Ken Thorley, Sha Mei Swim Club, Hong Kong.
Tag: Freestyle
IM and Free Ladder Up and Down
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
IMO = IM Order. 4DR = 4 Dolphin Kick Rule.
Mason Makos 14 & Under Freestyle Set
Coach Mike Cook, Mason Makos
Go Big and Then Pound That Pace
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This a two part SCY workout. The first set was a freestyle and has 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
Race Pace and Technique Set with Video
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We use 5 lanes of our 6-lane pool during practice. We did the following circuit that used an underwater camera hooked up to a time-delayed DVR and TV. The camera was positioned to gets “head-on” look at the swimmer coming down the lane. We looked at the video immediately after each swimmer finished the 25 in lane 6. This allowed us to make some technical adjustments while still performing a challenging set. Swimmers left the wall :15 apart so that the camera could adequately film each one.
Race Pattern and Descend
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
“Race Pattern” means swim similar relative splits as you plan to swim in the race.
Paddlehead and Descend
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
A little technique interspersed with a good descend back and free. SCM.
Tech, Sprint, & Habits
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Challenging Distance Pyramid
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Freestyle ➡️ Backstroke
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Medley Quality Mashup
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
5k’s are Really Popular These Days
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
The Seven-Rounder
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This distance set (SCM) was a tough but good one. We had many good swims on the last few 400s. The 300s/250s in between allowed for some individualization and good technical feedback.
Gotta Get Your Vitamin D
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Simple set, just getting in some work for the D Squad.
Fins On, Fins Off
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Our sprinters did this one the other day. We got some pretty good times on the 50.
Pre-Set for Freestyle Connection
Sam Davy, Swarthmore College
Fly Into Back or Free
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
The purpose of this set was to generate some fatigue with fast fly swims and then:
- For IMers, hold backstroke pace
- For sprinters, hold 200 free pace
- For distance swimmers, hold 500 pace
Our swimmers found it quite challenging. We had around a 50% success rate.
The Hand-Me-Down Set
This set (or something very similar) was given to me by Jon Jolley, Head Coach of the Hickory YMCA, who used it with his star pupil Ross Dant. Jon says it was given to him by Eddie Reese, legendary Texas and US Olympic coach. We gave it a spin, and it was definitely a good one.
The idea is for the red set to be at a relatively tight interval. The blue is essentially active recovery on the same interval. Do a good job descending, and it’s pretty demanding.
Age Group Open Water Nationals Set
Stations: Timed Underwater Kicks and Freestyle Technique
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We used these two stations to measure our underwater kicking ability, keeping half of the group busy with some freestyle technique work in the meantime.
No Joke IM Set
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We have one male swimmer who is a sub-4:00 400 IMer who had some pretty good results with this one recently.
Breast/Free Combo Set
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Boom Goes the Distance Set
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
B3 = breathe every 3 strokes
4 DR = 4-dolphin rule (at least 4 kicks off every wall
Low-key Aerobic Freestyle Set
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Feel-Good Descend-to-Race-Pace Set
Ryan Woodruff
The purpose of this set was to help our distance freestylers refine their sense of pace and feel pretty good doing it.
Distance Free for Technical Excellence
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
We tried to have a specific focus for the first half of each swim, and I wanted to see how well they continued to do these things on the 2nd half even though it wasn’t emphasized. We definitely saw some carryover.
Challenging Set for 400 IMers
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
This IM Set can get quite challenging in a hurry. The set is somewhat tame at the start, but switching out the Free in the later rounds adds an interesting wrinkle
1 x 300 25 IMO/50 Free @ 4:20
3x 1 x 100 IM FAST @ 1:40
1 x 200 25 IMO/25 Free @ 3:00 (go faster than 1st 200)
1 x 300 25 IMO/50 Free @ 4:20 (go faster than 1st 300)
- 1st round performed as written
- Intervals should be easy enough so that 1st round is not tight.
- 2nd round: Free parts are now backstroke.
- 3rd round: Free parts are now breaststroke.
- These changing strokes on the 2nd and 3rd rounds make the set dramatically harder.
- You may want to add :20-:30 extra rest between rounds if swimmers are not strong 400 IMers.
Aerobic Freestyle with Details
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
This aerobic freestyle set mostly called for moderate pace swimming, but we were looking for some very specific technical details.
Deceptively Hard Set with Coach Brad Robbins
Brad Robbins
Tigard Tualatin Swim Club
Here was one we did recently that started deceptively easy, but had them working super hard by the end.
Goal was to be their best 200 time + 5 sec or faster. Bonus points for being under their best time.
Did you like this set? Try this IM Transitions Set and this Early Season Spice with Just a Touch of Fly also from Coach Robbins.
Distance Free with Coach Ashraf Salah of Egypt
Ashraf Salah
Technical director & head coach
ALAHLY CLUB (Egypt)
The Swimming Wizard 