Over at Swim Coach Direct, Ken DeMont and Don Swartz have a fantastic set from Jack Bauerle that he presented at the ASCA World Clinic. It is 40 x 50 @ :40 with some very specific instructions. See it here.
Creative Open Water Training Tip #1 – Timed Feedings
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach, Parkland Aquatic Club
Ryan.d.woodruff@gmail.com
LCM or SCY
Open Water races impose unique demands on an athlete physically, mentally, and strategically. Many swimmers do not have readily accessible open water to practice for these unique conditions. Here is a technique you can practice in your pool to help prepare your swimmers.
Swims of longer than 5k often necessitate that athletes feed (take beverages or food for hydration or calories). Designated feeding stations become strategically important like NASCAR pit stops – the athlete who takes on fuel most quickly and efficiently can pull ahead, and those who pit stop poorly fall behind.
Time your swimmers on a 50 that includes a feed. Try 5 x 400 build to fast last 100, and feed on the last 50. Get that split. Give immediate feedback during the interval rest.
Ron "Stix" Ballatore Tribute Workout
Everyone who met Coach Ballatore will not soon forget him. Read more on his bio and his passing Here.
“Stix” knew how to get guys to go fast. Here is a set that he loved to do at the end of practice. We did it frequently when I had the honor of having him on deck while I was in Gainesville. It is a good, challenging, team-building set to finish a workout.
Divide your group up into teams of four or five swimmers, and put a swimmer from each team in each lane. All swimmers on a given team will swim a no-breath 25 simultaneously. Before they start, the coach assigns one swimmer from the team a goal time for the no-breath 25. If that swimmer completes the 25 without taking a breath and beats the goal time, he earns a point for his team. Then the next team takes its turn. Each team is done (and gets out and goes home) when they score a pre-determined number of points. Swimmers get fired up for their teammates and for their own 25s. The coach can control the intensity by adjusting the 25 goal times.
Thanks, Stix. You will be missed.
Friday Butterfly Workout
Ryan Woodruff
ryan.d.woodruff@gmail.com
SCY
This was a solid set for our sectional-level butterflyers. Not too tough, but some good early season fly work that didn’t make them get sloppy with the technique. We did it in three 15-minute stations and rotated through in groups
PART 1
We started with some underwater kicking in a 20-yard pool:
16 x 60yds @ :55
Done as 5 rounds of
#1 – 25 smooth free/25 underwater dolphin kick/25 smooth free
#2 – 25 underwater dolphin kick/25 smooth free/25 underwater dolphin kick
#3 – all smooth swim
And then #16 – All underwater dolphin kick, take 1 breath at each wall
PART 2
16 x 50
#1 – Fly, 3 strokes R/3 strokes L drill @ 1:00
#2 – Fly kick on back @ 1:00
#3 – Breaststroke with fly kick @ 1:00
#4 – Fly swim @ :50
PART 3
3 rounds of:
1 x 25 fly easy drill @ :30
1 x 75 fly swim @ 1:05
1 x 25 fly drill @ :30
1 x 75 fly swim @ 1:00
1 x 25 fly drill @ :30
1 x 75 fly swim @ :55
Pool Open Water Workout
Ryan Woodruff
ryan.d.woodruff@gmail.com
Today our Open Water Nationals group did a version of the following set in the pool (SCY) in preparation for the 5k in 1.5 weeks. The aims of the set are to 1) Acclimate the swimmers to tight pack swimming with frequent limb collisions, 2) practice drafting at high speeds, 3) rehearse front end and back end speed that are needed to compete in elite OW races, and 4) simply get in a good distance set. Here is the set:
4 x 50 @ :40 Fastest possible average, swimming 4 swimmers wide in an 9-foot lane.
3 x 100 @ 1:20 fastest possible average, swimming 4 wide
3 x 200 @ 2:20 ascend, swimming in a drafting line, front swimmer rotating to the back after each repeat
6 x 500 @ 6:10 hold steady and strong pace, swimming in normal practice formation, 5 seconds apart, with front swimmer rotating to the back after each repeat.
3 x 200 @ 2:20 descend, essentially the reverse of what was done on the first 3, same draft line and swimmer rotation
3 x 100 @ 1:20 fastest possible average, swimming 4 wide, try to beat times from early in the set
4 x 50 @ :40 fastest possible average, swimming 4 wide, try to beat times from beginning of the set
Easy 200
Follow-up Open Water Skills set:
3x through:
3 x 200 @ 2:20 sight once in every lap
3 x 100 @ 1:20 practice feeding from poolside water bottle on 2nd 25 each time
400 smooth warm down
Stanford Kicking Set
Here’s a great workout over at proswimworkouts.com
North Jeffco Stroke Set
Brett Stoyell
North Jeffco Swim Team
Best Stroke Practice working Quality and Endurance (Sectional-Trials level group)
This set was done at 5,500 ft above sea level in Arvada, Colo. almost every swimmer started the primary set holding at or under their best time and finished the set 5-10sec under their best 200 time.
Warmup
(2x)
400 @ 530 Snorkel Stk Count Free
300 @ 430 IM R#1 K-K-D, R#2 K-D-S
4×50 @ 1 Stk
#1 Drill
#2 Fast-EZ
#3 Kick
#4 EZ-Fast
Primary Stk (Breaststk and some flyers went on + 15sec for the 175s)
4×175 @ 240 Hold Best 200 time control stk count and HR
1×200 @ 300 Free Stretchout
3×175 @ 250 Hold Best 200 time – 2-3 seconds
1×300 @ 430 Free Stretchout
2×175 @ 300 Hold Best 200 Time -4-5 seconds
1×400 @ 600 Free Stretchout
1×175 @ 310 Hold as Fast as possible from a start
1×500 Recovery choice
Followed by a circuit (1min to switch stations)
G1 8×50 on medium in water cords @ 130 Either IMo or best 2 stks (Stk count against resistance – Stk tempo with assistance)
G2 12×50 @ 1:00 Fins 25 15mtr uH2O – 10 mtr sprint IMo or Best 2 stks on surface
G3 2×400 IM from a dive @ 6 Each stk as follows: 25 Build-25 Kick-25 Drill-25 ALL out. (Working Transitions all out!)
Tweet Workout from @ryanlochte
30×100’s beat possible average (FLY). On 2 min. LC… And now tomorrow morning after weights 20×400’s best average on 5 min. LC .
Man up!!
Breaststroke Challenge Set
Greg Johnson
SCY
3 x
4 X 1 MIN VERT. KICK- BR (W/ MEDBALL)
4 X 75 BREASTROKE (SUBTRACT ONE STROKE CYCLE PER 25) @ 1:20
I had the swimmers pair up and put one partner in the water for VK and the other partner on deck. The swimmer in the water was to vertical kick breastroke right up on the wall (so their knees couldn’t come up). I had the kicker hold the med ball for 4 kicks and pass on the 5th. The partner on deck would simply drop the ball back to the swimmer. After 1 min, they switched. So actually each swimmer kicked 2 x 1 min.
On the 75s, I had the swimmers think about stretching their strokes out into long streamlines, and although tired from the VK, have them think about lowering stroke count through leg-driven breaststroke and streamline. The interval gave rest to the good breaststrokers and challenged the others (but with rest).
I realized that the attention to the VK and throwing the med ball might be too much for the group, I switched it up each round. I made the partner out of the water do flutter kicks on the edge of the wall while the swimmer in the water VK with med ball, etc.
Ryan Lochte’s "Brutal" IM Set
How to Train Using 25s Fly
See Tom Yetter’s blog for a useful post on training age groupers using 25s fly.
TweetWorkout from Ous Mellouli
 Oussama Mellouli (@OusMellouli)2/25/12 1:20 PM 4 all u distance crazies out there – Hour of Power: (800 – 2X400 – 4X200) X 2. 1st round on 1:15, 2nd on 1:10/100. LCM |
Stroke tempo charts
Here is an interesting chart from FINISinc, detailing stroke tempos of elite athletes.
The tempo ranges seem a bit narrow to me, and I question where exactly the data came from. Still, this could be very useful information.
Pick Your Kick Distance
Ryan Woodruff
SCY
30 x (50 or 75 or 100 yards kick)
#1-10 @ 1:30
1:00 rest
#11-20 @1:20
1:00 rest
#21-30 @1:10
The goal of course is to cover the most distance possible. For added motivation, we split up into teams and devised a points system; team with the most total points wins.
Successfully complete 100 yards = +2 points
Successfully complete 75 yards = +1 point
Only completed 50 yards= -1 point
Mid Season Long Course IM Workout
Ryan Woodruff
ryan.d.woodruff@gmail.com
LCM
Warmup – 1200m, 20:00
400 smooth swim @ 6:00
4 x 150 50 kick/50drill/50 swim @ 2:30
4 x 50 25 fast/25 easy @ 1:00
Main Set – 5500m, 1:08:00
Hold stroke 100s steady & strong. Descend 200s, 400s, and 600 IMs.
1 x 100 FLY @ 1:30
200 IM @ 3:00
1 x 100 BK @ 1:30
200 IM @ 3:00
1 x 100 BR @ 1:40
200 IM @ 3:00
:30 rest
2 x 100 FLY @ 1:30
400 IM @ 6:20
2 X 100 BK @ 1:30
400 IM @ 6:20
2 x 100 BR @ 1:40
400 IM @ 6:20
:30 rest
3 x 100 FLY @ 1:30
600 IM @ 9:40
3 x 100 BK @ 1:30
600 IM @ 9:40
3 x 100 BR @ 1:40
600 IM @ 9:40
100 easy @ 3:00
Kick/Speed Set
4 x 100 @ 3:00 ALL CHOICE
#1 – FROM START, 25m FAST SWIM/75m KICK
#2 – FROM START, 50m FAST SWIM/50m KICK
#3 – FROM START, 75m FAST SWIM/25m KICK
#4 – FROM START, 100m ALL OUT SWIM
WARM DOWN
Endurance with Speed Set
Jack Roney
YOTA Swimming (Raleigh, NC)
A great set to work some aerobic endurance while keeping the R&S (Racing and Speed) a significant factor.
8×75 on :50 (Adjust Interval so that swimmer averages no more than :05 sec rest – “:00-:05 sec. rest”)
4×25 (1-Easy / 3-ALL OUT) on 1:00
6×150 on 1:40 (Adjusted Interval – :05-:10 sec. rest)
6×25 (2x — 1-Easy / 2-ALL OUT) on 1:00
4×300 on 3:20 (Adjusted Interval – :10-:15 sec. rest)
8×25 (4x — 1-Easy / 1-ALL OUT) on 1:00
The 75s/150s/300s are created to represent a group of swimmers training at a sustained 1:06 Base Interval. This 1:06 was projected to give the swimmers between :00 and :05 sec. rest on the 75s — :05-:10 sec. rest on the 150s – and :10-:15 sec. rest on the 300s.
After the 75s / 150s / 300s the swimmers did an easy 25 on 1:00 – then went into 3 / 2 / or 1 FAST 25 depending on where in the set they were. As the set advanced on, the amount of FAST 25s decreases, to where they are alternating Easy/FAST for the last set of 25s on 1:00 (Essentially — 4×25 FAST on 2:00)
The swimmers did a decent warm-up and prep. set beforehand. My aim was to make sure they were not tired before the set, but also were not rested and full of energy before we began. This way they would demonstrate great technique/quality swimming while making sure their body is working hard!
One lane kick set
Coach Erik Wiken
Situation:I have our highest age groupers, but there is a range in kicking ability from the newest of the group (1:50, All out FR kick with board) to most experienced (1:20, the same). We also have a transition period where we are limited in space for a short period of time (15 Minutes), there are four different groups in the water, every day. Yesterday we did this with 11 in one lane (pool is 12.5 yards of shallow water). If your pool is all shallow, you can comfortably fit 20 age groupers in one lane. Granted, the next lane might prove to be a bit small for the duration of the kick set..
The purpose of this set was to get our swimmers to kick in a neutral body position using the snorkel without worrying about boards, turns slowing us down, missing intervals and getting in some wall work too. The time periods are such that there is no time to screw around and I would recommend keeping things short, any increase would be in the hard flutter over time.
(25 minutes) 5 Times through the following cycle all with snorkel, me with my whistle:
(1:20 for each round, 3 rounds per cycle + 50 swim = 5:00 per cycle)
20 seconds moderate flutter (for kick technique focus, ie “gaining knowledge”)
20 seconds hard flutter (“application of knowledge”)
20 seconds streamline jumps (Snorkel off! What age grouper doesn’t like streamline jumps?)
20 seconds rest (put your snorkel back on)
1 x 50 Moderate Swim @ 1:00 (Snorkel optional. all swim an entire 50, same direction, back to their spot on the wall)
go! Go! GO!
Greg Johnson
Head Age Group Coach
Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club
Just a tough, straightforward set (intervals based on freestyle for senior swimmers). We adjusted for the age groupers by giving them 6 rounds (odd rounds free, even IM). Got them breathing pretty hard.8 x (no rest between rounds)4 x 25 @ 202 x 50 @ 401 x 100 @ 1:15
Variety Kick Set
Ryan Woodruff
ryan.d.woodruff@gmail.com
The following kick set is good for overall lower body fitness while giving the athletes a specific goal to shoot for on the :50 kick for distance. Their individual goal distances were determined using the 15-minute kick test set.
SCY
200 kick @ 3:40
20 blastoffs @ :40
:50 kick for distance @1:30
200 kick @ 3:40
20 blastoffs @ :40
2 x :50 kick for distance @1:30
200 kick @ 3:40
20 blastoffs:40
3 x :50 kick for distance @1:30
200 kick @ 3:40
20 blastoffs:40
4 x :50 kick for distance @1:30
Age Group Set from Gwinnett Aquatics
Lucas Ferreira
Gwinnett Aquatics
Gwinnett Aquatics
Here’s a set we did with our top Age Groupers (11-14) that worked really well:
(SCM)
4 rounds:
5×100 FR – 1:20 / 1:30 / 1:40
10×25 RACE – 0:40
– IM order per round, dive on Odds
Two things were important to make this set as good as it was for us:
1) The 100s were right at the kids’ cruise interval (they had to work decently hard to get 2-3sec of rest only, nearly much playing wall tag the whole way). I would adjust those intervals likewise for a different group of kids or if we were swimming SCY.
2) Each kid had goal times for the 25s. Those were about 1sec faster than what they need to hold to make their goal 100s of each stroke this season, so they had to work pretty hard to make them.
It was a great way to get plenty of hard aerobic work, with a lot of fast swimming in the middle!
Mucho Kicking For Distance
Ryan Woodruff
ryan.d.woodruff@gmail.com
The set below uses timed kicks for maximum distance. Mixing in some kick-heavy drill, this set lasts approximately one hour. In total, this is 35 minutes of kicking at high intensity. We gave our swimmers specific distances to shoot for during each timed kick, dividing them up into two teams. The numbers at the very bottom represent the running points total from the team competition.
Speed set for taper time
Jack D. Roney
Assistant Senior Coach/YOTA Masters
Assistant Senior Coach/YOTA Masters
Here is a set that I have found extremely beneficial as a great “Approaching Taper” speed set. It allows the swimmers to focus on quality of stroke while still trying to put in some speed as the athletes approach a taper meet.
500 Free on 5:30
16×25 (1-Smooth / 3-FAST) on :40
400 Free on 5:30
12×25 (1- Smooth / 2-FAST) on :40
300 Free on 5:30
8×25 (1-Smooth / 1-FAST) on :40
200 Free on 5:30
4×25 (ALL FAST) on :40
100 Free on 5:30
1×50 (For Time — SPRINT)
**NOTES: The 500/400/300/200/100 should be all focus on technique. A bit more speed may have to be put into the first 500 depending on the level of swimmer you are coaching, but the 400/300/200/100 should become much “easier” to make the interval. Therefore, attention to detail in EVERY aspect remains high. Perfection swimming is the goal in all non-“FAST” swims.
As you get more rest, the FAST 25s should be as described (100% intensity) but with obvious focus on technique.
I made the athletes hop out of the water after the 300/200/100 and stretch for several minutes before the next set of 25s began.
Quality during the weeks leading up to a meet was the main focus when I was being coached, and is by-far the most important aspect in my workouts AS a coach for my athletes as we approach our taper meet.
Kick/Swim Set
Coach Erik Wiken
5X Through…
4 x 50 @ 1:00 #1 Stroke Kick, Descend 1-4, #4 is Sprint
1 x 100 @ 2:30 50 Kick Oriented Drill 50Sprint Swim
Rationale:
-The idea was to make the kick the primary focus of your swimming.
-Kick oriented drill was put after the 50s to focus on body position and kick technique in a taxed state and then have the kick be fresh in your mind and the focus in the fast swimming.
-Intervals vary depending on ability:
+50s were to get about 15 seconds on the 1st 50 and about 25 on the 4th for this particular group.
+Longer rest during the 100 to account for rest between rounds to make sure focus stays on kick, not just survival.
#1 Stroke Kick position had two options:
1. Streamline (Fly/Bk/BR @ Back, FR @ stomach with snorkel)
2. Kick in positions that also get an athlete to focus on the body.
Example:
Fly – Side Kick (bottom arm extended, no hula hands!)
BK – “Roller Coaster”
BR – Heel Check (arms down @ you back, heels to hands then big toes finish out of water)
FR – I prefer on stomach arms extended and hands at the beginning of the catch phase (kick in posture) or hands at sides, rotating. Rotating may make the interval tougher and may need to be adjusted depending on athlete.
Today’s Kick Set
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach, Parkland Aquatic Club
ryan.d.woodruff@gmail.com
This set uses performances from our 15-minute Kick Test Set to set goal distances for each swimmer. Total distance from that set divided by 10 gives the goal for each 1:30 segment below.
4 x 1:30 kick for distance @ 2:00
200 easy swim
3 x 3:00 kick for distance @ 4:00
200 easy swim
2 x 4:30 kick for distance @ 6:00
200 easy swim
1000 yard Medley Relay Set
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Parkland Aquatic Club
ryan.d.woodruff@gmail.com
This set works well with up to six swimmers (two relay teams) in a lane. Divide your group into groups of two or three- try to make even teams to give everyone a good race. Have them race a 1000 (or whatever distance you choose) medley relay. If your teams have three people each, swimmers swim the strokes in regular medley relay order. If you have only two swimmers, leave out one of the strokes. This ensures that swimmers don’t swim the same strokes repeatedly. Swimmers complete a single 50 at a time…swimmer 1 does a 50 back, swimmer 2 does a 50 breast, etc. Use the starting blocks for some extra work climbing out of the pool every time, or just stay in the water and go from a push.
Exam Week at Carthage
Greg Earhart
Head Coach
Carthage College
Last week was finals week so we open up the pool and the guys train around their exam schedule. I generally make the practices simpler (i.e. less thinking and stress) and give them a couple of options – more aerobic or challenging – depending on their own personal stress level.
I tried to inject a little fun into last week’s and I’ve attached what I came up with.
Fly Set for Groups
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Parkland Aquatic Club
This set is effective for doing butterfly with a group of varying levels of ability. Simply divide your group into A, B, and C levels of ability and you should be able to keep them on the same intervals. Here are the distances with instructions below.
200
2 x 25
100
200
4 x25
100
200
6 x 25
100
200
8 x 25
100
200s always on 3:20
“A” instructions: 5 through 8 cycles fly off each wall x2
“B” Instructions: 5 cycles off every wall sprint fly then ez free
“C” Instructions: 3 cycles off every wall sprint fly
25s always on :30 are all sprint fly no B last 10 yards
100s kick @ 2:30, 25 on back hands at side, 25 right side, 25 left side, 25 front, hands at side
Vertical I.M. Transitions
Ryan Woodruff
Ryan.d.woodruff@gmail.com
This set is designed to help mimic the crucial transitions in IM sets. In my opinion, much of the difficulty in IM transitions is due to fatigue in the legs. The vertical kicking mimics the fatigue from one stroke and then we swim fast!
3x:
2:00 vertical dolphin kick (hands out of the water) straight into…
1 x 100 fast backstroke (50 splits must be within 1 sec of each other)
1 x 100 easy swim
Repeat additional times doing vertical flutter kick (for backstroke) followed by breaststroke swimming. For the br-fr transition, do vertical kicking with a weight followed by freestyle swimming. Intersperse these sets with longer IM sets for maximum effect.
Underwater Power Set
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Parkland Aquatic Club
One of the pools that we train at is 6 lanes (about 12 yards wide), perfect for practicing some FAST underwater dolphin kicking. We did this set just the other day. On repeats of multiple widths, they could take one breath at each turn.
12 x 1 width @ :20
50 ez swim
6 x 2 widths @ :40
50 ez swim
4 x 3 widths @ 1:00
50 ez swim
1 x 12 widths as fast as possible
Speed to Burn
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Parkland Aquatic Club
Try this one for a good race-pace set.
6 x 50 @ 1:00 at P200
200 easy swim @ 4:00
4 x 50 @ 1:00 at P200
2 x 25 @ :30 at P100
200 easy swim @ 4:00
2 x 50 @ 1:00 at P200
4 x 25 @ :30 at P100
200 easy swim @ 4:00
6 x 25 @ :30 at P100
200 easy swim @ 4:00
The Swimming Wizard 