Tag: Quality

NOVA Speed Endurance & Lactate Tolerance Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Coach Alex Muni, NOVA, Richmond, VA

For this one, I wanted to change things up with our athletes by loading the legs early and then going off the block with different broken reps. The idea is for them to finish the kick, hop out, get about :30 or so to get set and then send them on their way for a max effort swim. Two max effort reps in a row, one kick and one swim should spike their heart rates and blood lactate levels and force them to cope with the elevated levels for the remainder of the set. Between rounds, they should be getting anywhere from 30 to 45 seconds of rest following the recovery swim. 

Infinity 50s

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

Of course they’re not really infinite, but they might feel that way!

This one’s a mindbender. Start by doing 50s off the blocks. When coach is satisfied that the desired level of work has been achieved, the round may end and the 200 smooth commences. An even better way to end the round is to throw out a goal time for a particular swimmer to end the round for the group. Start with an outlandish number. If failure occurs, the group does another 50 and then a second swimmer gets a goal time, a bit more reasonable. Repeat until success. Carefully monitor how the team responds. Do they rally together or get negative and resentful? Use it as a team-building exercise. Coach determines how many rounds.

Push Your Limits 75s

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCM

This was a solid quality set for us recently. Swimmers were instructed to pick a stroke and stick with it for all 7x 75s of a round. We did this in short course meters — if we were doing it in short course yards I probably would cut the intervals down to 1:10 or 1:15. The 1:20 gave most our swimmers between :25 and :40 rest on each 75. The challenge is to hold your time as the repeats increase and then go even faster off the blocks in the last one.

High Octane with Nova of Virginia

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Alex Muni, Assistant National Coach – NOVA of VA Aquatics

For this one, we were targeting 100 pace and 50 speed. For the 50s off the block, swimmers were instructed to treat the race portion as they would a 50 (rate, power, and breathing (if free or fly)). For the 50s with equipment, we wanted them to get full reach and grab as well as getting as high out of the water as possible with assistance. There was a lot of race pace efforts, so active recovery was built into each swim/rep.

Not-So-Mini Mini Meet

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Coach Blake Proffitt, SwimRVA, Richmond, VA

SCY

Standard Warmup w/ a 600

(600+ 2×150 + 4 x 50)

6 x 50 descend 1-3 to P1000, 4-6 at P1000 @:50

Athletes swim entire championship lineup (minus 1650 free) consecutively, all timed finals

1,000 free (done as 10 x 100 free @:10 rest)

200 free @9:00

100 breast @6:00

100 fly @6:00

400 IM + break ➡️ day change @14:00

200 Fly @ 9:00

50 Free @ 6:00

200 Breast @9:00

100 Back @ 6:00

500 Free + break ➡️ day change @14:00

200 Back @9:00

100 Free @ 6:00

200 IM – Done!

Add up all times to determine your score!

Quality Freestyle Set with Coach Gwynn Harrison

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Coach Gwynn Harrison, Bridgewater College

We did this set in a 25m pool, so note send-offs and goals.

5 x 500 (broken into):

175 – within 10 seconds of goal 200 time in yards…

25 Easy

75 – 3+ seconds under goal 100 time in yards…

25 Easy

Dive 100 – Goal: take out of your 500 free…

50 Easy REGROUP – about 1:00 between sets

Be sure to check out Coach Harrison’s Short But High Intensity Free Set that we posted yesterday.

“Golden Race” 100s

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Coach Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

You may have heard about the Golden Race that debuted at the World Cup meet in Budapest recently. The race pitted the winners of the individual 100s against each other in a time-handicapped prize race. It’s an interesting twist on racing that we modified a bit to use at practice.

We were 2 days post-meet, so we have some recent fresh meet results.

3 x 100 Golden Race @ 7:00

We put 1 swimmer up on each block for a choice 100. Coach starts counting backwards with a stopwatch… 1:20…1:19…1:18…1:17 and so on. Each swimmer dives off the block for the 100 when they hear the time that they swam at the meet this past weekend. The winner is the one who finishes the 100 first. Essentially, the 100 is handicapped to their recent race results.

Swimmers enjoyed it and swam faster than expected. They could choose their stroke for each 100, and swimmers formed themselves into heats irrespective of speed.

The stopwatch that I started with the countdown can also be used to time the swimmers. Since I started counting down at 1:20, if the stopwatch reads 1:27.2 when the swimmer touches, then he swam approximately 7.2 slower than his meet time. This information allows swimmers to be racing the clock AND each other.

Next time I might try assigning swimmers to teams and awarding points for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.

Butterfly Focus with Blake Proffitt

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Blake Proffitt, SwimRVA

SCY


2x
2×25 fast Fly A-20 B-20/25 C-25
1×50 BK A/B/C-50
3×25
1×50
4×25
1×50
3×25
1×50
2×25
1:00R
Focus on the fly was holding the same distance and speed underwater and staying within a 1 cycle range on top of the water

They did a short recovery and went to the blocks for:


8x
100 FL on 1:30 with fins focusing on coordination at lower tempo
Fins came off
Hopped on the blocks and went a broken 50 25FR/25FL with :10R at the 25 on 1:30

The Best Practice We Have Had This Year

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

I know we aren’t very far into the year, but this one was REALLY good.

SCY

Swimmers partnered up. The 25s and 50s were fast off the blocks for time. Half of our group swam while the other half videoed them using their phones (“peer coaching”). Swimmers gave each other feedback. I was impressed with the quality of the feedback and the amount of teaching/learning that was happening. And we swam fast too!

Swimmer A would do all three of the 25s before swimmer B did the 25s. This allows for shorter time between performance, feedback, and repetition. Coach feedback was used to supplement and guide swimmer-provided feedback.