The Tag Relay

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

The Tag Relay is a fun challenge for your team that can help develop teamwork and flat-out speed.

If you are in a SCY pool, space out 4 to 8 swimmers along the lane in a circle-swimming pattern. For LCM you will need a few more (maybe 12-18). The first person will dive in, sprint to tag swimmer #2, who sprints to tag swimmer #3, and so on. You can do this for any distance and any stroke. Try having them go in medley order for fun. You will be surprised at how fast they can go when they touch hand-to-foot and get to practice it a few times. Try to break the national age group, American, or World records.

Distance Tempo Trainer + Kicking

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

Here’s another way to use a Tempo Trainer for a distance set. Set your Tempo Trainer for an appropriate tempo for the following aerobic set. This should be significantly slower than your Threshold Tempo. Do as many as you want, and experiment with different tempos to change up the intensity.

‘?’ x 300 freestyle
1st 100 – Swim at tempo
2nd 100 – 5 cycles swim at tempo/5 cycles streamline kick (6 beats per cycle) at tempo
3rd 100 – Swim at tempo

Breaking Down the IM

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA


This IM set should be quite challenging. It can help develop a sense of pace for the 400 IM as well as improve fitness and stamina.

1 x 100 fly at P400IM @ :10 rest
1 x 300 back/breast/free by 100, 50 drill/50 swim @ :20 rest
1 x 400 IM @ :30 rest
1 x 100 back at P400IM @ :10 rest
1 x 200 breast/free by 100, 50 drill/50 swim @ :20 rest
1 x 400 IM @ :30 rest
1 x 100 breast at P400IM @ :10 rest
1 x 100 free easy @ :20 rest
1 z 400 IM @ :30 rest
1 x 100 free at P400IM @ :10 rest
1 x 400 IM @ :30 rest

Descend the 400 IMs to all out on the last one. The 300, 200, and 100 following the P400IM are intended to be active recovery. Give them some bonus rest before the last one if you want to see them really go for it.

The Chunker

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

LCM
18 x 15 meter sprint @ 2:00

#1 – from a start
#2 – 7.5m in and out of a turn
#3 – from mid-pool into a finish

All start and turn sprints are timed to the head crossing the line. Swim easy between the repeats. Use this chart to see how fast your 15m “chunks” need to be based on your best time.

Power Towers

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

One of my favorite pieces of training equipment is the Power Tower. It’s a terrific tool for making your athletes stronger in the water. In order to keep our swimmers’ shoulders safe, we never load it up to see how much we can do. In order to determine proper levels of resistance for training, we gradually increase the resistance by pouring water into the bucket to find the maximum volume at which the athlete can hold a normal cycle count. Other teams put discrete amounts of weight into the buckets using water jugs, lead weights etc. We prefer to just use water and measure the amount using a yardstick. Any great Power Tower sets out there?

Here is on of ours:

20 x 50 @ 1:00 SCY
25 against the resistance fast, 5 each stroke in IM order
25 freestyle assisted, 1 breath max

The Million Yard Club

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This motivational idea comes from the Panama City Swim Team and Coach Jonathan Kaplan. Check it out on the PCST website.

The premise: Simply count daily yards for all of the swimmers on your team. Use an excel spreadsheet to make it simple to count up the running total. Recognize those swimmers who achieve milestones – 1 million, 2 million, 3 million, 4 million (!?!) yards. Post a weekly running total in a visible place at your facility. This exercise encourages attendance and becomes a good measuring stick for who “has been putting in the work.” Jonathan’s swimmers at PCST were able to achieve a million yards on mostly single practices, with doubles only in the summer months.

You can download a simple excel spreadsheet to begin keeping track of your athletes’ daily yardage here.

Back and Free Tempo Set

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

This set can be done backstroke or freestyle, and is meant to challenge the athlete’s ability to hold tempo. Use a Tempo Trainer and be sure to establish your Threshold Tempo (TT) first.

5 x 100 @ :20 rest (includes time to adjust your tempo trainer)

#1 – Hold TT + .30 for as long as possible, then swim perfect technique for the remainder
#2 – Hold TT + .20…
#3 – Hold TT + .10…
#4 – Hold TT…
#5 – Smooth perfect technique (recovery)

Perform multiple rounds if desired.

After the set, use The Swimming Calculator and your Cycle Count to determine what a reasonable time goal you could achieve if you were able to sustain your tempo longer than you did on the above set.

Breaststroke Arms Progression

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Ryan Woodruff

Here’s a brief progression to help your swimmer practice keeping the breaststroke arm stroke out in front of the body, avoiding pulling too far back underneath the chest.

4x:
4 x 25 breast drill
100 breaststroke swim on your back

Round 1: 25s are breaststroke kick with thumbs locked in front and the breath taking place just prior to the feet reaching the anchor point of the kick.

Round 2: Straight arm breaststroke – do not bend the elbows. This forces the athlete to do a small “scoop-and-shoot” using only the hands and wrists.

Round 3: Half-stroke breaststroke – press outward with the palms, and begin to catch with high elbows, but release the water with your hands early and shoot forward into the glide phase.

Round 4: Full-stroke breaststroke – just proceed a bit further than in Round 3, consistently keeping the hand in front of the vertical chin line.

Breaststroke swim on the back is exactly as it sounds. Athlete initiates the pull underwater above his head and pulls out and towards his feet until reaching shoulder level, at which point the hands are lifted out of the water and pushed forward over the face to the starting position. This drill helps the athlete become more aware of the position of his hands relative to his torso.

Friday Fly Day

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

100 LAST 25 IS FLY @ 1:10
300 LAST 50 IS FLY @ 3:30
500 LAST 100 IS FLY @ 5:50
700 LAST 200 IS FLY @ 8:10
800 FIRST AND LAST 100 ARE FLY, MAKE LAST ONE FASTER @ 9:40
600 FIRST AND LAST 100 ARE FLY, MAKE LAST ONE FASTER @ 7:20
400 FIRST AND LAST 100 ARE FLY, MAKE LAST ONE FASTER @ 5:00
200 BUTTERFLY SWIM FAST

Breaststroke Set #1

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

Here’s a breaststroke set emphasizing kicking and tempo

200 scull w snorkel and pull buoy (face in water, elbows high, fingertips down, no kicking) @ :20 rest

6 x 50 breast @ :50
#1- kick w/board – focus on fast heels-to-butt recovery
#2- swim, build tempo
#3- 25 strong swim/25 speed drill (UP TEMPO!)

:20 vertical eggbeater kick with 10 lb rubber brick, arms straight

100 ez backstroke w/ 4 + dolphin kicks off each wall
—
200 same
6×50 same
:40 vertical kick same
100 ez same
—-
200 same
6×50 same
1:00 vertical kick same
100 ez same

MoCo 50s

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
SCY

MoCo 50 = MOmentum COnservation 50

A MoCo 50 is an exercise in body position, streamlining, and efficiency. The idea is to conserve your momentum (keep it for as long as you can!) by using terrific body position. Here’s how to perform a MoCo 50:

1. Dive off the blocks with your best streamline.
2. Glide until you come to a stop (no kicking).
3. Immediately sprint into the wall and turn at full speed.
4. Streamline and glide until you come to a complete stop.
5. Immediately sprint into the wall with a perfect finish.
6. Slowest time and/or least distance swum wins!

The Perfect MoCo 50 = 1 stroke swum into the turn and 1 stroke swum into the finish).

Can you do it?

Vertical Kick + Power Tower

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

Some vertical kicking and Power Tower work to get you going:

1:00 vertical kick arms across chest
100 drill @ 2:00
8 x 25 Power Tower odd sprint/even EZ @ :40
:40 vertical kick with weight belt in front of chest
100 drill @ 2:00
6 x 25 Power Tower same as above
:20 vertical kick with weight belt held overhead
100 drill @ 2:00
4 x 25 Power Tower same as above

Carmel Combos

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Chris Plumb, Carmel Swim Club
chris@carmelswimclub.com

Here is a set we did this morning with kick-out bouys in past the flags

2 x 7 x 150

The 150 is always on a total of 2:00

#1: 50 on :30 100 on 1:30

#2: 50 on :35 100 on 1:25

#3: 50 on :40 100 on 1:20

#4: 50 on :45 100 on 1:15

#5: 50 on :50 100 on 1:10

#6: 50 on :55 100 on 1:05

#7: 50 on :60 100 on 1:00

Rest :60

For the second round, go backwards through set, starting with 100 on 1:00 etc.

 

Related Posts:
Yota Kick-Out Sticks
More Kick-out sticks
Twenty Ways to Do 20 x 25 #14
Streamline Sticks Progression

Late-Season Quality Set

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

Testing our ability to hold race pace:

4 x 200 75@P200 + 50 ez + 75@P200 @ 4:00
8 x 100 Descend 1-4 and 5-8 to P500 or P400IM or P200+5 @ 1:30
12 x 50 odd ez even @P200 @ 1:00
16 x 25 odd ez even @ P100 to a foot touch

Wednesday’s Masters Swim Workout

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

WARMUP
400 FREE SMOOTH SWIM
4 X 100 IM DRILL OR SWIM @ :10 REST
4 X 50 KICK WITH A BOARD DESCEND 1-4

600 PULL BREATHING 3/5 BY 100, DESCEND YOUR 200s

9 X 200 @ 3:30 WORKING ON COMING-HOME-SPEED FOR FREESTYLE
#1 & #7 – 175 SMOOTH@ :10 REST, 1 X 25 SPRINT
#2 & #6 – 150 SMOOTH @ :10 REST, 1 X 50 SPRINT
#3 & #5 – 125 SMOOTH @ :10 REST, 1 X 75 SPRINT
#4 – 100 SMOOTH @ :10 REST, 1 X 100 SPRINT @ 1:15
# 8 – ALL SMOOTH
#9 – FAST FOR TIME

12 x 50 @ 1:00 ANYTHING BUT FREE SPRINT 1 CYCLE ON #1 ( 2 CYCLES ON #2, UP TO 6 ON #6) OFF BOTH WALLS GET YOUR HEART RATE UP BRIEFLY HERE TO ENHANCE THE RECOVERY EFFECT

200 EZ SWIM DOWN

4200 YARDS

Teammate Slingshots

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Ryan Woodruff

This exercise builds off of the Teammate Drag. It is best done for a 25 at a time. Here is how it works. Swimmers are partnered, with one swimmer pulling (sprinting) and the other being pulled. Somewhere between the 15m marks, the trailing partner pulls the leading partner’s leg, attempting to slingshot to the lead. They then sprint to the wall. The kids love this exercise, and it really got them going pretty fast.

Here’s a video example:

Power Hour at SwimMAC Carolina

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Chris Webb, SwimMAC Carolina

Goal of set is promote sprint power/endurance and to bring it all together with measurable data at the end of the set for 100 speed. Using real stroke #'s and kick counts from meets are encouraged. Training at race #'s and speeds can really help athletes take ownership.  Using this set and variations ( or different equipment) during heavy volume periods can prevent losing touch with relevant speed and measure fatigue.  

60×25 on 1:00 fr/bk/or fly as follows:
 
4×25's  build to overspeed!
4×25's w/T-shirt MAX sprint
4×25's w/T-shirt & paddles MAX sprint
8×25's  running dive MAX sprint no equipment focus on carrying speed to surface and  your length of stroke

12×25 underwater Body dolphin (dolphin kick) w/fins  MAX sprint
8×25 running dive 12.5 – 15m underwater BD then swim MAX sprint

20×25 ideal BD off each wall with a stroke count and time  CPT (concentration, precision, and Technique) (you must know your kick and stroke #'s)

Practicing Race Habits

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
@WoodruffRyan

You can use this set to build up race habits and teach the desired race pattern. We put a watch only on the 4th 200, 100, and 50.

4 x 200 @ 3:30
#1 – 50 fast/150 ez – make the 2nd turn as good as the first
#2 – 100 fast/100 ez – hold tempo steady from 1st to 2nd 50
#3 – 150 fast/50 ez – work the 3rd 50 faster than the 2nd
#4 – 200 for time – put it all together!

100 easy

4 x 100 @ 2:30
#1 – 25 fast/75 ez – work breakout and hit the first turn dead on
#2 – 50 fast/50 ez – work 2nd turn as fast as the first
#3 – 75 fast/25 ez – strong kicking on the 3rd 25
#4 – 100 fast for time

100 easy

4 x 50 @ 1:30
#1 – 15m fast – work on the breakout
#2 – 25y fast- be aggressive into the turn
#3 – 40y fast then cruise to a perfect finish
#4 – 50 fast for time

Partner Relay Kicks

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

This set got some good kicking intensity out of our kids.

3 x 400 kick. Swimmers are paired together to make even teams. One swimmer kicks the first 50 and then tags off to the second swimmer. Alternating 50s, they do the set at maximum speed. The team that is in 1st place after a 200 may stop to rest for the remainder of the 400. At the 250, the fastest remaining team may stop. At the 300, the fastest remaining team again may stop, etc. The last few teams will kick the entire 400, while those who earned the rest are rewarded for their kicking prowess and effort. With each 400, change the prescribed kick. For #1 – everyone does flutter kick with a board, for #2 – everyone does breaststroke kick, for #3 – everyone does 25 underwater dolphin kick and 25 dolphin kick on your back. These are just examples. Mix it up however you wish. The point is to encourage and reward fast kicking and have your swimmers working together as teammates.

9 Ways to Train I.M.

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Ryan Woodruff

We all know that I.M. is a great way to put some variety into your training. Here are some ways to put a little variety into your variety.

#1 – Reverse I.M. A commonly used version, simply swim the strokes in reverse order.
#2 – Free I.M. Good for masters swimmers who are fly-reluctant or for any time that you want to get good back, breast, and free training without the butterfly. Simply substitute freestyle in for the butterfly portions of the I.M.
#3 – Inside-out I.M. Swim the strokes in the order Back-Fly-Free-Breast
#4 – Fat I.M. – Do these for lengths that are 25% longer than your standard I.M.-125s, 250s, 500s, etc. Double up on one of the strokes (this is the Fat stroke). A 250 Fat I.M. (Back) would thus be 50 Fly/100 back/50 breast/50 free.
#5 – Lemon I.M.
#6 – Emily I.M.- For swimmers with knee injuries/pain or whose breaststroke is not a focus of your efforts for improvement. Swim backstroke double the normal distance and leave out breaststroke altogether. Yes, this is named after a swimmer.
#7 – Baltimore I.M.s
#8 – Skinny I.M. This is the opposite of Fat I.M.s Swim distances like 175s, 350s, etc. Cut the distance of one stroke in half.
#9 – Gator I.M. Alternate stroke and free. A 300 Gator I.M. would be 50 fly/50 free/50 back/50 free/50 breast/50 free.

Do you have any other interesting or creative ways of training I.M.?

Carolina Quality Set

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

This is a good straight-forward quality set to challenge your swimmers. Every swim is race from a dive except the last 3 x 25s (go from a push)

1 x 200 @ 4:00 Goal: within 12 sec of personal best
2 x 100 @ 2:00 Goal: within 6 sec of personal best
3 x 50 @ 1:20 Goal: within 3 sec of personal best (free) or within 1 of P100 dive split
4 x 25 @ :40 Goal: at P100

Use the Determining Race Pace Spreadsheet for SCY to determine your goal times for the 50s and 25s.

Other Race Pace Sets:
Another P200 Set
The Ohio Mile Set
The 25 x 50 Challenge Set
The P500 Challenge

Twenty Ways to Do 20 x 25 – #18

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Chris Plumb, Carmel Swim Club

#18 – P100 All the Way

Set the Tempo Trainer for your 100 pace using this chart.

Take as much rest as needed to make the pace. Beat your 100 pace to your feet every time.

Other Swimming Wizard Tempo Trainer Posts:
Aerobic Tempo Set
Sub-Threshold Tempo Set
The Whatchamacallit
Twenty Ways to Do 20 x 25 #9
Find Your Threshold Tempo

The Near-Race-Pace Set

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

This set is designed for the swimmers to achieve near-race-pace speeds and progress in intensity through the set.

4 x 175 @ 3:30 Beat your best 200 time
400 ez swim
6 x 90 (float the last 10)@ 3:00 Beat your best 100 time
400 ez swim
8 x 50 @ 2:30 Be within 2.0 sec of your best 50 free time or within 1.0 of your dive P100 time (see the Race Pace Calculator to determine this time).

Done correctly, the athlete will be swimming at 88% of 200 race pace on the 175s, at 90% of 100 race pace on the 90s, and at least 90% OF 100 race pace on the 50s.

More Fun With PVC Pipes – Kick Sticks

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Chad Onken, YMCA of the Triangle Area

Here is another “fun” thing we do at YOTA. We have a 4 foot piece of 1/2 inch PVC piping that we drilled holes into on each side. We strung through a mesh bag on both sides. We use these “kick sticks” to focus on proper body position and core stability while kicking. The resistance of the mesh bags adds a bit of a challenge. We'll do a series of fast and moderate kicking, with a majority of the kicking underwater (no breath) or with a snorkel (proper head position). It breaks the monotony of using a kickboard or kicking on your back. You can kick with fins, shoes, snorkels – the possibilities are endless. It's a great tool to focus on strong, fast legs…..