This week’s triathlon swim sessions consist of one open water focussed set and a longer endurance building set. I’ll be doing some open water coaching for the club later this month so it’s good to get people practicing the basics ahead of time.
Wednesday, 4th May 2016 – Swim Session
| Warm Up | ||
|---|---|---|
| 300m Front crawl – practice sighting | ||
| 300m Front crawl Odd lengths: breathe to left Even lengths: breathe to right |
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| 200m Front crawl – pull | ||
| 100m Front crawl – building | ||
| 900m | ||
| Main Set | ||
| 200m Front crawl – on 30s rest Drafting practice, swim on feet, switch lead every 50m |
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| 100m Front crawl – hard – on 30s rest No push offs, turn before wall |
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| Repeat set 4-5 times | ||
| 2,100m – 2,400m | ||
| Cool Down | ||
| 200m Front crawl Odd lengths: breathe to left Even lengths: breathe to right |
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| 100m Choice – easy | ||
| 2,400m – 2,700m | ||
As with previous open water sessions the main set works on drafting practice and starting without a push off. Using a light flutter kick with a sculling action allows a swimmer to hold a horizontal position ready for race start. It’s easy to practice this in the pool by starting each length away from the wall.
Alongside this we practiced breathing to either side. Not everyone breathes bilaterally and that’s fine. Sometimes you want to be able to choose which side you breathe though. If waves are hitting you on your right, it’s useful to be able to take a breath to your left.
Thursday, 5th May 2016 – Swim Session
| Warm Up | ||
|---|---|---|
| 300m Front crawl | ||
| 100m Front crawl – pull – on 10s rest 50m Front crawl – easy – on 10s rest |
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| 100m Front crawl – pull – on 10s rest 50m Front crawl – steady – on 10s rest |
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| 100m Front crawl – pull – on 10s rest 50m Front crawl – hard – on 10s rest |
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| 100m Front crawl – pull – on 10s rest 50m Front crawl – easy – on 10s rest |
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| 900m | ||
| Main Set | ||
| 200m Front crawl – pull – on 30s rest 200m Front crawl – easy – on 30s rest |
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| 200m Front crawl – pull – on 30s rest 200m Front crawl – steady – on 30s rest |
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| 200m Front crawl – pull – on 30s rest 200m Front crawl – building – on 30s rest |
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| 200m Front crawl – pull – on 30s rest 200m Front crawl – hard – on 30s rest |
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| 200m Front crawl – pull – on 30s rest 200m Front crawl – hard – on 30s rest |
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| 2,900m | ||
| Main Set 2 | ||
| 8x | 50m Front crawl – on 15s rest Odd: steady Even: building |
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| 3,300m | ||
| Cool Down | ||
| 200m Choice – easy | ||
| 3,100m – 3,500m | ||
A simple session working on building endurance with a mix of pace to avoid stagnation as the set goes on. I like to finish strong so the last 15 minutes were spent on 50s alternating steady reps with a mix of building and hard effort.
