Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This one has a little bit of everything.

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This one has a little bit of everything.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Every 50 and 75 was off the blocks.
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.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
OTB = Off the blocks
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.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. Split the group. Everyone was one or the other.
Coach Blake Proffitt, SwimRVA
SCY
A few terms to define:
HVO = race pace (or faster) dive 25
RIMO = Reverse IM order (Fr-Br-Bk-Fly)
KOB = Kick on Back
UDK = Underwater dolphin kick
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY. Today’s set combined two concepts. We used Golf (time in seconds + cycles per 50, descend the total 1-3) and Eddie Reese’s Texas 25s set. The result was some fast, efficient swimming. “That was harder than I expected!” said several swimmers with a smile.
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.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This was our full practice from Monday, June 27.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this set in SCM. FPA = Fastest Possible Average
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
OTB = off the blocks. PUSH = from a push (not from a dive). Pick a stroke and stick with it for a round.
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.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
OTB = Off the blocks
FPA = Fastest possible average
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This set was a pretty good one for us tonight. Swimmers who were diligent with their efforts got some very good results, particularly at the end. All of the 50s were swimmer’s choice of stroke, but the instructions were to stick with the same stroke for three 50s in a row. We did this set in a 25m pool. The 50s on :40 definitely made them feel the squeeze of fatigue, but they were able to give it a little extra juice when the interval opened up at the end.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this set this week and got some tremendous results. Swimmers got to choose their strokes by round. The 2 x 25s with the bucket seemed to help awaken their speed for the following 100. We did this in a SCM pool.
3x:
1 x 25 fast from start @:40
2 x 25 fast resisted with a bucket @:40
1 x 25 fast (no bucket) from a push @:40
1 x 100 easy swim any stroke 2:30
1 x 100 all out from dive
1 x 400 25 kick/25 swim with paddles and snorkels
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We started this set with about 40 minutes left in practice:
We started doing 50s fast from a dive. I wasn’t sure how many we would do. Just when I thought their enthusiasm (and speed) was starting to wane, I challenged an individual to hit a faster time to end the round for the group and start the 200 easy.
It worked better than I could have hoped. On each round, we had at least one swimmer expand their perception of their capability and get to be the hero for their teammates.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Each round of this set, we swapped in a mystery set that the swimmers did not know ahead of time as the “unique challenge” in brackets.
The last challenge was “Save your partner”. Each swimmer had to swim a 100 off the blocks under a certain coach-determined time. Fail to make the time and your partner has to do it too. It was a somewhat clumsy attempt to get some peer-pressure motivation going.
The rest of the set worked well, with some of the unique challenges being a bit off-the-wall.
FPA = Fastest Possible Average
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
LCM. This set makes use of the 12m diving well that sits alongside the 50m lanes we use. In order to maximize our space with our entire team practicing at once, we occasionally use it this way. For ease of communication, we call one width of the diving well a “25.”
We used 1-gallon buckets tied to waist belts for the set of 8 x50, timing each 25 and emphasizing racing a teammate.
For the diving well set, we used the aquavolo drag sox. The contrast between resisted kicking and non-resisted (when we take the Sox off) leads to some excellent speedy UW kicking.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Here is a recent practice of ours in its entirety (except the dryland, which was included in the 3 hours)
LCM
Coach Emily Wylam, University of Rochester
NB = No breath
Coach Emily Wylam, University of Rochester
For the “Partner pulls”: pulling their partner behind them and then release. I told the partners to be as unhelpful as possible, they really took that to heart!
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We got some great results with this one this morning. SCY.