Hi, I have a friend who swims four mornings a week for 45 minutes. She is interested in joining a Masters team but wants to "get in shape first." I tried to explain that is what the practices are for, but she still would like to swim more on her own first, and I promised to give her some workout and stroke drill ideas. She is a lifelong athlete, now in her late 40s. She swims freestyle and, to a lesser extent, backstroke. She doesn't count her laps, but thinks she swims about 40 to 50 in a session.
I looked in the workouts forum for ideas, but they all (even the "basic' workouts) seemed pretty complicated and advanced for someone who has not been on a team before.
Would someone please give me feedback on this sample workout for a novice (see below)? I'm trying to introduce rest intervals, use of the pace clock, some basics of body position (head looking down and pressing your "buoy"), and working in a little more backstroke. Also the idea of varying your speed. Once she has a sense of how long a 25 and 50 take, she could begin some interval training.
In addition to feedback on the practice below, other ideas for sets and workouts would be most welcome...thanks!
Warmup
300 swim, breathing every 3 strokes and concentrating on exhaling gently through her nose. (She said that breathing is a challenge, and my guess is that she may be holding her breath.)
Pre-set
8 x 50 with fins, :15 rest interval (RI). Odds freestyle and evens backstroke. Because fins are fun.
Six-kick switch drill on the way up, concentrating on body position (I would give her more details on how to do this.)
Backstroke kick in streamline position on the way back
I'd suggest that she note her times in order to add on some interval training in a future workout
Main set
Repeat 4 times (odds are freestyle and evens are backstroke):
25 build, :10 RI
50 fast, :10 RI
25 easy, :10 RI
Cool-down
Between 100 and 200 nice and easy. Focus on relaxed breathing/exhale and body position.
Pools that we use for lap swimming and comptetion are generally either 25 yards, 25 meters or 50 meters long. The vast majority are 25s. Where I am, I'm used to meters being the standard, but it seems from the forums here that in much of the US yards are more common. Either way, they're 25s. So we talk about the distances we've swum in terms of the actual distance: if you swim to the end, that's a 25. To the end and back, that's a 50. To the end and back twice over, that's 100. Etc.
Unless you're in a pool that's as long as the ones you see them use in the Olympics, which are 50 meter pools. In that case, down to the end once is a 50, to the end and back is a 100, etc.
The reason for talking in terms of actual distance rather than number of laps is that it sort of cuts out the need to know details about each other's pools in order to know that we're talking about the same amount of swimming.
Pools that we use for lap swimming and comptetion are generally either 25 yards, 25 meters or 50 meters long. The vast majority are 25s. Where I am, I'm used to meters being the standard, but it seems from the forums here that in much of the US yards are more common. Either way, they're 25s. So we talk about the distances we've swum in terms of the actual distance: if you swim to the end, that's a 25. To the end and back, that's a 50. To the end and back twice over, that's 100. Etc.
Unless you're in a pool that's as long as the ones you see them use in the Olympics, which are 50 meter pools. In that case, down to the end once is a 50, to the end and back is a 100, etc.
The reason for talking in terms of actual distance rather than number of laps is that it sort of cuts out the need to know details about each other's pools in order to know that we're talking about the same amount of swimming.
