Workout Wednesday - 19 March 2014

Well, I sure took a hiatus didn't I?  More athletes coming out of hibernation, the ITU racing season getting started - having an athlete racing at ITU Sarasota .....excuses, excuses.

So, back to the grind.  I've been throwing in a little more endurance work for my athletes as of late.  As you might recall, I was pretty heavy on speed and speed endurance / threshold work early on.  I found that most of the athletes at my swim club did a lot of solid aerobic endurance work during the off-season, so it seemed fitting.

A little trip back to the aerobic energy system is in order:

Warm up:
200 swim
200 pull
200 kick (board - no fins)

4 x (75 - 125) on 1:10 - 2:00
.
Main set:
500-400-2x200-400-300-2x200
All on base 100 time + :20 - :30
.
Cool down
200 easy

This set is SCY and yields 4,000 yards.  The send-offs in the main set are, as stated, are on base 100 time + :30.  So, for example, if your athlete holds 1:10 pace pretty easily under aerobic levels, then his/her 400 send-off is 5:10.  The 300 send-off is 4:00, etc.

You'll notice the 2 x 200's in the middle and end of the round.  I like breaking up a longer set with slightly shorter distances.  Athletes will tend to go a little harder on the 200's - getting a little more rest - but upping the quality of the set that much more.

Drop me a line with any questions - I'm always up for talking about swimming.

Workout Wednesday - 26 February 2014

This is the workout that my swim club did yesterday morning.  I usually start the week out with speed, or speed endurance work, and move towards aerobic work come the end of the week or weekend.  I do this as, usually, triathletes have rest days early in the week.  Speed and speed endurance is best done when your athlete is as rested as possible.  High intensity, threshold, training is really tough for athletes to do when fatigued after a hard week of training.  Where aerobic work can be done whilst slightly fatigued.

Hence, todays workout.  More quality efforts.  The set is built around shorter, higher quality, efforts. It's built so that the athlete doesn't get too fatigued during the main set, and there's enough lower intensity efforts to allow for solid recovery.

This is SCY, and will take about 1:15.

Warm up:  

300 swim

200 kick

200 pull

24 x 25 on :10 rest 

Every 4th Dog Paddle

Moderate / Hard effort.

Main set: 

3 x (3 x 50 - 150), 

50's maximum effort on :20 rest.

150's at 200 practice pace on :30 rest.

4 x (3 x 25 - 125) 

25’s maximum effort on :15 rest

125's at 200 practice pace on :30 rest.

1:00 between sets.

200 cool down.

3200 yards

You can see that the 150's and 125's allow for the athletes to recover, where the 50's and 25's don't quite provide enough time for full lactic acid clearance.  The time goes quickly for the athlete in this workout.

As I always say:  Questions?  Contact me!

Workout Wednesday - 19 February 2014

Since I threw a little endurance your way last week, we're going back to some threshold work this week.

This is a set that I gave my swim club just yesterday.  Short distances with high quality and intensity in the main set.  You'll most certainly want to take advantage of a white board for this session, as the main set is a little lengthy and is much easier to understand when written out.

This is SCY, and will push close to 90 minutes.  As always, adjust the send-off times depending on the base 100 times of your athletes.

Warm up:

200 swim

200 kick

200 pull

4 x (75 - 50)  

75’s easy on 1:15 

50’s hard on 1:00 

Main set:

2 x (100-75-3x25, 100-75-4x25, 100-75-5x25) 

100's descending on 1:40

75's easy on 1:10

25's MAX on :45

2 x (50-50-25, 50-50-2x25, 50-50-3x25)

1st 50's descending on :50

2nd 50 easy on 1:00

25's MAX on :45

Cool down:

200 easy

Total yards: 3850

As you can see, we push some threshold in the main set, but add in a 1 : 2 work-rest ratio for the 25's - focusing on speed.  It's a nice mix, in my opinion, that really provides a good quality session.

I'm a big fan of speed endurance / threshold sets.  Athletes tend to focus more on aerobic endurance and "LSD" sets.  (Long. Slow. Distance).  Not that aerobic endurance isn't important, but most often threshold and speed tends to be the limiter for a lot of athletes.  

Want to discuss this topic more?  Reach out to me!

Workout Wednesday - 12 February 14

I'm throwing a little endurance work back into the mix today.  But, as usual, there's a little speed endurance work thrown in for good measure.

This is a great set to really get some serious yardage in. And I really like it for the fact that it switches gears in the middle of the main effort and utilizes a different energy system.  The main set efforts, for the longer distances, are aerobic in nature. Targeting a 1:20-1:25 base 100 effort, the rest intervals will provide about :20-:30 rest. But the 25's switch things up with a 1 : 2 work/rest ratio and we start to get a little anaerobic.

This set is SCY and will take about 1:15-1:30........

Warm up:

200 yards easy

200 kick

200 pull

Pre-set / Warm up:

10 x 50

1st length stroke (choice) 2nd length free.

1:15

12 x 75 on 1:15.  Cruise efforts 

Main set: 

Speed endurance (Sp/E)  and Endurance. 

2 x (400, 300, 10 x 25, 200)

400 on 6:00, 300 on 4:30, 25's on :45 - max effort., 200 on 3:00

Cool down:

200 easy

4500 yards

Change the send-offs to accommodate your athletes base 100 times, ensuring to keep things aerobic. That means you need to target a send-off that provides :20-:30 rest.  As the main set lasts between 20-30 minutes (depending on the athlete) it's long enough to get the aerobic work in, but short enough to not be boring.  The usual reaction I get from athletes after this set is that they got more yards in the main set than they thought. The 25's keep things fresh and nobody gets bored.

Questions?  Give me a shout!

Workout Wednesday - 05 February 2014

This is a set that I have planned for my swim club tomorrow morning.  Well, that's assuming the weather behaves here in Colorado Springs.

I normally front load the week with speed and threshold work - doing the higher intensity training early in the week with aerobic efforts coming on the weekend.  The reason for this is that aerobic efforts can be done when the athlete is a little fatigued, but threshold and speed work loses a lot of it's benefit when attempted in a fatigued state.

This is a big set.   Lots of threshold work.  Lots of yardage.  It's SCY and takes about 1:30.

Warm up

200 Easy

200 kick

200 pull

4 x (75-100)  

On 1:15-1:45

Main set

4 x 100 @ 1:35  1st 25 sprint   

6 x 100 @ 1:30  Best pace

12 x 50 @ :50  Descend 1-6 

4 x 100 @ 1:35  1st 50 sprint 

6 x 100 @ 1:30   Best pace

12 x 50 @ :50  Descend 1-6 

Cool down

200 Easy    

4500 yards

Again, this is a big set.  You'll have to adjust the send-offs for yourself or your athletes as necessary, of course.  If you need to add time on the send-offs, then adjust the pre-set (the 75-100 sets) to be 50's and 75's to allow for the extra time.

This set is going to work on speed endurance big time.  All efforts here are going to be at threshold effort (or better!)  If you're feeling generous, give your athletes an extra minute rest after the first set of 50's.