Tag: Woodruff

Creating an Automated Starting System for Practice

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff

Several years ago, I was coaching between 12 and 20 swimmers at practice by myself, and I was looking for a way to time a series of 25s off the blocks. I wanted a system that could provide an audible “take your marks” command followed by a starting beep and repeat exactly 10.00 seconds apart. This would allow me to stand at the opposite end of the pool and accurately time the swimmers coming to the wall without having to verbally start each successive group. Below are the instructions for you to replicate the system I created.

I used a free iPhone app, a Bluetooth speaker, and my iPhone to create a system to make me a more efficient and accurate coach when we do quality sets.

First — the app. It is called IntervalTimer and is available for free in the iPhone App Store. I don’t know if it also exists for Android.

Next, I got a Bluetooth Speaker. There a lot of options available. I used the Ion Pathfinder Rugged Bluetooth Portable Speaker and set it where it won’t get wet. If you get a waterproof one, it works to set it between the starting blocks. My speaker was able to connect to my phone from over 50m away, which was helpful for long course season.

In the app, I created a timer using the HIIT template. I created 2 intervals – one called “Go” and one called “Take Your Mark.” I also chose to do 3 sets (you can choose whatever number you like), toggled “Repeat” to ON, and set it for “x100”. This creates a loop that would do starts for 50 minutes non-stop, more than long enough for most of our quality sets. Make sure you have all the settings as I have it pictured.

When setting up “Go”, and “Take Your Mark,” I set the sound settings as pictured below.

These settings show a countdown from :08 to :00, at which time the app says “Take your marks” and two seconds later sounds a loud “ding” sound.

A few final tips for usage:

  • Make sure you are connected to speaker via Bluetooth and that your phone maintains a clean line-of-sight to the speaker.
  • When you start the timer, it takes about a second for the app to begin. This is only important if you are syncing it up to your pace clock – just hit start when your pace clock says XX:X9.
  • Be sure to set your phone on “Do Not Disturb” to avoid any awkward phone calls that disrupt your timer.
  • I DO NOT RECOMMEND USING THIS SYSTEM WITH 12 & UNDERS. Make sure that all swimmers understand that if they dive in and their goggles come off, they should not stop — there is another swimmer coming 10 seconds later. MAKE SURE ALL SWIMMERS UNDERSTAND THE SET AND HOW TO SAFELY USE THIS SYSTEM.

If you use this system and have any questions or feedback, please let me know at swimmingwizard@gmail.com.

175 Beats

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCY

Swimmers can choose their stroke on the 175s, but kept it the same for 3 x 175s in a row. The goal on each 175 is to beat your best 200 time. This isn’t a huge goal for 1, but as fatigue starts to accumulate, this set becomes more difficult.

Resist-Assist-BOOM!

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCY

We used stretch cords for this one. The 4-cycle sprints were done with the belt attached to a cord with a teammate holding the cord for resistance. They would quickly move to the outside lane for an assisted 25 with teammates pulling each other on the cord. As soon as possible after the assisted 25, we started the 75 off the block (OTB). We got some excellent performances on the 75s.

Front-Half I.M.

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

This set gave us some work on the front half of the IM, specifically descending the backstroke coming off the fly. The next time we do something like this, I will probably add a bit more fly. The last part of the set served as a little speed work before a quality set to finish practice.

Infinity 50s

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

Of course they’re not really infinite, but they might feel that way!

This one’s a mindbender. Start by doing 50s off the blocks. When coach is satisfied that the desired level of work has been achieved, the round may end and the 200 smooth commences. An even better way to end the round is to throw out a goal time for a particular swimmer to end the round for the group. Start with an outlandish number. If failure occurs, the group does another 50 and then a second swimmer gets a goal time, a bit more reasonable. Repeat until success. Carefully monitor how the team responds. Do they rally together or get negative and resentful? Use it as a team-building exercise. Coach determines how many rounds.

Inside-Out I.M. Set

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCY

This IM and Free set was a good one for us. The intervals indicated were for a portion of our group with 500 free times generally sub-5:00 and 400 IM times sub-4:20. We really tried to hit the 50s hard, with the big 1:30 interval serving as a decent mental break.

5 x 500
#1 – Free @6:00
#2 – 100 Free/100 IM @6:15
#3 – 100 IM/100 Free @6:20
#4 – 200 IM/100 Fr/200 IM @6:30
#5 – 5 x 100 IM @6:40

7 x 50 FPA (Fastest Possible Average) @1:30
Odds IM Order
Evens Transitions
#2 – Fly/Bk
#4 – Bk/Br
#6 – Br/Fr

5 x 500
Same as before but in opposite
order (finish with 500 free)

Quick Vertical Kick

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

Vertical kicking works great in our 9-ft deep end. :30 is done with three arms across the chest. :20 done with hands out of the water. :10 done in a streamline position. Blast-offs involve sinking to the bottom and then rocketing through the surface as high as possible. Hit the 25 underwater dolphin kick with as much effort as possible.

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.