Weekly Swim Sets: Friday, 23rd October 2015
In this week’s pair of triathlon swim sessions I tried to get my swimmers to focus on their catch. Doggy paddle drills are a really obvious choice for working on the initial setup of the stroke, it’s important the swimmers don’t rush them and work to feel a push against the water. To complement that single arm drills and stroke counting offer them an opportunity to concentrate on each individual stroke.
Wednesday, 21st October 2015 – Endurance Swim Session
| Warm Up | ||
|---|---|---|
| 200m Front crawl | ||
| 2x | 50m as 25m doggy paddle, 25m front crawl on 10s rest | |
| 2x | 50m Front crawl – single arm, swap at 25m – on 10s rest | |
| 100m Front crawl | ||
| 2x | 50m as 25m doggy paddle, 25m front crawl on 10s rest | |
| 2x | 50m Front crawl – single arm, swap at 25m – on 10s rest | |
| 100m Front crawl | ||
| 2x | 50m Front crawl – 25m hard, 25m easy – on 10s rest | |
| 900m | ||
| Main Set | ||
| 3x | 50m Front crawl on 10s rest | |
| 3x | 100m Front crawl on 15s rest | |
| 3x | 150m Front crawl on 20s rest | |
| 3x | 200m Front crawl on 25s rest | |
| 2,400m | ||
| Cool Down | ||
| 200m Choice (mix strokes) | ||
| 2,600m | ||
After a warm up focussing on the catch the main set was a simple, consistently paced ladder.
Thursday, 22nd October 2015 – Endurance Swim Session
| Warm Up | ||
|---|---|---|
| 400m Front crawl | ||
| 2x | 50m Front crawl – 25m hard, 25m easy – on 10s rest | |
| 50m Front crawl – steady, count strokes | ||
| 100m Front crawl – easy | ||
| 3x | 50m Front crawl – reducing stroke count on 10s rest | |
| 100m Front crawl – easy | ||
| 900m | ||
| Main Set | ||
| 200m Front crawl – steady – on 20s rest | ||
| 3x | 50m Front crawl – descending (east, steady, hard) – on 20s rest Maintain stroke count with increasing speed |
|
| 50m Front crawl – easy on 20s rest | ||
| Repeat main set 4-5 times | ||
| 2,500m – 2,900m | ||
| Main Set 2 | ||
| 2x | 50m Backstroke on 10s rest | |
| 2x | 50m Backstroke – catch up – on 10s rest | |
| 2x | 50m Backstroke on 10s rest | |
| 2x | 50m Breaststroke on 10s rest | |
| 2x | 50m Breaststroke kick – on 10s rest | |
| 2x | 50m Breaststroke on 10s rest | |
| 3,100m – 3,500m | ||
| Cool Down | ||
| 200m Choice – easy | ||
| 2,700m – 3,700m | ||
Lots of stroke counting in Thursday’s session. I’m not looking for swimmers to target a particular stroke count, but I want them to concentrate on their stroke as they swim. Counting strokes while increasing speed helps ensure they make every stroke count and don’t start slipping water or rushing their stroke as the pace goes up.
