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.
Friday, June 25, Meter Pool
I was out of town (swim meet in Vermont). I didn't have a substitute coach so left this workout. I printed out a copy for each lane.
Warm-Up (500-700)
200-300 Swim
200-300 Pull
100 Drill/Swim by 25
Main (2100)
Lanes 4-6
6 x 100 Swim
5 x 100 Pull
4 x 100 Swim
6 x 50 Drill/Swim
200 Swim
100 Fast swim
Lanes 7-8 (1000)
4 x 100 Swim
3 x 100 Pull
4 x 50 Drill/Swim
100 Fast swim
Cool-Down (100-200)
4 x 25 easy
2 x 50 easy
Monday, June 28, Meter Pool
Warm-Up (1000)
200 Swim
200 Fins. 2 x (50 chg 6/50 chg 6 with 3). #1 free, #2 free or back
Fins Off.
4 x 25 Swim down center line, hand never crosses line.
4 x 25 Swim on center line, count strokes
4 x 25 #1-2 catch-up and count strokes. #3-4 almost catch-up and count
4 x 25 #1-2 *** pull with dolphin kick, #3-4 *** pull w/ free kick
200 Swim. Alternate 25 ***/25 free or 75 free/25 ***
Main 1 (1100)
Fins On
2 x 25 One arm fly, 4R-4L. As hand enters, head and chest go down, hips are up.
2 x 25 butter/flutter. (Swim as far as you can fly, switch to free. Min of 3 strokes fly).
2 x 25 fly kick with board
2 x 25 fly with underwater recovery
2 x 50 butter/flutter
Fins Off
4 x 50 free. Descend 1-2, 3-4
4 x 100. Descend 1-2 choice. Descend 3-4 free.
4 x 50 Choice. Descend 1-2, 3-4.
Cool-Down
Easy swim.
Monday, June 28, Yard Pool
Warm-Up (1000)
100-200 Swim
~Fins On~
2 x 25 Kick fly with board
2 x 25 4R/4L. As hand enters, chest and head go down, butt goes up.
2 x 25 Butter/Flutter.
200 as 2 x (50 chg 6/50 chg 6 with 3)
~Fins Off~
4 x 25 Swim on line; hand doesn’t “touch” line
4 x 25 (#1 catch-up, #2 catch-up and count strokes, #3 almost c.u., #4 almost c.u. and count)
50 Pull, no paddles, count.
100-200 Swim free. Think about your stroke.
Main (1400-2000)
700 Pace. Swim free: (50 glide2-100 glide2-200 glide2-200-100-50).
700 Pace. Pull free: (no paddles 50-100-200, paddles 200-100-50)
~Fins On~
100 Back as (25 chg 6 / 25 chg 6 with 3/ 25 chg 3/25 swim)
(2-4) x 50 as (1-2) x (50 back, 25 back/25 free)
(1-2) x 50 Kick back, streamline with arms extended.
~Fins Off~
? x 50 Choice. Descend in groups of 2.
Wednesday, June 30, Meter Pool
Surprisingly, several swimmers mentioned how much they liked doing 75s for a change. They thought the workout went quickly.
Warm-Up (600-1300)
100-300 Swim
200-300 Kick
100-300 Pull
(4-8) x 50 (1-2) x (bk/fr, free, br/free, free)
Main (1500)
~Fins On~
4 x 75 #1 Back (25 chg 6/25 chg6 with 3/25 swim), #2 Same, free, #3-#4 Bk, Fr, or Fly. If Fly (3R-3L/3R-3L/Swim)
4 x 75 25K/25D/25S, choice
~Fins Off~
4 x 75 25 free/25 choice/25 free
4 x 75 Pull
4 x 75 Free
Wednesday, June 30, Yard Pool
Warm-Up (800-1300)
200-400 Swim (stop after 5 min)
~Fins On~
200 free as (50 K on side/50 chg 6/50 chg 6 with 3/50 swim)
100 back as (50 Kick on back w/ arms extended/50 Kick past flags, then swim)
~Fins Off~
200-400 Pull
100-200 Swim
Main 1 (800)
200 free, build. Each 50 should get faster.
100 choice. Time yourself.
200 pull.
100 choice. Time yourself.
200 choice, easy
Main 2 (500)
10 x 50
#1 free c.u./swim, #2 free 3R-3L/swim, #3 free swim
#4 (fr, bk, or fly) 3R-3L/swim, #5 choice drill/choice swim, #6 choice
#7-#10 Choice swim
Cool-Down (100-400)
4 x 25 count
4 x 50
1 x 100
Friday, July 2, Meter Pool
Warm-Up (1000)
300 as 25 catch-up/75 swim – free
200 as 50 catch-up with stick*/50 swim – free
*For catch-up with stick, I have 16 in dowels with rubber bands on the end. They have to hold the stick when doing catch-up - it makes sure that they hold the hand on the surface. The rubber bands are to remind them to grab the stick on the end to avoid a cross-over stroke.
~Fins optional. Paddles for everyone, loose finger strap only. ~
100 as 25 right arm only, 25 left arm only, 50 3R-3L with paddles!
100 Swim free w/ paddles.
~Fins off. Get a buoy. Keep paddles~
4 x 50 Pull. Good form. On :55, 1:00, 1:05, 1:10, 1:30
~Paddles off.~
100 Swim – free
Main (950-1350)
4 x 50 choice on 1:00, 1:10, 1:15, 1:20, 1:45
(2-4) x 100 free on 1:35-1:40, 1:45-1:50, 2:00, 2:10, 2:45
3 x 50 choice
(2-3) x 100 free
2 x 50 choice
(1-2) x 100 free
Cool-Down (100-400)
Pull. Easy, good stroke)
Wednesday, July 7, Meter Pool
Warm-Up (1000)
100 Swim free. Rest 10-15 sec.
200 Swim, 50 choice/50 free
300 Pull (Lane 8, 200)
400 as 50K/50S with fins (Lane 8, 300)
Main (1400-1900)
5 x 100 Swim. Good pace. (Lane 8, 4 x 100)
5 x 100 Pull (Lane 8, 4 x 100)
8 x 50 as #1-4 Drill/Swim, 5-6 swim descend, 7-8 swim descend (Lane 8, skip d/s)
4 x 75 25 free/25 non-free/25 free. Rest 15 sec. (Lane 8 2 x 75)
8 x 25 as #1-4 sprint, #5-8 easy
Cool-Down (100)
100 easy swim
Wednesday, July 7, Yard Pool
Warm-Up (900)
300 as: 4 x 75 (25 free/25 catch-up/25 free), rest 10-15 after each 75.
600 as: 8 x 75 (3 x 75 pull/2 x 75 swim/3 x 75 pull) 15 sec rest
Main (1800)
10 x 50 as: #1-4 drill/swim (#1-2 fingertip drag/swim, #2 4R-4L/swim, #5-7, #8-10 descend)
200 swim, increase effort on 2nd 100
4 x 100 swim on interval with 15 sec rest
100 swim, easy
3 x 100 swim, more effort that previous set
100 pull, easy
200 swim, negative split. Stop at 100 to get time.
Cool-Down (400)
~Fins on~
200-400 as: 50 kick/50 swim, continuous
Friday, July 9, Meter Pool
Warm-Up (1000)
200 free swim
200 pull (100 w/ paddles, 10 w/o)
8 x 50 (4 kick, 2 kick/swim, 2 swim), choice. Fins ok.
100 pull w/ paddles, no wrist strap
100 swim w/ paddles
100 swim
Main (1100+)
Lanes 4-5: 3 x 100; Lanes 6-7: 3 x 75 (+25); Lane 8: 3 x 50 – get heartrate up to sprint
4 x 50 at 200 pace. On :50, :55, 1:05, 1:30, 2:00
Easy 50 or 100
2 x 100 on 4:00 at 200 pace. Do not have to be the same stroke. Lane 8: 1 x 100
Easy 50 or 100
2 x 50 on 2:30. Fast. Choice.
Cool-Down
100-300 easy swim or pull
Monday, July 12, Meter Pool
This is a great workout! Everyone liked the challenge. Even if they missed the interval at some point, they felt good about it.
Warm-Up (1100-1300)
400 as (50, 100, 50, 200). Get lane together after each part.
300 as 4 x (25K/25D/25S). Continuous, fins ok.
300 as 12 x 25 (fins ok for 1-8) #1 fly 3R-3L, #2 butter/flutter, #3 free count strokes,
#4 back chg 6 w/3, #5 back, #6 free count, #7 *** arms w/ fly kick,
#8 *** arms w/ fr kick, fins off, #9 ***, #10 free count, #11-#12 free
100-300 Swim
Main (1000)
5 x (2 x 100). Take 20-30 sec between groups of 2. If you miss the interval, wait and go 50.
Ln 4, Ln 5, Ln 6, Ln7,
1:45 1:55 2:10 2:20 non
1:40 1:50 2:05 2:15 non/fr
1:35 1:45 2:00 2:10 fr
1:30 1:40 1:55 2:05 fr
1:25 1:35 1:50 2:00 fr
Ln 8: 2:50, 2:45, 2:40, 2:35
Cool-Down (100-300)
100-300 Pull
