Getting to travel as much as we do we get to "taste" a lot of workouts from clubs all over the country...plus on occasion I come up with something to toss at the workouts I coach.
For those lucky enough to swim with me Saturday (I'm coaching) here's the main set:
SCY
800 negative split (get 400 split) @1:00 rest
6 x 100's @ 1:20
400IM
100 kick for time
400 negative split (faster than 2nd 400 of the 800, get 200 split) 1:00 rest
5 x 100's @ 1:15
200IM
100 kick for time (different stroke)
200 negative split (faster than 2nd 200 of 400)
4 x 100's @ 1:10
100IM
100 kick for time (different than first two)
I have had endless discussions with masters swimmers who compete and want more "race-ready" training from the teams they workout out with. I feel the pain as a coach of trying to cater to specific workout needs/wants from my swimmers and ultimately hav to "settle" on what works best for the entire team. Having said that, I have a bias in that I think that all masters swimmers benefit from a workout program that follows that of a competitive swimmer:
- Cycling training into 3-4 monts "blocks" of periodization is key. Fitness swimmers, multi sport athletes, etc. need to understand that advancing their conditioning comes from building up and on all phases; endurance, interval, speed/power, rest/taper.
So how do you do this when your team trains generic middle distance freestyle workouts?
1) Talk with the coach and explain to them you want to train for a spcific target event/date. That may be a local, regional or national meet...an open water event, or a tri...or if you don't compete a target date on the calender.
2) Adapt the workouts to suit this program
Case in point is I worked out with a large team yesterday and since I'm 3 months out from nationals and doing more power/speed work and less aerobic base building (plus I like to do a lot of kicking which few teams do) here's what I did:
Warm-up
600 choice (swim, pull and kick)
Main #1 Swim: 10 x 200's as follows
3 @ 2:45
3 @ 2:40
4 @ 2:35
* I swam the first 3 focusing on technique at about 70% effort
* I pulled the next 3 with buoy, large TYR paddles @ snorkel and descended -3
* The last 4 I pulled with the same gear except the snorkel (I have a restrictor cap on it and its pretty tough on longer/hard swims) and tried to hold them all under 2:05
Main #2 Pull: 12 x 100's free as follows:
1-4 = 3 cruise @ 1:35/1 fast @ 1:15
5-8 = 2 cruise @ 1:35/2 fast @ 1:15
9-12 = cruise @ 1:35/3 fast @ 1:15
* I kicked 75's (with board, no fins) and did the first 2 rounds (8 total)
* I then moved to an open lane and with small (Han's) paddles and Z2 fins did 12 x 25's @ :35 fast/no breather to 15yds then cruise to wall. These were 3 blocks of 4; 1 free, 1 fly, 1 back (I chose to leave out the "evil" stroke so I could bail and go eat some killer vietnamese food with friends across the street!).
I have had endless discussions with masters swimmers who compete and want more "race-ready" training from the teams they workout out with. I feel the pain as a coach of trying to cater to specific workout needs/wants from my swimmers and ultimately hav to "settle" on what works best for the entire team. Having said that, I have a bias in that I think that all masters swimmers benefit from a workout program that follows that of a competitive swimmer:
- Cycling training into 3-4 monts "blocks" of periodization is key. Fitness swimmers, multi sport athletes, etc. need to understand that advancing their conditioning comes from building up and on all phases; endurance, interval, speed/power, rest/taper.
So how do you do this when your team trains generic middle distance freestyle workouts?
1) Talk with the coach and explain to them you want to train for a spcific target event/date. That may be a local, regional or national meet...an open water event, or a tri...or if you don't compete a target date on the calender.
2) Adapt the workouts to suit this program
Case in point is I worked out with a large team yesterday and since I'm 3 months out from nationals and doing more power/speed work and less aerobic base building (plus I like to do a lot of kicking which few teams do) here's what I did:
Warm-up
600 choice (swim, pull and kick)
Main #1 Swim: 10 x 200's as follows
3 @ 2:45
3 @ 2:40
4 @ 2:35
* I swam the first 3 focusing on technique at about 70% effort
* I pulled the next 3 with buoy, large TYR paddles @ snorkel and descended -3
* The last 4 I pulled with the same gear except the snorkel (I have a restrictor cap on it and its pretty tough on longer/hard swims) and tried to hold them all under 2:05
Main #2 Pull: 12 x 100's free as follows:
1-4 = 3 cruise @ 1:35/1 fast @ 1:15
5-8 = 2 cruise @ 1:35/2 fast @ 1:15
9-12 = cruise @ 1:35/3 fast @ 1:15
* I kicked 75's (with board, no fins) and did the first 2 rounds (8 total)
* I then moved to an open lane and with small (Han's) paddles and Z2 fins did 12 x 25's @ :35 fast/no breather to 15yds then cruise to wall. These were 3 blocks of 4; 1 free, 1 fly, 1 back (I chose to leave out the "evil" stroke so I could bail and go eat some killer vietnamese food with friends across the street!).
