Tag: Freestyle

Free and Stroke Set for SCM

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

We performed this set in a SCM pool, same as for most of the sets I post during the September-May time period. In this one, the time expectation of beating our best 500 SCY time during each 400 was key to the success of the set.

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Free and Stroke Set for SCM.

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Middle Distance Push/Tolerance Set (42-48 min, 3000)

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Brad Herndon
Head Coach
Greensboro Community YMCA

These intervals worked well for us earlier this week (8th grade and up group with minimum of 3 Capital Classic cuts):
ALL = freestyle fastest possible holds each round, no equipment.  At end of set we recorded fastest 200, median 200 (time repeated the most), and the slowest 200.  This was all freestyle, our group was about 30 % A group, 70 % B group, higher failure rate on those last 2 with A group…1 min rest went really fast, this was a very successful set, kids stepped up:
A Group   B Group  
5 x 200’s @    2:40        3:00
1 min rest
4 x 200’s @    2:30        2:50
1 min rest
3 x 200’s @    2:20        2:40       
1 min rest
2 x 200’s @    2:10        2:30       
1 min rest
1 x 200 @       FASTEST POSSIBLE

Top Male (1 boy, only one other with median at 2:00) 1:52, 1:55, 1:56

Top Female (3 different girls around this mark) 2:03, 2:06, 2:08

Set for a Big Combined Group

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Todd Kramer
Assistant Coach
Columbia Swim Club

Here is a workout we did last week that ended up being fairly successful. This season, on Fridays we have to swim our Senior 2, 3, and 4 groups together due to limited pool hours. Swimmers range from 13 years old to 18, and in ability from just below Sectionals to OT qualifiers.

Our main set was this:
10×100 kick @ :10 rest. We gave each swimmer their total time for all 10x100s, they needed to subtract 90 seconds for the rest plus however far back in the lane the went. Kick must be the same for the entire set. 
1×500 kick – Goal was to beat their time for the 10x100s(with the math) divided by two
200 ez swim
10×100 free @ :10 rest – Same deal as above
1×500 free – Beat the time from the 10x100s(with the math) divided by two. 

I wasn’t sure how successful we would be on this set, but the overwhelming majority beat their goal time on the kick by a few seconds and those that missed were within five seconds or so. On the swim we were a little bit less successful, a little less than half beat their time, but again those that missed were within about five seconds or so. As a whole we were very happy with the efforts. We felt that the overwhelming majority of the swimmers did not take the easy way out and give less than their best on the 100s, so they set the bar high on their 500s. Overall it was a great practice and a good way to involve swimmers of different ability levels training together at the same time. 

Sprint Free Tournament

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

For the last 15 minutes of our practice, we only have 2 lanes for the 20 swimmers in our National group.  Today we had a fun “Sprint Free Tournament” in that time. Every swimmer must know his or her best 50 free time to the tenth of a second. Here’s how it works:

1. Coach selects a swimmer (or youngest can go first). This swimmer chooses a teammate to race in a 50 free.
2. The race is handicapped, meaning that if swimmer A’s best time is 24.0 and swimmer B’s best time is 25.2, swimmer A must swim a time at least 1.2 seconds faster than swimmer B to “win” the race.
3. The head to head race commences.  The winner advances to the next round. The loser is out.
4. Repeats steps 1 – 4 until all swimmers have competed once.  Continue until only 1 swimmer remains as the champ. Be sure to keep an eye on each competitor getting amounts of rest between swims to keep it fair.

Works best with 8, 16, or 32 swimmers, but can be done with any number. Enjoy!

Freestyle Pre-Set with Deep Practice

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

We used this as a little pre-set before a longer freestyle set.  It really helped many of our swimmers get in a “good technique groove.”

“Deep Practice” is a concept we use to denote whole-stroke swimming while maintaining a very specific focus on an aspect of the stroke.  The list at the bottom was our brainstormed list of freestyle deep practice possibilities.

First Set of a New Season

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

We started a new season today with some freestyle work emphasizing underwater kicking, technique and a little bit of speed (think reverse periodization).  Here is the set:

12 x 100 free @:20 rest with streamline sticks @ 6m off wall
#1 – done with open turns and clean breakouts, kicking out past the sticks
#2 – done with flip turns and clean breakouts, kicking out past the sticks
#3 – done with fast flip turns, fast dolphin kicks, and 1 sprint cycle after kicking out past the sticks

12 x 75 free with snorkel @ :15 rest with hockey pucks on bottom @ 6m off wall as breakout target
1st 25 scull “Y” position
2nd 25 reach and catch scull (high elbows)
3rd 25 one-arm free

12 x 50 free @ 1:00
odd minimum cycle count
even descend 2-4-6 and 8-10-12

12 x 25 free @ coach’s pace
odd RACE! off the blocks
even max uw distance dolphin kick and then swim ez

EZ Speed to Dramatic Descend Distance Set for LCM

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Coach Clarke Nyman
Eagle Swim Team 
Head Age Group Coach/Assistant Senior Coach

Swimmers will surprise themselves on this one.   If done intelligently, swimmers will get a lot of confidence and pride after this set.  [This set was completed 25 days out from peak competition.]
1x
      4×200 @ [:30 RI] EN2 FR Strong & Smooth
      -regroup-
      1×800 @ 12:00 EN3 [within 5 sec of cumulative broken time]
      3×300 @ 4:30 EN2 FR Descend 1-3 [to p1500]
      4×100 @ [:20 RI] EN2 Strong & Smooth w/ Tempo
      -regroup-
      1×400 @ 6:00 EN3 [within 5 sec of cumulative broken time]
      3×200 @ 3:00 EN2 FR Descend 1-3 [to p800]
      4×50 @ [:10 RI] EN2 Strong & Fast
      -regroup-
      1×200 @ 4:00 EN3 [within 5 sec of cumulative broken time]
      3×100 @ 1:30 EN2 FR Descend 1-3 [to p400]