Tag: Distance

Christmas 25s and 500s

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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.

4 Lanes, 4 Speeds, 1 Freestyle Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

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.

The Set That Only Went O.K.

Posted on by rdwoodruff

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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Speed Spectrum and Active Recovery

Posted on by rdwoodruff

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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Swimming is the #FunnestSport, Particularly when Shared

Posted on by rdwoodruff

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)

For an explanation of countdown sprints, check out this article from SwimSwam featuring Coach Jonathan

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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.

Free the Flyers

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

Yesterday’s post was a fly set for our true Flyers. Today’s set was for the portion of our group that is primarily distance-free focused whom I also wanted to challenge with some fly.

This set was for SCM, and we had a “roll the dice” component just like the Flyers. In the case of the distance group, we rolled two dice and added the numbers rolled together to determine how many 50s we would do at the end of the set. The 50s were fly/free by 25 and hitting P1000 turned out to be a tough yet appropriate challenge.

500 Race Pace Challenge Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

500 Free Race Pace Challenge Set. Intervals were for SCM for swimmers whose best times are sub-5:00. 50s were do-able, 100s were challenging, and the 150 turned out to be a very tough swim at this point in the season.

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The 9 x 4

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

9 x 400 IM done as…(SCM)

#1

12 x 25 fast @:30 (4 each fly/bk/br)

1 x 100 free strong & steady @1:20

#2

4 x 100 IM @ 1:30 Descend 1-4

#3

1 x 400 IM @6:30 (descend #3-6-9)

#4

8 x 25 fast @:30 (4 each fly/bk)

1 x 100 breast strong & steady @1:30

1 x 100 free strong & steady @1:20

#5

2 x 200 IM @3:00 descend

#6

1 x 400 IM @6:30

#7

4 x 25 fast fly @:30

1 x 100 strong & steady bk @1:25

1 x 100 strong & steady br @1:30

1 x 100 strong & steady fr @1:20

#8

1 x 400 IM ez @6:30

#9

1 x 400 IM fast