Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This was our full practice from Monday, June 27.

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This was our full practice from Monday, June 27.
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
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA, Virginia
We did all of the 50s from a push until the last round when we went from a dive. Great performance by our team on this one.
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
SCM
Our pool has been a little fuller the last few days with college swimmers coming home to train. This means having to consider our space a little differently when creating workouts.
This one was a good one-size-fits-all for us today. Some speed, some endurance, a little racing, some equipment, and some underwater work.
They are “Christmas 25s” because 12 x 25. For the 2nd round, we pulled 1-gallon buckets, and if swimmers went fr or fly, they were to hold their breathe for last 8m. The fourth round we did the even ones fast from a dive (HVO)
All around a solid day.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Challenged our group with this one recently. Loved the results. Putting out a high level of effort that many times requires a high degree of focus and desire, but most got it done very well.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did these sets in a SCM pool. The cords provided some resisted power and assisted speed. The bucket set (we use 1-gallon buckets) was a fun competitive challenge and got the juices flowing for the group before we went into the broken 100s.
35m from dive + 65m from push = 100m
Ryan Wooodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
I have posted several “Hour of Power” type workouts on this blog over the years. Each one has been slightly different to work for the swimmers in my group that year, where we are in the season, and what course we were swimming (we train in SCM and SCY). Today’s version is one that I was particularly happy with for our squad for this year.
We used AquaVolo’s DragSox and simple 1-gallon buckets to pull behind us.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this set recently to work on our top-end speed. We used our pace cards to determine our goal times for the 35m sprints. Resisted sprints and dryland exercises helped get all motor units activated for the 35s.
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.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Brad Herndon, Head Coach GCY & Guilford College
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This was our SCY workout this morning. The race pace set at the end came from Mike Anzano of COM Aquatics
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
HVO = 25 from dive at ~P100
This set was originally published to this blog in May of 2018.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This set can be done in a SCM or LCM pool. All 35, 65, and 95s are done from a start and timed to the head crossing the line.
Athletes are instructed to go all out on the 35. The goal for the 65 equals 2 x 35m time. The goal for the 95 equals the 35m time + the 65m time.
4x
35m sprint, 100 ez @4:00
65m sprint, 100 ez @4:00
95m sprint, 100 ez @5:00
We did the set 4x through to allow our IMers to go 1x each stroke.
This set was originally published to this blog in May 2018.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This is an example of a set we would typically do about a week and a half to two weeks prior to a championship meet. It works front end speed and gets the legs burning too. 25m pool.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We used 1-gallon buckets and Aquavolo drag sox for this one.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This one came in two parts.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. We timed the first 15m from a dive with a target time from our pace cards. The next 70m was focused on good turns, breakouts, and underwaters. With 15m to go, swimmers paused and floated/sculled at the surface. When 1 swimmer in each lane was ready, a coach yelled “Go” and they commenced a sprint to the finish.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
OTB = off the blocks
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
LCM. The purpose of this set was to get us primed and ready for our main set. We did this in about 8 feet depth – the blastoffs involve sinking down to the bottom, pushing off, and exploding vertically through the surface while dolphin kicking. After the 5 sprint cycles, swimmers continued the rest of the 50 smooth.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Morgan Cordle, 757 Swim
Jonathan Kaplan, Chris Bushelman, Jessica Laird, and Steve Medei, SwimRVA
This past Saturday, we brought our three teams together in Richmond, VA for a combined long course practice. We had three groups (Sprint, IM/Stroke, and Distance).
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Chris Bushelman led the warmup, which allowed everyone to make a new friend and get to know each other:
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Coach Morgan Cordle led the IM/Stroke Group:
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Coach Jonathan Kaplan led the Sprint Group:
——-
Initial Speed for 50 free
4 x HVOs
4 x Dive 30m sprint w specific breath placement
*count breaths to come on bottom
*150 easy after each and rest 1:30-2:00
—-
Sustained Speed for 50 free
(Cone at approx 20m)
With fins, Swim medium tempo no breath to the cone, take a breath, and then sprint 10 cycles no breath, take a breath then finish to the wall. 150 easy after each and rest 1:30-2:00
——
100 Finish Speed and Tempo
3 rounds of Countdown Sprints w/Fins
followed by 4 x 25 breath restrictions (breath count goes lower each round)
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Coach Ryan Woodruff led the distance group:
After the workout, we had breakfast together at the pool and had some time for socializing.
Thank you SwimRVA for hosting us all! This was a great idea.