Tag: Quality

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.

The Speed Machine

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

Problem: Schedules and pool availability meant we had a crowded pool and only 5 lanes.

Solution: The Speed Machine

SCY with starting blocks at one end

Swimmers start in lane 1 and progress to lane 5. All swims timed by coach to a hand finish.

We did 8 rounds @7:00. Swimmers stick with a single stroke for each round.

Lane 1: 1 x Dive 25 fast, climb out and walk back around to lane 2 @1:30

Lane 2: 1 x Dive 25 fast, finish, get time, and then duck under the lane line to lane 3 @:40

Lane 3: 1 x 50 fast from push, get time, duck under lane line to lane 4 @:50

Lane 4: 1 x 50 fast from push, get time, duck under lane line to lane 5 @:50

Lane 5: 50 easy and then climb out and walk back around to lane 2 to begin the next round.

We went in a generally fastest-to-slowest order and swimmers went :10 apart. This setup allowed for excellent racing opportunities. Swimmers always had a swimmer faster or slower than them in the next lane to race.

Golf & Quality

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCY

Golf= add time (in seconds) + cycles (per 50). Bring this score down.
OTB = off the blocks, fast.
All choice, but do the Golf and OTB the same stroke for each part.
Context: we are less than 48 hours after our first SCY meet of the season, where we swam a very full order of events in short sessions. We had a medium-difficulty practice yesterday. We were on fire with this today.

Bit of Everything

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

LCM

We needed an all-purpose practice with a little bit of everything. This set was done in a 50m pool. (Olympic course).

3 rounds:

1 x 400 Free @ 5:20 Paddles & snorkel, steady pace but sprint 2 strokes into every turn

2 x 200 IM @ 3:10 Descend 1-2

3 x 100 No Free

Rd 1 – Descend 1-3 @ 2:00

Rd 2 – 50 fast/50ez @ 2:30

Rd 3 – FPA (Fastest Possible Average) @ 3:00

Split Distance and Sprint

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

We have days where the whole group does one workout. Other times, we split by strokes. On this day, we split along distance lines. Part of the group worked around their distance race pace, while the other group did a small number of intense 50s from a dive. The sprinters also watched their 50s back on video and did some active recovery during the 6:00 interval. This workout was in LCM.

LCM Sprint Stations

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

This was the second time we set up a series of sprint stations in our long course pool utilizing a 10m diving well and the regular lanes. We got some great times overall.

We rotated through the stations 3x. The buckets we use are like parachutes, but are just 1-gallon buckets from Home Depot.

The run & dive “50s” in the diving we are really just 20m (10m across the diving well and return), so they got lots of rest there.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Pre-Set with Fast Turns and Then We Go Racing!!!

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

In the pre-set, we used an approximately 10-foot long rope (with a loop in each end) to have a swimmer stand on deck and pull a teammate into a fast turn (imagine a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier accelerating from zero to takeoff) and then sprinting through the breakout and one cycle. P100 = 100m race pace. OTB = off the blocks, FAST!!! EZ = Easy speed. We did this set in a 25m pool.