmup

Swim, Drill, Kick: 1400 yards

Main Set:

3x400IM Descend (adjust interval) 5:00 minutes/5:30

100EZ (2700yards)

3×200 FR Descend (adjust interval to group) 2:30/2:45
3×200 BK Descend 2:45/3min

100EZ (3400yards)

8x75IM order on 1:15 (Goal: Work on Transitions!)

75FLY, 50FLY/25BK, 25FLY/BK, 50BK/25BST, 25BK/50BST, 50BST/25FR, 25BST/50FR, 75FR

100EZ (4100yards)

20×25 IM Order

Odds Sprint :30 sec
Evens: Underwater :30

4600yards

Starts/Relays/cool down (5K)

@ErinQuinn11

We Thrived in this Workout(LCM)

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Ryan Woodruff
 

We have limited long course practice time until school gets out, so we tend to make the most out of the time we get in LCM.  Here is what we did today.

LCM
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Standard Warmup
4 x 400 w Tempo trainers @ 1:00 rest
#1 4 cycles swim at tempo/10 cycles smooth swim or drill
#2 6/8
#3 8/6
#4 10/4

300 easy swim

Main set:  prime strokes as listed above
10x
2 x 50 @ 1:10 fast
1x 50 fast + 1 x 50 easy @3:00
400 sloppy recovery
4 x 400 @ 1:00 rest with tempo trainers
1 each stroke in reverse IM order
:30 smooth/:10 underwater dolphin or pullouts/:20/:10/:10/:10
2x
3 x 75 fast kick for time + 25 easy @ 2:30
100 easy swim @ 2:00
Warm down

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Goal-Based 100s set

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Ryan Woodruff
 
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We did this set in SCY based on athletes’ best times. We did 300 yards easy between rounds as recovery and the set was presented 1 part at a time. The first 10 the goal was to be within 10 seconds of a lifetime best, on the second round 9, etc. These were the goal times for the lane leaders. Athletes not going first in the lane were expected to be a second faster due to the drafting effects. Last 4 fastest possible average with fins. We got some outstanding results with this set!

Simple Kick Set

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Ryan Woodruff
 

SCY

The top interval here had Streamline Sticks in at 10 yards, the B interval at 7 yards, and the C interval at 5 yards.

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The Sprinter’s Dozen

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Ryan Woodruff
 

SCY
P100 = 100 yd race pace. We performed the first one of each set from a dive and the rest from a push.

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The ? Set

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Ryan Woodruff
 
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SCY

? x 50 @ :50
Using a dry-erase board, give the swimmers a different set of instructions for every 50, erasing the old instructions and writing the new one while they swim. Mix it up, changing speeds, strokes, drills, breathing patterns, etc. Don’t let the swimmers know what is coming beyond the next 50. All swims are choice unless the stroke is specified. Here’s an example:
#1- P200+5
#2- P200+3
#3- P200+1
#4- P200-1
#5- EZ free B3
#6- Free B5
#7- Free B7
#8- At count
#9- Race!
#10- At cycle count -1
#11- 25 underwater dolphin kick/ 25 sprint
#12- 25 sprint/25 underwater dolphin kick
#13- 25 race/25 ez kick
#14- Fly B 1 up/1 down
#15- Fly B 1 up/2 down
#16- Fly B 1 up/3 down
#17- Fast fly
#18- EZ breaststroke
#19- Race!
#20- At cycle count -2
#21- 12.5 fast/12.5 ez of same stroke as #20
#22- At cycle count
#23- Breast with dolphin kick
#24- Backstroke 12.5 spin drill/12.5 swim
#25- P1650
…
The set could go on for as long as you like. The changing up speeds and instructions every 50 keeps the swimmers alert and the set fresh and interesting. What other interesting instructions can you come up with?

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21-Cycle Swims for Developing Stroke Efficiency

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Dani Caldwell
SUSA Stingrays, St. George, Utah

21-Cycle Swims
SCY
Short set we do with HS kids…
8 x 21 stroke cycles — stop when you reach 21 cycles, begin from that point on the next one
Rules:  you must continue stroking or streamlining off the wall — no side-glide or other forms of “cheating”
Some of our older boys were getting to 125 yards the other morning!  It was interesting how “into it” they got — they turned it into quite a competition.
This fantastic idea was originally posted in 2011.

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Midweek Mile Madness

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Ryan Woodruff
 
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33 x 50 @ :40
   odd at Pmile
   even smooth
400 w/snorkel @ 5:00
11 x 150 @2:00
   #1 at Pmile +8
   #2 at Pmile +4
   #3 at Pmile
   #4 smooth
400 w/snorkel @ 5:00
3 x 550 descend @ 6:30 (1.11 base)
400 w/snorkel @ 5:00

1 x 1650 all out for time

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"The Guessing Game"

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Ryan Woodruff,  Lynchburg YMCA

This set is useful for helping distance freestylers refine a sense of pace.

? x 100 freestyle @ coach’s send off

Continue until you achieve 3 points.

Earn 1 point by guessing your time correctly within .5 seconds
Earn 2 points by guessing your time exactly to the tenth of a second
Earn 3 points by guessing your time exactly to the hundredth of a second

Swimmers may swim whatever speed they wish.

I like to use the Guessing Game during taper, typically at the end of practice. Once a swimmer achieves his three points, he warms down and is done with practice.

Tip: Be sure to turn off your pace clock or have the swimmers turn away from the clock when you send them off. You don’t want them looking at it – there won’t be a pace clock at the meet!

This set was originally published here 12/3/2009.  Visit our archives for more excellent training sets and ideas.
 

The Sprinter’s Paradise Pyramid

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Ryan Woodruff
 

Like the Pyramid of Pain, but a more appealing set with a more appealing name.  Swimmer must have 15m and 25 goal times before beginning the set.  Everyone begins with Step 1: Dive 25, try to beat 100 pace
If a swimmer succeeds, he or she moves down and to the left in the chart.  Fail- move down and to the right. Three rounds, 200 ez after each round. It sounds easy, but you will quickly find out who has real front-end speed and who doesn’t.

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Cone Kicks for Underwater Power

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Ryan Woodruff
 
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I stole this idea from somewhere– I just can’t remember where. Cone kicks are performed by placing a medium-sized traffic cone over the front end of the swimmer’s streamline (make sure the cone is not big enough to come down over the swimmer’s face).   This serves two purposes:
1. Keeps the streamline intact
2. Provides extra resistance to the swimmer’s kicking effort.
4 rounds of:
4 x 25 Underwater “Cone Kicks” @ :40
1x 100 easy swim perfect technique, fast turns, and 4+ dolphin kicks @1:20
4 x 25 Underwater kicks without cones @ :30
1 x 100 same as above

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Breaststroke Set Working Race Tempo

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Ryan Woodruff
 
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SCY

This set is intended to help breaststroke swimmers build and maintain their tempo during a race.  We use Finis’ Tempo Trainer Pro.

2 rounds:
3 x 50 Breast with flutter kick @ 1:00
4 x 50 Breast, Build the tempo @ :50
  100 EZ Back or Free
3 x 50 Breast with dolphin kick @ 1:00
4 x 75 Breast, Build the tempo for the first 50, hold it for the last 25@1:20
  100 EZ Back or Free
3 x 50 Breast 3 kick-1 pull drill @ 1:00
4 x 100 Breast, Build the tempo for the first 50, hold it for the last 50 @ :50
  100 EZ Back or Free
All out 200 Breast from dive (2nd round do a 100 instead of a 200)

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IM Set with Lucas Ferreira of Gwinnett Aquatics

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Lucas Ferreira

SCM

I thought I had seen a set just like this or at least very similar when I came up with this set, but looking over the site I couldn’t find it, so here it goes:


We did this with our top middle schoolers (11-14). We swim SCM, and intervals listed are for our top group. The set was adapted all the way down to 6 different intervals and distances (although this group probably got the most amount of rest, since they can respond to it with faster swims).

6×50 IM Cycle (smooth strokes, great walls) – 1:10
4×100 IM descend                                      – 1:45
6×50 IM Cycle (smooth strokes, great walls) – 1:10
4×200 IM descend                                      – 3:30
6×50 IM Cycle (smooth strokes, great walls) – 1:10
4×300 IM descend                                      – 5:15
6×50 IM Cycle (smooth strokes, great walls) – 1:10
400 IM RACE from start!

Goal was to swim the 50s really efficient, and work the IM transitions from flags in to the breakout, then hit the longer IMs. We had plenty of great swims through the set, and by the end the kids threw down some of their best ever practice 400IM times!

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Learning Easy Speed

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Nick Rice
Head Swim Coach
North Oakland Waves (NOW)
 
I have been having an issue lately with our swimmers over swimming their first 50 of 100s and under-swimming the middle portion of their races so I came up with a set that I think helps them learn how to control the first 50 of a race with speed but continue to push through the second half.  I am very excited to see how this training will effect our swims at our upcoming meets:
The First Set is focused on the 100 (but this also helps set up how to succeed on the 2nd set):
1×100 @ 1:30-2:00 BT +10-15%
2×50 @ :45-1:00
   1st 50:  Half of previous 100 (Not first 50 time of previous 100)
   2nd 50:  Drop :03-:05
4×25 @ :20-:30
  1 & 2:  Half of 2nd 50 Time
  3 & 4:  Drop :02-:04
The Second set is Focused on the 200
1×200 @ 3:00-3:30 BT +10%
2×100 @ 1:30-1:45
   1st 100:  Half of previous 200 (Try to Negative Split)
   2nd 100:  Drop :05
4×50 @ :45-1:00
   1 & 2:  Half of 2nd 100 Speed
   3 & 4:  Drop :30-:05
As we go through the set I like to remind the kids that adrenaline will help carry them on the first segment of their race and that they can take the time to really focus on their stroke mechanics and catch point, then use the drop segment to play with an increased tempo.  I really like to emphasize this on the first set so when we get to the 200 set they can properly swim the 1st negative split 100.

I really enjoy your site and have really found quite a few of the workouts inspirational and thought I would try to contribute.  Thanks for all the sharing.

3-part Sprint Challenge Circuit with @GAswim

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Rob Bond
Head Senior Swim Coach
Glenbrook Aquatics
 
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We also do a Sprint Challenge Circuit.  Each part of the challenge is about a month apart.  No intervals – swimmers go when they are ready.  A pre-meet warm-up precedes the set.  Active recovery is encouraged, but not required.  Swimmers get 5 failures at any step before the set is cut off.  If a swimmer tries 5 times without meeting goal, the set is over and they are out of the set – send them to a different training group…

Part 1:
Pre-Meet Warm-up then
3 x 50 Off The Block @BT +2.5
3 x 50 Running Start @BT +1.5
3 x 50 Fins @BT +.5

Part 2 (approximately one month later):
Pre-Meet Warm-up then
2 x 50 Off the Block @BT +2.0
2 x 50 Running Start @BT +1.0
2 x 50 Fins @BT

Part 3 (another month apart):
Pre-Meet Warm-up then
1 x 50 Off the Block @BT +1.5
1 x 50 Running Start @BT .5
1 x 50 Fins @BT -.5

Running start sprints – begin the stopwatch when the final foot leaves the deck.  Fins can be from a push or dive – your call.

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"Texas A&M Kick Set" with Coach Rob Bond @GAswim

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Rob Bond
Head Senior Swim Coach
Glenbrook Aquatics
 

Editor’s Note: This is the second of four submissions from Coach Bond.  Please kick on the “Bond” tag below to see his other sets.

Texas A&M Kick Set (completely stolen – not my set, but I love it)
4-6 x
{75 @1:45 Kick
{100 @1:45 Kick Faster
{125 @1:45 Kick ALL OUT!!

Have you checked out the Swimming Wizard reading list? 

 

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The Pyramid of Pain

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
 

This set provides some incentives for fast swimming.  The picture below explains the process of the Pyramid.  All swimmers begin with a 200 for time with the goal of being within 6 seconds of lifetime best (girls) or 8 seconds (boys).  100 easy for all, and then those that failed will do a broken 200 (75-50-50-25 @:10 rest) while those that succeeded in reaching the goal will do a broken 100 (50-50@:10rest).  The goal on the broken 200 is a lifetime best.  The goal on the broken 100 is within 2 seconds of lifetime best.  The second swim is followed by another 100 easy, and based on a swimmer’s success or failure he then completes either a broken 200 (75-50-50-25@:20 rest), a broken   100 (50-50@:10 rest), or an all-out dive 50.  The goals are a lifetime best, a best +3 or faster, and the starting 50 split for a lifetime best 100, respectively.  Success or failure on the 3rd swim leads to 10 push-ups or a “Hooray!”

We performed two rounds and saw many season-best practice swims.
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Freestyle with the Northern Kentucky Clippers

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Jason Roberts

Head Coach, Northern Kentucky Clippers
The idea of this set was to start out with a decent pace on the 100’s and descend them down to pace for 1650, while starting off with a very fast 600. I have a young group of boy distance swimmers so these ceiling times were challenging. Our top boy was 6:01, 6:04, 6:01 and on last round of 100’s was :58.4 

6 x 100 on 1:10 Pace for 1650 +:02
1 x 600 on 7:00 AFAP (Boys=6:06)
1 x 100 on 2:00 Recovery
6 x 100 on 1:10 Pace for 1650 +:01
1 x 600 on 7:00 Fast (Boys=6:12)
1 x 100 on 2:00 Recovery
6 x 100 on 1:10 Pace for 1650 +:00
1 x 600 on 7:00 Fast (Boys=6:18)
1 x 100 on 1:30 Recovery