Benchmarking progress - repeating sets often?

We have 88 workouts we cycle through every 3 months or so. Lots of the sets are similar or even repeated from day to day but the overall workout is always different. There are a couple benefits to doing this. Since we don't have a coach, it helps us decide what to do. No arguments or discussions over what's next... Next is whatever is on the sheet. It also is beneficial for marking progress while at the same time varied enough to not get boring. When I started, most of the sets were way beyond my capabilities. Many were written for the local high school swimmers that occasionally practiced w/ masters. Some of those are still tougher than what I can do. But every practice I can look back at what I did 3 months ago and see progress (or lack thereof). I don't remember every time for every set but I do know what I was able to accomplish on many of the more challenging sets. I'm not sure if this training has a particular name but it works for me. However, I started competitive swimming later in life so there's always lots of room to improve. This might not be quite as motivational if you get a little slower every cycle.

I used to have 4 core 'test sets' that I tried to repeat roughly on Monday in a 4 week cycle - 3 x 300 - to establish my BASE pace for training (got this set from Dave Salo, but I have described it when I wrote workouts for the High Volume Training thread here in 2012 and 2013). This was a great way for me to benchmark my overall fitness for swimming my target events (200 to 500 distance) Broken Mile - borrowed the idea of repeating this from Chris Stevenson and his workouts with NOVA Masters coach Mark Kutz. I would vary how I broke the mile, but still try to compare like for like 400 IM test set - this was my own development and has a few variations, but, as the 400 IM is the Greatest Race Of All Time and truly the only measure of a swimmer's greatness :agree:, it deserves it's own test set. Heart Rate test of 8 x 100 - again taken from Dave Salo's excellent Complete Conditioning for Swimming, this is a great test set for both speed and fitness. I won't say I religiously adhere to this 4 week cycle all year round, but when I am training for a focal event, I'm pretty good about it. I've also recently added a couple more test sets, variations on the 'Aussie' or 'Thorpe' or 'Hackett' 200 test set. Version 1 is the traditional version done as Set a starting INTERVAL (say 0:45) and INCREMENT (say 0:05) where you get about 5-10 seconds rest on your easy efforts on the first round 16 x 50: on INTERVAL, going 3 easy - 1 fast at target 200 race pace 12 x 50: on INTERVAL plus INCREMENT, going 2 easy - 1 fast at target 200 race pace 8 x 50: on INTERVAL plus INCREMENT x 2, going 1 easy - 1 fast at target 200 race pace 4 x 50: on INTERVAL plus INCREMENT x 3, going 3 easy - 1 fast at target 200 race pace My 'fun 400 variation' is as follows Same idea of INTERVAL and INCREMENT as above, adjusted for distance 4 rounds of 3 x 50 easy followed by 1 x 100 at target 400 or 500 race pace 4 rounds of 2 x 50 easy followed by 1 x 100 at target 400 or 500 race pace 4 rounds of 1 x 50 easy followed by 1 x 100 at target 400 or 500 race pace 4 rounds of 1 x 100 at target 400 or 500 race pace with 100 on INTERVAL x 2 As I kick my training back into high gear next week for Spring Nationals, I will aim to do one of those 'Aussie' test sets each week in addition to the 4 I listed above. I'm probably going to develop two more - One that focuses on trying to achieve certain times while constraining myself to a defined number of strokes per lap - aiming to work on distance per stroke and on 'drilling' a better feel of what stroke count and effort produces a specific time One that focuses on using a specific stroke rate (using a tempo trainer) and stroke count to achieve a defined time. I don't think there's a specific name for this type of training, but it seems logical to me to have some consistent sets you can benchmark yourself against over time.

Pmccoy, I like the idea of variety of sets to select from, I should do something like this too. PWB - you are in my wheelhouse! Just did 5*300 on Monday (trying to dial in this long distance 2 beat stroke), I do love IM work and, a fan of Dave Salo's book. I'll look into the 8*100 set (and bring out my Salo book again). Here's a goal set I've been doing weekly for 4 weeks. Every week I expect to get better. I plan on keeping this going for 6-8 weeks. 20*50 kicks on 1:15, alt Fly *** by 50. Goal is to improve endurance and speed. wk1 - just survive (didn't. only made 10, then had to cheat the second 10 doing 25 stroke, 25 free. And my ankles hurt for 3 days) times ranged from 45-50 and 55-58 wk2 - just survive (Made it, but times were slow . This time ankles only hurt for a day) wk3 - First time I felt like I did them fairly well, primary muscles more or less held together 44-46 and 53-56. Started to think about number of kicks per 25 (20+ for fly), (15+ for breaststroke) wk4 - Fly's held 41-44, but was gassed by 10. *** still 53-55. *** kick still needs form work. after 12 did backstrokes held, 46. I think part of what makes sets like these good is initially failing. The following week there's adaptation and trying to be more efficient just to survive. What I really like is the fast feedback - every week there's some measurement showing improvement. I'm still doing other kick sets, drills, regular sets etc., each week - but Every Thursday this is the kick set.

5x300 is probably the set my team does more than any other. We do it as descend to fast and my coach really only cares about the fifth swim. That one needs to be as fast as possible. We'll do it with a decent amount of rest. As an example, if we did 5x300 as an aerobic set we'd normally go on 3:30 and for this set we'll go 3:50 or 4:00 instead. I have to say I usually struggle. I try to hold back on the first four but I always seem to be somewhat tired going into the fast swim, no matter what I do.

...Here's a goal set I've been doing weekly for 4 weeks. Every week I expect to get better. I plan on keeping this going for 6-8 weeks. 20*50 kicks on 1:15, alt Fly *** by 50. Goal is to improve endurance and speed .... I think part of what makes sets like these good is initially failing. The following week there's adaptation and trying to be more efficient just to survive. What I really like is the fast feedback - every week there's some measurement showing improvement. I'm still doing other kick sets, drills, regular sets etc., each week - but Every Thursday this is the kick set.I agree on the fast feedback and the failing. I also like your test set, but I might try it swimming and switch it to back and ***, as those are the weak points in my IM (as well as the turn) and I don't swim them enough. Great thread, idea. Love to see the other test set ideas.

We do several test sets including: 10x300 on 3.30 pull best average 8x100 best average kick on 2mins 5,4,3,2,1 x100s descending by 5 seconds per round T30 We do most of these every two weeks, with the exception of the T30 which we do about every 6 weeks.

Simple: 5 x 100 free on 1:30. Best average. I don't do this set on a regular, programmed basis, but even informally, it's proven to be a good index of where I am. Plus, it's really simple.