What are some legendary jaw dropping workout sets you've heard of people doing or you yourself have done? I've always been curious as to what kinds of mind blowing things Grant Hackett or other distance Gods has done but have never found anything. I remember an article of olympians talking about the craziest sets they've done, but I couldn't re-track it down. I figure someone on these boards must have heard of some doozies and done some! Here's some that I heard about that I thought were amazing.
Erik Vendt 30 x 1000 (short course yards) going 10 off 10:45, 10 off 10:30 and 10 off 10:15. Who knows what the times were but jeez!
Erik Vendt 5 x (500 free followed by a 400 I.M.)
The 500's were on the 5:30, with a goal of holding just below five minutes.
IMs descending on five minutes
First 4:08 last 3:43
Larsen Jensen
20x1500 on 20:00 goal to go under 18:00 each. Apparently he stopped at 17 because he didn't make the time.
Michael Phelps
5,000 free for time in a 46:34.
James Hickman
12 x 200 fly on 3:00 (Hickman does 2:16 to 2:20)
12 x 300 fly/IM (alternate) on 4:30
2400 fly (Hickman does under 29 minutes-1:12 average/100m)
That is a very interesting set. I contemplate it from a safe distance, but could see (S)He-Man shredding it.
Thanks! VB
Hey Vivebene,
Here's one of my husband's favorites to assign: the Fischburn set.
5x100 on x
4x200 on x + 1 min
3x300 on x + 2 min
2x400 on x + 3 min
1x500 on x + 4 min
As an age grouper we had an Asst coach who had competed for the UK Olympic team at the 76 games in Montreal. He had a set that has become a standard to be measured by for me as a Masters swimmer.
2 x 25
4 x 50
6 x 100
8 x 150
10 x 200
8 x 150
6 x100
4 x 50
2 x25
No breaks between, interval carries across to each part.
6100 yds
In the late 70's a friend of mine was swimming at Cal...he was a legendary "workout" swimmer who also finaled in the 1500 at Trails. First person i ever heard of who went 100 x 100's om 1:00, he did that during a 2 week Xmas workout period where he was going 3 x 10,000 yard workouts a day.
Jim...you probably guessed...I was talking about Kirk Anderson...sad to say but I think Nort's program was almost a "sprint" program vs. what he had been put through by Sherm at Arden Hills!
I'll never forget coming back from UCSB over Xmas in 1978 and going to "train" with Sherm...Jeff Float was till there at that time (another workout machine) and the set was 10 x 500's swim, 10 x 500's pull...on his sendoff (for Jeff I think it was around 5:15/5:30 range). Needless to say lasted for about 30 minutes!
My brother swam for Nort at Cal; he sounded insane. Kirk Anderson goes to my parents church in Denver--he's still an animal when he wants to be.
My greatest day of pain was new year's day 1987. I did 87x100 @1:05 (first two free, last 85 backstroke).
I remember your brother very well - one of the nicest and smartest guys I ever met! I drank many a beer and puffed many a :D with him and the other upper-classmen when I first arrived...
I'm glad my 81 year old mother doesn't read this thread (or know how to turn on a computer) as we are mormon--beer and whatever was being puffed would not have gone over well. I'm not sure what she would have expected sending one of her sons to Berkeley, however. He's still the same great guy--just 300 lbs--more to love I suppose.
Jim...you probably guessed...I was talking about Kirk Anderson...sad to say but I think Nort's program was almost a "sprint" program vs. what he had been put through by Sherm at Arden Hills!
I'll never forget coming back from UCSB over Xmas in 1978 and going to "train" with Sherm...Jeff Float was till there at that time (another workout machine) and the set was 10 x 500's swim, 10 x 500's pull...on his sendoff (for Jeff I think it was around 5:15/5:30 range). Needless to say lasted for about 30 minutes!
... the glory days of Peter Szmidt, Graham Smith, Peter Tragitt, Par Arvidsson, etc, etc.
As a freshman, I must have heard at least 100 times: "we used to send our B team to thump Stanford!". :notworthy:
Nothing like going 25,000+ meters a day as a skinny sprint breaststroker... :shakeshead:
My brother swam for Nort at Cal; he sounded insane. Kirk Anderson goes to my parents church in Denver--he's still an animal when he wants to be.
My greatest day of pain was new year's day 1987. I did 87x100 @1:05 (first two free, last 85 backstroke).
I remember your brother very well - one of the nicest and smartest guys I ever met! I drank many a beer and puffed many a :D with him and the other upper-classmen when I first arrived...
Having swam at Cal in the early 80s, I can vouch for the "insanity" of some of the workouts when Nort was really into lots of yardage. 30k a day was a lot, but par for the course during Xmas break before we went home for a few days.
Jim...you probably guessed...I was talking about Kirk Anderson...sad to say but I think Nort's program was almost a "sprint" program vs. what he had been put through by Sherm at Arden Hills!
I'll never forget coming back from UCSB over Xmas in 1978 and going to "train" with Sherm...Jeff Float was till there at that time (another workout machine) and the set was 10 x 500's swim, 10 x 500's pull...on his sendoff (for Jeff I think it was around 5:15/5:30 range). Needless to say lasted for about 30 minutes!
