Tag: Woodruff

The 10 Best Things I Read, Watched, and Listened to This Year

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

As a coach who is interested in personal improvement and being the best coach that I can be for my athletes, I am constantly on the lookout for ideas, motivation, and knowledge that can help me.  Here are a few of the best things I came across this year.

You are missing out if you aren’t part of the (1) Swim Coaches Idea Exchange on Facebook. With nearly 5,000 members, there is nearly always a pithy discussion of technique and tons of fresh ideas.  Be sure to check out posts from Jonty Skinner to be the at the tip of the spear when it comes to freestyle technique especially.

On my drive to and from practice, I love to listen to podcasts on a variety of subjects.  By far the best podcast I listened to this year was (2) Michael Gervais’ interview with former swim coach Sean Hutchison. Interesting, inspiring, and thought-provoking.

I got my start coaching with Gregg Troy at Florida, and reading (3) SwimmingScience.net’s Notes on his talk “Garbage Yards and Other Things that Work” was a reminder of the power of commitment that he always emphasized to the Gator teams that I was around.

If you have been paying attention on the club scene, then you know about the recent success of the York YMCA and Coach Michael Brooks’ swimmers.  I found this (4) great summary of his philosophy from his time at Brophy Prep.  He took many somewhat-formed thoughts right out of my head and put them down on paper in a clear, succinct, and firm way.

Here is my (5) favorite new drill of the year from Eagle Swim Team’s Scott Ward.  Swimmers love it, and it helps them with a critical skill in freestyle.

I have no idea if (6) this is a superior way to break out, but I love it as an example of outside-the-box thinking by the coaches at Tennessee.

My favorite passage I came across in my reading this year is from “The Olympian” by Brian Glanville written in 1969 (7):

I always enjoy reading Paul Yetter’s thoughts on his Create Performance blog.  This post was particularly insightful: (8) The Road to Greatness has Dips and Turns.

It has been interesting following along with Glenn Mills and Rachel Stratton-Mills as they have been on their Quest.  This article really hit home with me – (9) “Unreal Expectations.”

Jake Shellenberger wrote (10) “My 5 Top Drills for Sprint Freestyle,” a very helpful and informative post with more detail than your typical “listicle.”

What great resources did I miss?

Here is my list from 2013 and my list from 2012

 

Backstroke & IM Set with Deep Practice

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

We have been using this concept of “Deep Practice” lately with some success.  The idea is that you swim the full stroke (as opposed to drill, where you swim part-stroke) and simply emphasize a particular technical element.  This set is focused on backstroke technique at the beginning and then includes some fatigued backstroke as part of unbalanced 200 IMs, Seemed to do the trick.

Barely legible at the bottom it reads “Fly is always fast” and “use backstroke as primary means of descending.”

Can You Survive "The Hurricane"?

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
 

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“More days to come
New places to go
I’ve got to leave
It’s time for a show

Here I am, rock you like a hurricane”

-The Scorpions, “Rock You Like a Hurricane”

WARMUP Churn the waters– 20 MINUTES NON-STOP OF:

200 SMOOTH FREE
10 STREAMLINE BLASTOFFS OFF THE BOTTOM
100 KICK W/BOARD
100 SMOOTH NO FREE
10 STREAMLINE BLASTOFFS
50 KICK FAST W/ BOARD

MAIN SET – “THE HURRICANE”
The intensity builds and builds until you reach the “Eye-M” in the middle. The intensity hits strong again shortly thereafter.

Descend the 1st four 500s, Pull is optional on all 100s
500 FREE STRONG @ 5:40
4 X 100 EZ @ 1:15
500 FREE STRONG @ 5:40
3 X 100 EZ @ 1:15
500 FREE STRONG @ 5:40
2 X 100 EZ @ 1:15
500 FREE STRONG @ 5:40
1 X 100 EZ @ 1:15

800 REVERSE “Eye-M” 50 KICK/100 DRILL/50 SWIM

500 FREE STEADY B3 @ 5:40
4 X 100 F.P.A. @ 1:10              F.P.A. = Fastest Possible Average
500 FREE STEADY B3 @ 5:40
3 X 100 F.P.A. @ 1:10
500 FREE STEADY B3 @ 5:40
2 X 100 F.P.A. @ 1:10
500 FREE STEADY B3 @ 5:40
1 X 100 F.P.A. @ 1:10

WARM DOWN SET
? X 25 @ :30 CHOICE, DESCEND CYCLE COUNT 1-4 AND REPEAT

This set was originally published March 30, 2011 here at the Swimming Wizard Blog

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The "Approaching 200" Challenge Set

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
 
The purpose of this set is to challenge swimmers by having them swim at paces and for distances that gradually approach 200 race pace.  When we did the set, we started with 175s all freestyle, and then progressed to the 180s and beyond done as athlete’s choice of stroke.  Swimmers were timed to a hand touch on the 175s, and then were timed to their head breaking the line. We used a cone on the side of the pool and multiple cones on the bottom of the pool to mark the required distance.  Our swimmers were very successful making the goal time (lifetime best time) all the way through the 190 yards and several were successful at the 195y distance.

Pacing the 1500 Like a Pro

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

I gave this set (in short course meters) to my distance swimmers recently.  The idea is predicated around Russell Mark’s observations on pacing the 1500 free at the elite level.  He has observed that the very best milers have tremendous front and back end speed but swim at a very consistent pace in the middle.  This set rehearses that concept.

We start off with a 50 pretty fast (near 200 pace) and then follow up with a 100 strong (2-3 seconds slower than 400 pace) and then repeat three consecutive 400s at the same exact speed.  Then repeat the 100 and the 50 to finish a total of 1500m.  Athletes take 20 seconds rest between each swim, meaning their total built-in rest is 2:00 (this makes it easy for determining their swimming time after the fact).  We did a little backstroke for recovery and repeated the broken 1500 twice, trying to descend these repetitions mostly by making our 400 times faster.

Finally, we finished with a straight 1500.  This was icing on an already tough set, but we saw some really good times and I was very pleased with the effort.
Total distance: 6,600m

Speed Squats Hybrid Set for Breaststroke Leg Speed

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

One thing we have been trying to emphasize with our breaststroke swimmers is heel speed during the kick.  I like “speed squats” as a dryland exercise to help develop this ability.  A speed squat is essentially a regular squat done so quickly that the athlete almost pulls himself down with his hamstrings.  We combined this exercise into the following breaststroke set that also emphasized hitting the walls on a full stroke.

Breaststroke with Nuclear Underwater Kicks

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

The purpose of this set is primarily to improve a swimmer’s capacity to do an effective Br pullout and sprint while fatigued.   The 10 underwater breaststroke kicks (NUCLEAR INTENSITY!!!) are performed pushing against the wall at a depth of about 1m with the hands pushing against the wall. Then WITHOUT COMING UP TO BREATHE, the swimmer pushes off into the 25 sprint breaststroke.  The 25m sprint is importantly followed by very smooth and efficient “long-glide” breaststroke on a maximum cycle count.

SCM

13 Fascinating Things I Read (and one that I watched) in 2013

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff

One topic that has garnered much attention this year is safety in football.  Thomas Lake’s The Ghost of Speedy Cannon (1) provided a riveting tale probing a long-ago death on the field.  Though I have long enjoyed Rick Reilly’s writing, he can get under the skin of some readers.  His piece about the NFL Becoming a Guilty Pleasure (2) is hard to argue with.

I love reading about legendary coaches.  Perhaps none are more legendary in his sport than Dan Gable.  Wright Thompson’s incredible piece The Losses of Dan Gable (3) is even more poignant now that wrestling has won reinstatement into the Olympics.  The Book of a Coach (4) tells the story of Bill Walsh and the legacy of a coaching legend.  Soccer fan or not, if you are a coach you will find some wisdom in Eight Coaching Keys from Sir Alex Ferguson (5).

Unless you are still using dial-up internet service, you have probably heard of Seth Godin.  I highly recommend a few posts of his from this year: The Merchants of Average (6), Choosing To Be Formidable (7), and All Boats Leak (8). All three inspire me to be a better coach.

Just read this article: Two Enemies Discovering a Higher Call in Battle (9). It will renew your faith in humanity.

This article got me thinking about the technological frontiers of swimming: Mobile Athlete Monitoring – The Next Big Thing (10).  Coaches of all sports should be keeping up with Vern Gambetta and his Functional Path Training blog.  He hit the mark in Pay the Piper (11).

How Great Teachers See (12) made me ponder how I perceive my swimmers’ talents and how powerful that perception really might be.

On a personal level, a few things I came across this year made a difference in my life. Leo Babuata inspired me to aim for Living the Quiet Life (13) and Dr. Michael Greger’s powerful video Uprooting the Causes of Death convinced me to make my most profound personal change this year.

I hope you enjoyed the list.  Have a happy, healthy, and successful 2014!

 

Killer Kick Set for a 20yd pool

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Ryan Woodruff

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One of our coaches came up with this kick set for use in our 20-yard diving well.
Green is underwater.
Blue is descend
Red is Fastest Possible Average

Good Stuff

The Sprinter’s Dozen

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Ryan Woodruff
 

SCY
P100 = 100 yd race pace. We performed the first one of each set from a dive and the rest from a push.

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The ? Set

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Ryan Woodruff
 
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SCY

? x 50 @ :50
Using a dry-erase board, give the swimmers a different set of instructions for every 50, erasing the old instructions and writing the new one while they swim. Mix it up, changing speeds, strokes, drills, breathing patterns, etc. Don’t let the swimmers know what is coming beyond the next 50. All swims are choice unless the stroke is specified. Here’s an example:
#1- P200+5
#2- P200+3
#3- P200+1
#4- P200-1
#5- EZ free B3
#6- Free B5
#7- Free B7
#8- At count
#9- Race!
#10- At cycle count -1
#11- 25 underwater dolphin kick/ 25 sprint
#12- 25 sprint/25 underwater dolphin kick
#13- 25 race/25 ez kick
#14- Fly B 1 up/1 down
#15- Fly B 1 up/2 down
#16- Fly B 1 up/3 down
#17- Fast fly
#18- EZ breaststroke
#19- Race!
#20- At cycle count -2
#21- 12.5 fast/12.5 ez of same stroke as #20
#22- At cycle count
#23- Breast with dolphin kick
#24- Backstroke 12.5 spin drill/12.5 swim
#25- P1650
…
The set could go on for as long as you like. The changing up speeds and instructions every 50 keeps the swimmers alert and the set fresh and interesting. What other interesting instructions can you come up with?

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