running out of ideas

I have ladder days where I swim all kinds of varieties of sets based on the theme of ladders.....Sometimes its IM based...other times its more middle distance to distance free oriented...Sometimes its fly oriented...or simply sprint/middle distance. Examples: 2 50's free (one easy one fast)...2 100's (one easy recovery swim...one fast).....2 200's (same pattern)....2 100's (same pattern....2 50's (same pattern). You can do 3 of each instead of 2 of each (I usual descend each subset from 1-3 when I do this)....Sometimes I will do 3 of each but the middle or last one is a stroke or IM ....and they are all the same pace....the intervals can vary also....Some weeks I do the distance versions: 2 200's....then 2 300's....2 400's......1 800...2 400's....2 300's...2 200's I like this 1000 yard butterfly ladder (all fly): Similar to above: 2 50's...2 100's ...2 200's...2 100's....2 50's......Another variation is to insert 2 150's on the way up the ladder and on the way down the ladder in between the 100's and 200's. I work out a lot on my own too and so its hard to stay out of a rut....I feel your pain! There are also the 2 turn 50's that Beth mentioned...where you start in the middle of the pool and swim a 50 with 2 turns and end up back where you started.....there's the fartlet drills that were discussed somewhere recently.....I spend some time swimming 12.5's sometimes just to mix it up.....I like this SDK set (underwater streamlined dolphin kicking)....were you do 10-12 25's but you mix it up with some fly some back and some free....the object is to really exxagerate the distance off of the pushoff underwater while keeping a tight streamlined position and using the underwater dolphin kick ....when you breakout you work on the transition stroke and sprint the rest of the way into the wall. Hope that gives you some ideas? Not much...but I'm not all that creative! BTW Do you have a certain mixture in mind for threshhold sets vs aerobic sets vs lactate sets (stuff like that?)....Sounds like you are more sprint oriented based on the goal times you mentioned....so sprinting 50's and 25's ....as well as broken 100's and broken 200's might be of interest (if you're not already doing this stuff anyway). Good luck, newmastersswimmer

I have ladder days where I swim all kinds of varieties of sets based on the theme of ladders.....Sometimes its IM based...other times its more middle distance to distance free oriented...Sometimes its fly oriented...or simply sprint/middle distance. Examples: 2 50's free (one easy one fast)...2 100's (one easy recovery swim...one fast).....2 200's (same pattern)....2 100's (same pattern....2 50's (same pattern). You can do 3 of each instead of 2 of each (I usual descend each subset from 1-3 when I do this)....Sometimes I will do 3 of each but the middle or last one is a stroke or IM ....and they are all the same pace....the intervals can vary also....Some weeks I do the distance versions: 2 200's....then 2 300's....2 400's......1 800...2 400's....2 300's...2 200's I like this 1000 yard butterfly ladder (all fly): Similar to above: 2 50's...2 100's ...2 200's...2 100's....2 50's......Another variation is to insert 2 150's on the way up the ladder and on the way down the ladder in between the 100's and 200's. I work out a lot on my own too and so its hard to stay out of a rut....I feel your pain! There are also the 2 turn 50's that Beth mentioned...where you start in the middle of the pool and swim a 50 with 2 turns and end up back where you started.....there's the fartlet drills that were discussed somewhere recently.....I spend some time swimming 12.5's sometimes just to mix it up.....I like this SDK set (underwater streamlined dolphin kicking)....were you do 10-12 25's but you mix it up with some fly some back and some free....the object is to really exxagerate the distance off of the pushoff underwater while keeping a tight streamlined position and using the underwater dolphin kick ....when you breakout you work on the transition stroke and sprint the rest of the way into the wall. Hope that gives you some ideas? Not much...but I'm not all that creative! BTW Do you have a certain mixture in mind for threshhold sets vs aerobic sets vs lactate sets (stuff like that?)....Sounds like you are more sprint oriented based on the goal times you mentioned....so sprinting 50's and 25's ....as well as broken 100's and broken 200's might be of interest (if you're not already doing this stuff anyway). Good luck, newmastersswimmer