Tag: Woodruff

Challenge and Technique Freestyle Set for Diverse Group

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

The broad aim of this set was to give our group (that has a wide range of speeds for middle-distance swims) a challenge to push themselves on the 400 while still getting some recovery/drill/technique work in. We timed the 400s and then swimmers would start right into the fartlek (continuous swimming). After 5-7 minutes of the fartlek, I would verbally stop the group and we would rest a minute before starting the next 400. FPA = fastest possible average. K.O.S. = Kick on Side

Vertical Kick Set

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

We love using vertical kicking to work the legs and practice alignment of the body. The :30 vertical kick is done with the hands out of the water. The :20 is with head on hands (a little more difficult), and the :10 is done in a streamline position (most difficult). There are endless variations and permutations one could make to this structure.

Thirty Swims

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA.

We did this set on a day where we had less pool space than ideal and needed to get a good solid set for the various different specialties in our group.

This set was in a 25m pool. Intervals were the same for everyone.

5 lanes, 34 swimmers. Speed, Underwaters, and Dryland.

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

This is the sort of workout that could work well in the context of many high school practices. We had 5 lanes (lanes 2 through 6 in our pool). Swimmers dive off the blocks in lanes 3,4, and 5 for an all out 25. Their next instruction was depends on what lane they were in – either a 15m underwater kick, 5 push-ups/10 squats, or a 15m sprint. Get back behind the blocks and do it again!

Threshold Slow Reveal

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

How a coach presents a set can have large implications in how it lands for the swimmer. In this particular case, the way the set is revealed is key. This set was given to the team in parts. At first, I told them just about the 10×100 and 1 x 150. Then, after we calculate their paces, I gave them the second part and challenge them to go faster. We did the second part, then we calculated their paces and revealed the 3rd part and challenged them AGAIN to go even faster. We could keep going, but the slow reveal effect starts to go away after the 3rd part. In total, this was an excellent set for our crew in terms of pushing themselves to go faster than they thought they could.

Underwater Golf

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

We have had many posts on this blog using the “Golf” concept (adding seconds swum and cycles taken over a distance and aiming for a lower score). Here is a twist to that concept focusing on underwater dolphin kicking

6x (1x 100 back, fly, or free + 1 x 50 EZ) @ 3:00

On the 100s, get your time and then SUBTRACT the total number of dolphin kicks that you took in the 100. Calculate your score during the EZ 50. Give a high level of effort on the 100 and aim for a lower score each time.

Example:

Swimmer goes 1:08 in the 100 back and took 7 dolphin kicks off each wall (28 total), the golf score would be 40.

68 seconds – 28 dolphin kicks = 40

End-of-year reflections on coaching

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

A few coaching-related reflections at the end of the year that I thought might be helpful to share.

  1. Keep in touch with your colleagues and elders in the sport. Especially those who coached or mentored you. They won’t be around forever.
  2. There is no such thing as over-communication. It is best to operate on the assumption that people don’t understand how you think. Always explain the “why” even if you think they already know.
  3. Strive to teach, not just tell. Teaching communicates so much more.
  4. Writing is the best means of clarifying and developing your own ideas.
  5. Sharing your ideas will lead to the multiplication of your ideas.
  6. “As the island of knowledge grows, so does the shoreline of ignorance.” The more I learn, the more I discover I still don’t know.
  7. There is more than one path to high performance. Each swimmer has a different path. Each coach has a different method.
  8. The kids who need your coaching the most may be the ones who are most difficult to coach.
  9. Your coaching makes a difference. Much of your impact will not be known until far into the future. Make peace with this.
  10. Take time off for yourself and have a life away from coaching. You will be a better coach and person for doing so.

Wishing you success and well-being in 2024!

IM Set in SCM

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

We did this set in a 25m pool. Swimmers on this interval had best times range from 1:51-2:00 in the 200 yard IM. They got 3-5 seconds rest on the 150s and were getting :50-1:00 rest on the 200 IM in each round.

Many 150s and a Surprise Challenge!

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

We did this set in a 25m pool with an eye toward our 200 free best times in SCY.

The goal on all the 150s (in meters!) is to be faster than our best SCY 200 free times. That was not a major challenge on the 1 x 150 and 2 x 150, but it becomes a significant challenge by the time you get to 4 x 150 and 5 x 150.

We did three different intervals, with swimmers’ best time indicated at the top. Swimmers with best times under 1:45 went on 2:00. Swimmers with best times between 1:45 and 2:00 went on 2:10, and swimmers with bests slower than 2:00 went on 2:20.

In between, we did 3 x 100 the same way each time – #1 holding a tennis ball in each hand, #2 doing “Paddlehead” drill, and #3 using paddles, holding them against our forearms.

At the end of the set, we did an easy 100 and finished with a SURPRISE challenge – a fast 175m freestyle swim with fins and paddles with a goal of beating our best 200 yard times.

Overall, the set was highly successful. Most of our swimmers were making the 150s under their best, and a handful made the 175 goal. High levels of effort were pretty common across the group.

IM Transitions and Descend

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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCY

We had a very full pool for this workout , with many of our collegiate swimmers home for the holidays. This set allowed us to get in some work that works for everyone. Intervals were spacious and allowed for some solid descending work. Saw some good speed on the final 100 off the block.

“Golden Race” 100s

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Coach Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

You may have heard about the Golden Race that debuted at the World Cup meet in Budapest recently. The race pitted the winners of the individual 100s against each other in a time-handicapped prize race. It’s an interesting twist on racing that we modified a bit to use at practice.

We were 2 days post-meet, so we have some recent fresh meet results.

3 x 100 Golden Race @ 7:00

We put 1 swimmer up on each block for a choice 100. Coach starts counting backwards with a stopwatch… 1:20…1:19…1:18…1:17 and so on. Each swimmer dives off the block for the 100 when they hear the time that they swam at the meet this past weekend. The winner is the one who finishes the 100 first. Essentially, the 100 is handicapped to their recent race results.

Swimmers enjoyed it and swam faster than expected. They could choose their stroke for each 100, and swimmers formed themselves into heats irrespective of speed.

The stopwatch that I started with the countdown can also be used to time the swimmers. Since I started counting down at 1:20, if the stopwatch reads 1:27.2 when the swimmer touches, then he swam approximately 7.2 slower than his meet time. This information allows swimmers to be racing the clock AND each other.

Next time I might try assigning swimmers to teams and awarding points for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.