Tag: Quality

The I.M. Merry-Go-Round

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCM. We did this IM Set recently. At the conclusion of the set I asked each swimmer two give me two scores on a scale of 1-10. The first score was for how challenging the set was (lowest score was an 8), the second was for how well they thought they did (lowest score was a 7).

Note the stroke instructions on the right were different for each of the four parts on each round. On the 16×25 of the fly round, the EZ 25 was permitted to be freestyle, but on all other rounds all 25s were of the specific stroke.

Total distance: 4,000m

Total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Q: Why is it called the “I.M. Merry-Go-Round”?

A: Because it looks fun, but after an hour you can’t wait for it to stop!

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Speed Spectrum and Active Recovery

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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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10-minute Race Pace Rounds with a Quote

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

For this set we split the group up into distance and mid/sprint to do these sets in parallel. This allowed me to time both groups by myself on a single watch. Both groups commented that they thought the race pace set was tough but they liked it.

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The Dollar Store

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

Remember when everything used to be $1 at the dollar store?  Simple and easy to figure out like today’s workout intervals.

60 x ? @ 1:00

Done in 6 sets of 10. Everything is @ 1:00. Every set finishes with 1:00 vertical kick with hands out of the water. This allows time to see the next set of 10.  FPA = Fastest Possible Average. JMI = Just Make It

Set #1 — 3 x ( 25 no breath free + 50 choice FPA + 75 JMI) + 1:00 vertical kick

Set #2 — 4.5 x (50 choice FPA + 75 JMI) + 1:00 vertical kick

Set #3 — 3 x (75 choice FPA + 50 ez choice) + 100 Free FPA + 50 ez + 100 Free FPA + 1:00 vertical kick

Set #4 — 3 x ( 25 no breath free + 50 build w fast turn + 75 choice FPA) + 1:00 vertical kick

Set #5 — 25 all out + 50 ez + 50 all out + 50 ez + 75 all out + 50 ez + 50 all out + 25 ez + 25 all out + 1:00 vertical kick

Set #6 – 4.5 x (100 free FPA + 50 ez) + 1:00 vertical kick

 

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The Diamond Sprint Set

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Coach Rory McGlynn, ESB Swimming Club

I thought I might share a deceivingly tough sprint set that I drop on my home programme 2-3 times per season.

Depending on what you are looking for , I have sometimes only timed the 50’s or just the 100’s. 

On one occasion we turned off all the pace clocks and simply went off whistle on each interval, focusing on effort level and technical aspects such as the efficiency of breakouts under pressure.

The Hour of Power

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

This set was originally posted here October 17, 2018

Every swim was on a 1:00 interval. Everything is fast unless otherwise indicated. In a few cases, we had to add an extra 25 easy to get our swimmers back to the end of the pool with all of our equipment. Otherwise, this set worked really well. SCM.

Hour of Power 25s with Coach Leroy

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Mathieu Leroy, Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club, UK

Who said 25’s can’t be hard?

Age-Group 13/18 yo.

50-100 swimmers (even 200).

Power and lactic workout.

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Quality Pyramid

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

We did this set off the blocks, and several of our swimmers said they liked it despite the fact that it turned out to be much harder than they expected. SCM.

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Vert Kick and then Beat Your Best

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

On the 175s, the goal is to beat your best 200 time (should get them at least :20 rest on those).

This turned out to be a good set for us, though we ended up needing to make some modifications at the end due to time constraints.

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Fasts 75s + 150 Challenge

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

3x:

3x (75 fast from dive+75 ez)@2:30

1x (150 fast + 150 ez) @6:00

The goal on the 75s was just to be fast, execute excellent turns, and hold good technique.

For the 150s, we set a specific time goal based on the 75s.

For Free and Back, that goal was 2 x (best 75 time) + 6 seconds

For Breast and Fly, that goal was 2 x (best 75 time) + 10 seconds.

With those goals, we were able to get a pretty high level of effort with a high success rate.

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Meat Grinders

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Coach Ethan Leach

This set is called “Meat Grinders.” It says to do 2 rounds, but it was built to be stopped around halfway through the first round and started over, pushing the swimmers to their limit.

2 x [8 x 50 ALL OUT SPRINT, from the block, last person touch]
FL down, IMO back
(example: #1 FL/FL, #2 FL/BK, #3 FL/BR…)
Really emphasize the fact that the entire set is ALL OUT, so that when they start to slack off you threaten them with starting over again.
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