Tag: Speed

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. 

NOVA of Virginia Short Burst Speed and Speed Endurance

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Coach Alex Muni, Nova of Virginia

DKOB= Dolphin Kick on Back

“We are using different equipment to get different feel for the water and emphasizing/amplifying the use of different limbs to generate different speeds. In this set, I have the group descending 50s kick to a max effort and then going into a sustained speed group of 25s – they are trying to maintain tempo and overall effort under different fatiguing conditions which will help them adapt not only within an individual race, but in different races. The yardage isn’t high, but the effort and thought going into each effort should be.”

Push Your Limits 75s

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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.

5 lanes, 34 swimmers. Speed, Underwaters, and Dryland.

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

This is the sort of workout that could work well in the context of many high school practices. We had 5 lanes (lanes 2 through 6 in our pool). Swimmers dive off the blocks in lanes 3,4, and 5 for an all out 25. Their next instruction was depends on what lane they were in – either a 15m underwater kick, 5 push-ups/10 squats, or a 15m sprint. Get back behind the blocks and do it again!

IM Transitions and Descend

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCY

We had a very full pool for this workout , with many of our collegiate swimmers home for the holidays. This set allowed us to get in some work that works for everyone. Intervals were spacious and allowed for some solid descending work. Saw some good speed on the final 100 off the block.

“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

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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

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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

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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.

Race Pace Set For Split Group

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCM

For this set, our training group was organized into swimmers who specialize in 200 & down (shorter) events and those who specialize in 200 & up (longer) events. For the first two rounds, the instructions were the same. For the last two rounds, we performed the 50s slightly differently.

P200 = Race pace for a 200 yard event

P100 = Race pace for a 100 yard event

P500 = Race pace for a 500 yard event

PMile= Race pace for the 1650

EZ = Easy

The 500 served as active recovery/technique work and preparation for the following set of 50s.

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.

Animal 50s

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

We did this set in a pool with maximum depth of 4.5 feet. That allows for some challenging blastoffs (push vertically off the bottom in a streamline) and some good vertical turns (push off the bottom into a flip turn that happens mostly OUT of the water). We ended up doing them on 1:30 in a 25m pool.