Introduction.
I coach 3 mornings a week at a 25 meter pool with an average of 25 swimmers in 5 lanes. I coach 2 evenings a week at a 25 yard pool with an average of 12-14 swimmers in 5 lanes. Both workouts are for one hour. They are mixed groups with competitive swimmers, triathletes, and people who just want a good workout. Ages range from 20 to 87, with an occassional teen-ager dropping in. My emphasis is on techinique and pace. I swim 3 days a week with a coach at a Y pool. I use some sets that I learn from my coach, Laura Peter. I also write a workout for myself for Saturday mornings. The workouts that I coach are 2500-2800 meters for the fastest lane, scaled down for other lanes. In the yard pool, they are 2700-3000 yards for the fastest lanes. For my personal workouts, I aim for 2500 yards and try to boost it to 2700 in the fall.
Monday evening, Sept 21, Yard Pool
This is the workout for the evening group. It is a modification of one the morning group did on Sept 14.
Warm-Up (1200)
300 Swim
300 3 x 100 Pull. 1st 100 no paddles, #2-3 paddles optional.
600 12 x 50 on 1:10
4 x (#1 25 catch-up / 25 almost catch-up
#2 25 almost catch-up / 25 swim
#3 Swim)
Main Set 1 – Freestyle (600)
300 Moderate, get time, figure average per 100
200 Moderate, keep average per 100 same
100 Moderate, should be same as average above
Main Set 2 – Choice (600)
2 x (100 Kick, 100 Pull, 100 Drill/Swim)
1st time through, all one stroke. 2nd time through can be a different stroke.
No interval. Make sure last person in lane gets 15 seconds rest (time to change equipment).
Challenge
200 free, same time that you did on 200 in set 1.
Cool Down (100-200)
(4-8) x 25, count strokes. Rest 5-10 seconds.
Tuesday, Sept 24, Yard pool
This is a workout I did today at the Y with Coach Laura Peter.
I got there early and did 500 on my own:
200 swim, 200 pull, 100 kick
Then we did:
500 swim for warm-up
5 x 100 kick. Odds are free, evens are back. Interval with 10-15 sec rest.
5 x 100 pull. Each 100 is 50 free, 25 back, 25 ***.
4 x 200. Alternate 200 IM drill and 200 free swim.
Cool-down easy swim.
I particularly liked the pull set.
Wed, Sept 23
I used the same workout for the morning group (meters) and the evening group (yards).
In the yard pool, the fastest lane did 5 repetitions in Main Set 1.
Warm-Up (800)
300 4 x 75 (50 free/25 back or ***) Rest 10 after each 75.
300 4 x 75 (25 kick/25 drill/25 swim) Continuous. Fins ok.
100 Swim easy. Think about push-off, streamline, dolphin kick to surface.
100 Choice. Count strokes each length. Think about good push off.
Main Set 1 (900-1200)
(3-4) x (200 free pull, 100 swim choice).
I had a hard time setting intervals here. I wanted 15 sec rest after the pull and 15-20 after the swim.
Main Set 2 (300-600)
(6-12) x 50 as (2-4) x (#1 fly/free, #2 back/free, #3 ***/free).
Fly can be “butter-flutter.” Swim fly as long as it feels good (2-3 strokes), switch to free. I learned the term "butter-flutter" from Emmett Hines.
Cool-Down (100-300)
Easy swim.
Friday, September 25, meter pool
Warm-Up (900)
200 Swim, 200 Pull, 200 Kick
12 x 25 Free
1: finish 2: finish and recovery 3-4: catch, finger tips/wrist
5-6: finger tips w/ paddles 7-8: catch and finish w/ paddles
9-10: count strokes; no paddles; finish, recovery, ride the stroke
11-12: count w/ buoy
*The stroke work went very well! Accelerating at the finish seemed to help.
Main (800-1200)
Ln 4 12 x 100 on 1:40
Ln 5 11 x 100 on 2:00
Ln 6 10 x 100 on 2:10
Ln 7 9 x 100 on 2:15
Ln 8 8 x 100 on 2:30
Drills (100-500)
10 x 50 Fins ok. See below.
Free or Back
1: chg 6, slow motion
2: chg 6 w/3
3: chg 3
4: chg 3 w/3
***
5-6: 25 free/25 *** short pull, long glide
Choice
7-10
Monday, September 28, Meter Pool
Warm-Up (1200)
600 3 x (100 swim, 50 drill, 50 kick)
300 6 x 50
#1-2 free: 25 kick on side/25 swim Body position!
#3 free: chg 3 (slow motion stroke)
#4 back: 25 kick on back/ 25 kick ½ way swim ½
#5 back: kick ½ each length, swim other ½
#6 25 back/25 free Good form!
300 Swim. 100 free, 50 choice, 100 free, 50 choice
Main (1400)
800 2 x (4 x 50, 1 x 200 Pull, 1 x 200 Swim). No rest between sets.
Choose lane by 50 interval if you want to go non-free.
Ln 4 :55, 3:20; Ln 5 1:05, 3:45
Ln 6 1:15, 4:10; Ln 7 1:30, 4:20; Ln 8 1:45, 5:15
600 8 x 75 #1-2 Pull, #3-4 Swim (free/choice/free)
#5-6 Pull (free/choice/free), #7-8 Swim (free/choice/free)
Cool-Down (300)
100-300 25 drill/25 swim
Wednesday, Sept 30
Warm-Up (1200)
300-600 200 Swim, 100 Pull (no paddles), 100 Swim, 200 Pull (paddles okay)
Just stop for buoy, no need to keep lane together.
300 4 x 75 Drill/Swim/Drill No fins.
#1 4 right only/4 left only. Keep pull shoulder width.
#2 Almost catch-up
#3-#4 Choice stroke, choice drill
300 Swim 150, rest 10 sec; swim 100, rest 10 sec; swim 50
Main (1200-1500)
900 3 x 100 Swim, descend on 1:40, 1:50, 2:10, 2:15, 2:30
3 x 50 Kick (fins okay) on 1:00, 1:05, 1:10, 1:10, 1:30
3 x 100 Pull, descend same intervals
3 x 50 Kick (fins okay)
300-600 (6-12) x 50 on: 1:00, 1:10, 1:20, 1:20, 1:30.
Swim fast and use extra time for rest.
Do 2 - 4 times: #1-#2 descend, #3 easy, recovery
Cool-Down (100-300)
4 x 25 Easy
200 Easy
Comments from swimmers. Hard workout. The first 3 x 100 got the heart rate up, and it never really came down. That was the purpose.
Friday, Oct 2, meter pool
Surprisingly, none of the oldest age groups or the newest swimmers were there today so we divided up the lanes to get the intervals right.
WARM-UP (1000)
400 Swim, choice
12 x 50
4 drill on 1:05, 1:15, 1:20, 1:20, 1:30
4 drill/swim drop interval 5 sec
4 swim drop interval another 5 sec
MAIN (1500)
3 x 100
2 x 100, 2 x 50
2 x 50, 100, 2 x 50
4 x 50, 100
300
Intervals for 100, 50
1:45, :55
1:55, 1:00
2:05, 1:10
2:15, 1:15
2:20, 1:20
COOL-DOWN (300)
50 Easy
200 Kick
30 Easy
Monday, October 5
Warm-Up (1200)
100-300 Swim
200 Fins ok.
50 kick on side; 50 chg 6; 50 chg 3 w/ 3; 50 swim
200 4 x 50 kick free w/ brd or back w/ arms extended
200 50 1-arm opposite breathe
50 free swim, roll
50 back – 25 4 rt only, 4 lft only (1-arm at side)
50 back swim, roll
200 2 x 25 count strokes w/ fins
6 x 25 count strokes: 1-fly or free, 2-back, 3-***, 4-free, 5-6 choice
100 Swim, choice
Main (1350)
Set 1 Do the following 2 times. First time free. Second time choice.
1000 50 25 count/25 swim Choice. Get time on 2nd 25.
100 25 count/25 swim (get time)/50 swim
150 25 count/25 swim (get time)/100 swim
200 25 count/25 swim (get time)/150 swim
Set 2
200 Swim. One stroke, choice. Keep pace as above.
100 4 x 25 sprint
1 x 50 Sprint
Cool-Down (250)
5 x 40 Easy
Wed Oct 7 Meter Pool
Warm-Up (1000)
100 Swim
100 Pull, no paddles
100 Pull w/ paddles
100 Swim w/ paddles
600 12 x 50
1-2 pull free, 3-kick free on side, 4-drill free chg 6 w/ 3 strokes,
5-kick back, arms extended, 6-kick back, arms extended, rotate hips
7-kick back, arms at sides, rotate hips and shoulders, 8-swim back,
~Fins off~ 9-swim free, 10-kick ***,
11-one length pull *** w/butterfly kick.Stop.One length swim ***. Glide 3.
12- choice swim
Main (1200-1500)
3 x 100 Swim, moderate. Be able to tell me your average time. You will need your
time later. There will be a total of 6 100s same stroke or combination. Interval for 15 sec rest.
3 x 100 Pull. Drop interval 5-10 sec.
3 x 100 Swim. Same stroke as before descend, average 5 seconds faster.
This is the most stressful. Use interval from first swims - 5.
3 x 100 Pull. Recovery. (All free or 25 ***/25 back/50 free)
3 x 100 50 drill/50 swim. Can mix it up.
Cool-Down (200)
Easy 200
