Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This set was done a day after a very intense quality set of 50s. The aim was to be a bit less intense while covering some distance, then hitting a leg-heavy backstroke set. SCY.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This set was seeking a very specific pattern of pacing on each 600, as indicated by the line graph for each one. Failure to split it correctly meant repeating that 600. To interpret…
#1 – 300 at a consistent pace, 300 at a faster pace, also consistent
#2 – 3 x 200 descend, each one at a consistent pace
#3 – 2 sets of 3 x 100 descending
#4 – 4 x 100 descend + 200 fast and consistent
#5 – 3 x 100 descend + 300 fast and consistent
#6 – 2 x 100 descend + 400 fast and consistent
Here is how it turned out for our swimmer, with splits written next to each graph:
We had to do the first 600 twice due to some early set rusty-ness. Splits for the first of those two are not included.
Coach Gwynn Harrison, Bridgewater College
This is a test we do at least 1/season (often 2). I keep all results and have an all-time spread sheet of overall time and times for each effort. This way, swimmers can compare progress from 1st-2nd semester, as well as over course of career at Bridgewater. It started as a way to get the swimmers more comfortable on the blocks, and more able to swim back to back events during dual meets. Mostly, its a mental challenge because it is all the individual events of a college dual meet (short order) back to back, all best effort. I try to do it toward the end of our overload training period to mark the occasion 🙂 Though they complain about it – it occupys a positive tradition in our program
800 Free
200 Free
50 Free
200 IM
100 Fly
100 Free
100 Back
400 Free
100 Breast
**All 100’s + 50 free are done from dive in heats / all others are from push
*We are short course meters pool, so the distance events are 800/400 instead of 1000/500
*We go a 50 recovery after each effort and take an additional 1 minute between efforts
Coach Gwynn Harrison, Bridgewater College
Start at 200 and see how many 200’s you can hit at MILE PACE :30 RI (keep doing until you miss pace. If you miss, go 50 easy, then see how many 175’s you can hit at Mile PACE :30RI. Continue all the way down (with the 50 easy after each ‘miss):
150: 25 RI
125: 20 RI
100: 15 RI
75: 15 RI
50: :10 RI
25: :5 RI
The first time I did this set in the fall, the swimmers enjoyed the concept, but it was chaotic. The second time this week it was fantastic, with a few tweaks. Kids need a printout of each goal time and they need to be prepared to honestly keep track of their own made yardage. It also helps to have no more than 3 swimmers to a lane if possible (or start at opposite ends). It forces swimmers who never lead to take ownership of their own set, so they need to start with that fact in mind. Swimmers will go different yardage amounts in this set. When swimmers have completed their 1650, they then must actively cheer for those still finishing. It was a good galvanizing set for our distance group – and a confidence builder!
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this set 48 hours after coming off a brief taper for our high school state championships. We took the early descending sets a little light, and really hit the last 1500 pretty strong.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Our pool has been a little fuller the last few days with college swimmers coming home to train. This means having to consider our space a little differently when creating workouts.
This one was a good one-size-fits-all for us today. Some speed, some endurance, a little racing, some equipment, and some underwater work.
They are “Christmas 25s” because 12 x 25. For the 2nd round, we pulled 1-gallon buckets, and if swimmers went fr or fly, they were to hold their breathe for last 8m. The fourth round we did the even ones fast from a dive (HVO)
All around a solid day.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This is the kind of set I would have loved as an athlete. Simple. Room to get in a groove and go.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This freestyle set had our kids really working, and we got some excellent results both in the main set and on the broken 500.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
B3 = breathe every 3
FPA = Fastest Possible Average
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
FPA = Fastest Possible Average
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This set worked well this morning when we had swimmers of a variety of abilities and paces, often mixed in the same lane.
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This is a two part SCY workout. The first set was freestyle and had two options — long swims for the distance group, 75s for the middle distance kids. We did a 200 ez before the second part, which proved to be quite a challenge.
Part 1
Part 2
This set was first published here in May 2018.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This SCY set allowed us to keep the group together on the same 5:00 interval. Each group/lane swam different distances (as indicated at the bottom of the dry-erase board) based on their ability.
We started each new round together. Swimmers were instructed to descend (swim faster) across the three swims even if/when the distance might stay the same.
This set originally appeared on this blog in May 2018.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
I had our distance group try this set earlier this season. The idea was for them to do 6 swims of indeterminate length on a 9:00 interval. Swimmers could decide their distance using the guide written below. The instructions were to either go farther or go faster from swim #1-3 and again #4-6.
The set ended up just being O.K. The swimmers gave it a good effort, but I didn’t give them enough rest to really do a good job going faster/farther. Next time I would do it differently in one of two ways:
1. Tell them that they need to get at least :40 rest (i.e. be done before the 8:20 mark), or…
2. Swim for a certain amount of time (like 8:00) and have them increase the distance swum 1-3 and 4-6. This would allow them to swim a distance that isn’t a multiple of 25 (stopping mid-pool when coach yells stop at the 8:00 mark) and they could then return to the wall to start the next repeat.
We’ll be better next time!
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM pool. The goal was to really push ourselves to hold some aggressive times in practice. The main group did the top set while the distance crew did the bottom set.
If done in a SCY pool, I would probably change the goal on the 150 to “beat your best 200 time by :20”
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this set in a SCM pool, but it would work just as well in a SCY pool. Overall, our distance crew had a good day with this one.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Challenging set for our milers.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Morgan Cordle, 757 Swim
Jonathan Kaplan, Chris Bushelman, Jessica Laird, and Steve Medei, SwimRVA
This past Saturday, we brought our three teams together in Richmond, VA for a combined long course practice. We had three groups (Sprint, IM/Stroke, and Distance).
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Chris Bushelman led the warmup, which allowed everyone to make a new friend and get to know each other:
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Coach Morgan Cordle led the IM/Stroke Group:
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Coach Jonathan Kaplan led the Sprint Group:
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Initial Speed for 50 free
4 x HVOs
4 x Dive 30m sprint w specific breath placement
*count breaths to come on bottom
*150 easy after each and rest 1:30-2:00
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Sustained Speed for 50 free
(Cone at approx 20m)
With fins, Swim medium tempo no breath to the cone, take a breath, and then sprint 10 cycles no breath, take a breath then finish to the wall. 150 easy after each and rest 1:30-2:00
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100 Finish Speed and Tempo
3 rounds of Countdown Sprints w/Fins
followed by 4 x 25 breath restrictions (breath count goes lower each round)
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Coach Ryan Woodruff led the distance group:
After the workout, we had breakfast together at the pool and had some time for socializing.
Thank you SwimRVA for hosting us all! This was a great idea.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. The interval pattern on this makes for a good challenge. First you have to descend and then hang tough as the interval gets faster!
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This sort of “go until you fail” set is tough, and it seems to get the best out of a motivated athlete.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this set in SCM
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