Weekly Swim Sets: Thursday, 5th November 2015
This week’s swim sets continue the off season theme of simplicity and technique. Wednesday’s session involved counting strokes, not all that popular at 6:30 in the morning, but counting strokes and concentrating on that count helps keep a swimmer’s mind on their stroke. For Thursday’s session I turned my attention to the initial catch with two classic drills – sculling and doggy paddle.
Wednesday, 4th November 2015 – Endurance Swim Session
Warm Up | ||
---|---|---|
300m Front crawl | ||
2x | 25m Front crawl – hard – on 10s rest | |
50m Front crawl – steady; count strokes – on 10s rest | ||
3x | 50m Front crawl – reducing stroke count – on 10s rest | |
100m Front crawl – steady | ||
3x | 50m Front crawl – maintain low stroke count – on 10s rest | |
800m | ||
Main Set | ||
4x | 200m Front crawl – steady – on 30s rest 50m Front crawl – hard; count strokes – on 20s rest |
|
1,800m | ||
Main Set 2 | ||
4-8x | 50m Front crawl – easy – on 20s rest 25m Front crawl – best effort – on 20s rest |
|
2,100m – 2,400m | ||
Cool Down | ||
200m Choice – easy | ||
2,300m – 2,600m |
After an initial warm up I had the squad swim a relaxed 50 counting their strokes for the rep. With a baseline established I then asked them to try and reduce this number over a further three 50m reps. A low stroke count is not a target in and of itself, but working to reduce that count focusses attention on what’s happening in the water. Throughout the main set I had swimmers checking their count over hard 50m reps to ensure they didn’t lose control of their stroke. The aim wasn’t to be as low as possible, but to keep the stroke count stable as effort increased and ensure that each stroke counted.
Thursday, 5th November 2015 – Endurance Swim Session
Warm Up | ||
---|---|---|
400m Front crawl | ||
2x | 50m As 25m front scull, 25 front crawl on 10s rest | |
2x | 50m As 25m doggy paddle, 25 front crawl on 10s rest | |
100m Front crawl | ||
2x | 50m As 25m front scull, 25 front crawl on 10s rest | |
2x | 50m As 25m doggy paddle, 25 front crawl on 10s rest | |
100m Front crawl | ||
1,000m | ||
Main Set | ||
3-4x | 200m Front crawl – steady – on 30s rest 2x 50m As 25m doggy paddle, 25m front crawl on 15s rest 2x 50m Front crawl – building – on 15s rest |
|
2,200m – 2,600m | ||
Main Set 2 | ||
2x | 50m Backstroke on 15s rest | |
2x | 50m Backstroke kick on 15s rest | |
2x | 50m Backstroke – catch up – on 15s rest | |
100m Backstroke on 20s rest | ||
4x | 50m Backstroke – easy – on 15s rest 50m Backstroke – building – on 15s rest |
|
3,000m – 3,400m | ||
Cool Down | ||
200m Choice – easy | ||
3,200m – 3,600m |
Some classic catch drills to start the session and to break up the main set. Front sculling to help develop feel for the water and give a sense for the initial point of the stroke; then doggy paddle to follow this through to the catch itself. We finished the long session with more work on backstroke.