Our breaststroke group did this set using the green long belt slider from Strechcordz. The double pullout ensures that they feel resistance on all cycles 1-10. We got some excellent results on the descending 100s after the cords.
Many breaststrokers struggle on quality sets if they haven’t had a significant amount of breaststroke-specific warmup. This one was a bit of a pre-set specifically aimed at getting the br crew going.
We did this set the other day with a few of our 13-14 year-olds in SCY. It proved to be a motivating and challenging set.
In each 8:00 part, the goal was to do as many repeats of the given distance and stroke as possible. We recorded the total distance covered, which allowed us to calculate average pace and set goals for possible future sets.
Our breaststroke group did this set recently as preparation for our main race pace set. This set seemed to flow well and then we really had some great results on the race pace set (which I will post tomorrow).
SCY
Explanation of terms:
3K1P = 3 kicks 1 pull drill
2K1P = 2 kicks 1 pull drill
2 up/2 down= 2 strokes underwater, 2 normal strokes
In this one, we spent some time working on fly and breast together. It turned out to be a little more challenging than I expected. We did this SCM.
The 50s breast started out with 2 pullouts and swim the rest of the 1st 25. On the 2nd 25, do 2 cycles with a 3-second glide, and then 1 cycle with a 2 second glide, 1 cycle with a 1-second glide, and then hit “speed drill” br (narrow pull, narrow kick, fast hips a la Dave Salo) for the remainder of the 25.
Fly 25s we were looking for a consistently high effort and no breath on the last 7m into the finish. The 8 x 25 fly is only done once before you head back up the set.
This little breaststroke split was our last chunk of practice. We only had time to do 2 rounds, but our breaststroke group liked the combination of drill/swim and br/fr.
This set worked real well for some fast 200 free and 100 Stroke times this weekend, takes 44 minutes, 11 mins a round, they did this 2 weeks out and were right on their 200 FR and 100 stroke goal times:
4x 3 x 175 FR @ 2:20 (hold goal 200 Fr time) 1 x 75 Stroke Fast @ 1:00 1 x 50 Stroke Fast @ 1:00 1 x 25 Stroke Fast @ 1:00 1 x 25 EZ @ 1:00 (start early after the 25 stroke fast)
Stroke = Swimmer chooses OR some did IMO by Round, but 4th Round = Fly-Back-Breast on the 75, then drop down by choice to finish with 25 of your best stroke (other than fr)
We did the following set to test our fitness and establish some training paces in freestyle and either backstroke or breaststroke. We had swimmers pair up to have one observer for each swimmer. This ensured we got accurate distances and also allowed us to count cycles. We will use this information in future practices.
SCY. Every good IMer needs to be a breaststroker. This set worked a little of both. We started from the shallow end of our SCY pool, so the 200 breast included 20 eggbeater kicks in a vertical streamlined position in the middle of each 50 where we would have deep water.
This set was first published to this blog in May 2020.
The first part of the set helped to reinforce good breaststroke technique, distance per stroke, etc. In the second part, we try to maintain cycle count over progressively longer distances at near race speed.
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These non-stop 6:00 swims repeated the instructions within the 6:00. At about 5:00, coach would yell “Go!” signifying a FAST 50 breast starting immediately.
The instructions on the second round are 5 cycles kick, 4 cycles Swim, 3 cycles speed drill (head up, narrow pull, narrow kick) and repeat.
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The 300 is done with a stretch cord with belts on both ends. Each swimmer wears a belt and hangs onto the cord about eight feet from the opposite belt end. Swimmers drag each other a 25 at a time. Follow up with the FPA (Fastest Possible Average) swims. SCM.
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