Tag: Sprint

The Diamond Sprint Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

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

Posted on by rdwoodruff

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.

The Oxygen Sucker

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

The first 25 underwater kick will suck the oxygen out of you..then you gotta hit a FAST 50. 75 easy to recover, then do it again. SCM.

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Freestyle Tech/Aerobic/Sprint Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

We spent some time today trying to hone in on well-aligned long-axis rotation in freestyle.

Definitions of terms:

20-1-20-3-20-5 = 20 kicks on side, 1 stroke, 20 kicks, 3 strokes, 20 kicks, 5 strokes and repeat.

FPA = Fastest Possible Average

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Underwater Skills and Speed with 11-12s

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

This is part of a practice I did recently with our top 11-12s. Our main focus was on underwater kicking. Our pool has a black line across the bottom approximately 9 yards from the wall.

For the 1:00 vertical kick and rotate, we were flutter kicking with our arms folded across our chest, performing a 90 degree rotation about every 5 seconds accompanied by my demonstration.

Texas 25 = push off and streamline underwater kick to the black line, flip, 4 underwater kicks, sprint back to the wall, turn, 4 underwater kicks and sprint to the opposite end. Texas 25 = 45 yards (everything is bigger in Texas).

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Broken Bucket Challenge Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

I frequently post sets where we use buckets and I get some questions about what kinds of buckets we are using. Here is what we use:

It is a simple 1-gallon “paint bucket” from Home Depot. We string some paracord through the handle holes and then connect the bucket to a belt by a rope about 6 feet in length. The beats we use are recycled from old stretch cords.

This set worked well today. The broken 200 was challenging but the :10 rest allowed them to hold their stroke technique. The interval on the broken 200 and 100 allowed them to really get up and go on the 3 x 25. We cycled through 2 rotations of this station and some drag sox work.

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