Tempo Work with Cornell Men’s Swimming

Jake Lichter, Assistant Men’s Swim Coach, Cornell University

This afternoon workout (following this morning workout) was all about giving them some speed and opportunities to go fast. Our guys are crazy competitive so the flag races were a blast and got them working hard without realizing it. This set them up well going into the 30 x 50.

10 x 50 fr/bk on :50
8 x 75 k/d/s on 1:10
6 x 150 on 2:00 Paddles
O: hyp 3-5-7
E: hyp 5-7-9

4x
4 x 25 from mid pool Dec 1-4 on :30
1&2: no propulsive movement, get back to middle on jump alone
3: Identify when you start to slow down then kick and break out
4: Put it all together
1 x 50 of that stroke on 1:00 Put it all together with the two turns

10:00 Flag Races
Start with both hands on the wall, whistle jump out to the flags, flip at the flags and sprint back to the wall

Tempo work
30 x 50 on :50
Distance
2x
6 @ [1000p] + 1 EZ
4 @ [500p] + 1 EZ
2 @ [200p] + 1 EZ

Mid Distance 1
1: Fast (100-200p)
1: EZ

Mid Distance 2
1: Fast (100-200p)
2: EZ


See Coach Lichter’s previous post IM/Free Ascend Descend set here.


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Speed Spectrum and Active Recovery

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

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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Lactate Threshold Set with Coach Andy Copley

Andy Copley, Malibu Canyon Aquatics

Lactate Threshold Set working on 2nd 50 of goal 100 with a little bit of underwater dolphin kick worked in…
GEAR: Fins; Tempo Trainer
7×50 w/fins @ 2nd 50 goal pace                    1:00
8×25 no fins, 12subkk @ .45 tempo               :25
6×50 w/fins @ 2nd 50 goal pace                     :55
10×25 no fins, 14subkk @ .45 tempo              :30
5×50 w/fins @ 2nd 50 goal pace                     :50
12×25 no fins, 16subkk @ .45 tempo              :35
4×50 w/fins @ 2nd 50 goal pace                      :45

I do variations of this set a few times each season with different strokes, going off the blocks, etc… it has been one of my most effective sets for a couple of years now as the kids love it and I always get a huge effort out of everybody.

500 Race Pace Challenge Set

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

500 Free Race Pace Challenge Set. Intervals were for SCM for swimmers whose best times are sub-5:00. 50s were do-able, 100s were challenging, and the 150 turned out to be a very tough swim at this point in the season.

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Freestyle Race Pace Spectrum

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

This set allowed us to hit race over a range of distances from 100 to 500 pace. It seemed a good challenge — doable and not super-hard.

SCY

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Race Speed with Coach Heiko Fikenzer

Coach Heiko Fikenzer, SV Neptun Recklinghausen, Germany

This plan we did on SCM. We always have 3 lanes and today 5 swimmers per lane.

Pre and Quality – Set we did 2 times – 1 in Stroke (not Free) and 1 in Second Stroke/Free or IM.

bel = choice
TÜ = drill

Be = kick  (with speed variation)

The Main Set are Broken 200 – each with 20seconds Rest – only the last starts at A:0:30
Rü = Back ez
Kr = Free  ez

Flo means Fins

I love the progression of speed during the set – ok – not only me – the swimmers too 😊

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200 Race Pace Set with Coach Sinclair

Josh Sinclair

Working at an all boys school with some talented boys aged 10-14.  This is a 200 LC pace set I did with them that had them blowing… but they loved it.  Had a good teaching element to it as well in how to attack their 200.  I jokingly nicknamed this the ride the unicorn set as I challenged the squad to try and get 50’s 2-4 to be as close in time as possible to the 1st 50.

Decoding the set

TS = team swim

MPT = mid pool turn

DK = dolphin kicks

DS = dive start

FS = float start

PS = push start

DPS = distance per stroke

F.A.T = for a time

PBB = pull buoy + band

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200 Race Pace Stroke Set

Alex Morris, Kansas City Blazers

Looking to build speed on the stroke 50s throughout the set, work on closing speed in a 200 race

2 rounds, can change stroke between rounds

100 free @ 1:45

2×50 stroke @ :50 – 200RP +1

100 Free @ 1:45

4×50 @ 1:00 – @ 200RP

100 free @ 1:45

6×50 @ 1:10 – 200RP -1

300 ez – 50 kick/50 scull/50 drill

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Build-up 100s

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

LCM

We did this quality set interspersed with some stretch cord work today.

The goal on the 35 and 65 was to get a total time faster than your best 100.

Goal on the 85 was to beat best 100 time by 4 seconds.

Goal on the 100 was simply AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.

I really liked how it demanded flat-out speed early on and then encouraged them to hold it for longer.

400 Free Race Prep Set with Coach Westerberg

Gordy Westerberg, Clovis Swim Club

3 Rounds

50 chute for feel

50 from dive on :50

3×100 at 400 pace on interval ~25 seconds rest

50 push all out

E200

Goal of this set was to work on the middle 300 of a 400. I wanted them to go fast on the dive, not reckless, so they start the 3x100s with an elevated HR. Then apply pressure on all 3 100s. Once they are really tired, then sprint that last 50.

Results? They were way too conservative on round 1 in the dive and first 2 100s. Round 2 was better and then round 3 is where they should’ve been.