Why not... I'll start with this and see how well it's received.
Words of warning -
All workouts are LCM at high altitude (5600 ft). If you think the intervals are too easy, you should try them up here before you say that.
I may not be entirely consistent with my posting of these. I have a day job and family that keep me quite busy. It may make more sense for me to post a week at a time. Not sure if I can get far enough ahead of the train to do them in advance, or have to do them
Most of the training is geared towards being able to RACE 100's & 200's. 50's & 400's occasionally. This is *NOT* a high yardage program. Quality first!
There are usually 2 workout groups - 1:20-1:25 and 1:40-1:45. These are per 100 LCM Threshold/EN2 speed for a 30ish minute set and the times are how fast you are swimming, not what you are leaving on. I try to scale the slower workout from the faster one.
These are meant to be done in 1 hour. That's all the time we have!
Some pieces of this might lean towards USRPT at times. This is intentional and desired.
I will post the workouts as a PDF and provide any needed additional info on the original post.
Constructive feedback is always welcome and appreciated!!
First workout was a "killa" and geared towards 400 race-pace work.
Thursday, June 20, 2019 - Recovery(ish) / Aerobic -
A small step back in terms of intensity after the 1,200 at 400 Race Pace work on Wednesday. Also a little bit of recovery before our traditional "Fast Friday" with a lactate workout.
The 150's are the most challenging piece of this and then the intervals slow up... From 1:30 to 1:40 to 1:50 on the fast group. Notice also that you can do "choice" on the 100 and or 50 if you want to get a bit of non-free done with a lighter interval.
Swim Faster!!
R
(FAST) Friday, June 21, 2019 -
This is where the real racing happens!! Start point is 3 X 100's on 6:00 and 3 X 50's on 4:00 after a bit of warm-up. This will likely stay the same for future Fridays through the summer. All of them are off the blocks and in heats going every 2 minutes on the 100's and every 1:20 on the 50's.
"You can't go faster unless you GO FASTER!!"
- Jon Urbanchek
Monday, June 24, 2019 -
Light-Switching (on-off) speedwork. This is also about as close to "Distance Work" as we really get. Main set focused on 250's fast with a challenging interval (3:35) with recovery-ish 200's in between each 250 - 4 rounds! Some chose to do some stroke on the 200's though the interval on the 250's don't allow for much else other than Freestyle. Finishing with a small set of Gear Optional 50's to finish fast after being pretty wiped out after the 250's. Fins were a very popular choice here. :agree:
Tuesday, June 25, 2019 -
200 Race Pace day... Some intermittent speed work with a goal of hitting 200 speed in each of the fast 50's. Also a finishing set that gears towards front-end speed. Good chance that your freestyle is pretty fatigued after yesterday, don't be shy about doing other strokes with the fast 50's. Intervals should allow for it (mostly).
Swim Faster!
Rob
Thursday, June 27, 2019 -
A bit more "back at it" to day. A smaller "distance" set of 300's with some non-free to finish each 300 and work on fatigued non-free (stroke) swimming. Speed work today comes in late in the workout and as more of a prep for tomorrow's Fast Friday race session.
Temps here look to have finally made it back into the 90's (I am *NOT* complaining about this at all!!), so our water temps might be climbing a bit too. This makes longer swims pretty draining and getting good speed work harder to get up to speed and maintain for very long. Hopefully your waters have been cooler than ours!
Have fun!!
R
Friday, June 28, 2019 -
FAST FRIDAY!! Most all of this year's FAST FRIDAY practices will be in this same format and the group has agreed that they want to stick with the 3 x 100's & 3 x 50's format rather than increasing the number of 100's and decreasing the 50's (i.e. 4 X 100's & 2 X 50's, etc.) each week. This was done last year, though many more in the group were focused on big meets in August in 2018. That is not the case so much this year and this year's regulars agreed that 3/3 was enough pain & suffering :D
We usually have 4-5 lanes doing this from the blocks and keep 1-2 lanes open for warm down and/or those that want to do something else of their own choosing.
I have attached a practice with this format and will likely just re-post it each Friday, assuming this will be the same each week.
Monday, July 1, 2019 -
Now you start to see a pattern developing in the workouts... Mondays and Fridays are becoming more high-quality speed efforts while Tu/We are mixed and Thursday is more of a prep or even recovery day before Fast Fridays. I plan to ask today about how many are looking at doing the lone LCM summer meet in a couple of weeks at the University of Denver. If enough plan to go, I'll set up a third group for the week of the meet as a bit of a mini-resting week for them.
Today we're jumping into a set of 50's with the goal of repeating 200 pace / effort. 4 rounds of 3 fast and 1 easy. Ultimately, we are tracking this set towards being able to handle 2 sets of 10x50's - all fast! After this, we have a choice with a set of 150's pull or swim, or a set of 100's kick. A few people mentioned a desire to do a bit more leg work, so this is for them ;)
Quality over Quantity - Always!!
R
Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019 -
Pushing a bit more to the distance side today after a healthy dose of speed work yesterday. I was so wiped out, I fell asleep at 7:45 last night!!
Doing an IM/Free 1st main set with a step up in speed towards the end of each round and a little extra rest between rounds and then in the 2nd main set, back to some fast 50 cycled in with an easy/recovery 50 and a build to make a round of 3. May even suggest fins as an option if you really want to attack this with a bit of over-speed.
Swim Faster!!
R
Wednesday, July 3, 2019 -
A bit of pre-holiday speed work with some cycling of a couple of fast 100's and 50's with easy 100's and 50's between. Healthy amount of rest on the fast swims and then a short set of 5 build-a-sprint 50's. Remember that you can put in other strokes where it says CHOICE! :agree:
Don't forget to stay hydrated before/during/after your workouts as well as through the day! I will post another workout for tomorrow and Friday.
GO FASTER!
R
