Here’s last week’s pair of triathlon swim plans coached for my local club, BAD Tri. Wednesday’s group had a threshold session which opened with some work on the end of the stroke. Thursday’s group focussed on body balance and rotation in their warm up and then mixed paces with a long set of 50s.
Wednesday, 3rd May 2017 – Triathlon Swim Session
| Warm Up | ||
|---|---|---|
| 400m Front crawl | ||
| 4x | 50m Front crawl – 25m finishing flick, 25m stroke – on 10s rest | |
| 100m Front crawl – thumb to thigh | ||
| 4x | 25m Front crawl – moderate effort – on 10s rest | |
| 4x | 25m Front crawl – hard effort – on 10s rest | |
| 900m | ||
| Main Set | ||
| 200m Front crawl – on a turn around allowing 30-40s rest | ||
| 2x | 100m Front crawl on a turn around allowing 15-20s rest | |
| 4x | 50m Front crawl on a turn around allowing 5-10s rest | |
| Repeat set 2-3 times | ||
| 2,100m – 2,700m | ||
| Cool Down | ||
| 200m Choice | ||
| 2,300m – 2,900m | ||
A new block of drills started last week focussed on the end of the stroke, making sure it finishes with a push. We used two simple drills – a finishing flick splashing water into the air and thumb-to-thigh to make sure we’re pushing back as far as we go. The main set itself was built around threshold over different distances .
Friday, 5th May 2017 – Triathlon Swim Session
| Warm Up | ||
|---|---|---|
| 100m Front crawl | ||
| 2x | 100m Front crawl – 50m 6-1-6 drill, 50m stroke – on 10s rest | |
| 100m Front crawl | ||
| 2x | 100m Front crawl – 50m 6-3-6 drill, 50m stroke – on 10s rest | |
| 100m Front crawl | ||
| 2x | 50m Front crawl – 25m hard, 25m easy – on 10s rest | |
| 800m | ||
| Main Set | ||
| 10x | 50m Front crawl 1-2: Hard on 30s rest 3-10: Steady on 15s rest |
|
| 10x | 50m Front crawl 1-4: Hard on 30s rest 5-10: Steady on 15s rest |
|
| 10x | 50m Front crawl 1-6: Hard on 30s rest 7-10: Steady on 15s rest |
|
| 10x | 50m Front crawl 1-4: Hard on 30s rest 5-10: Steady on 15s rest |
|
| 10x | 50m Front crawl 1-2: Hard on 30s rest 3-10: Steady on 15s rest |
|
| 3,300m | ||
| Cool Down | ||
| 200m Choice | ||
| 3,500m | ||
This session focussed on weaknesses I’d spotted in the stroke of some of my newer swimmers to the group. The emphasis is on body balance and rotation, keeping level in the water and balancing through the stroke. The main set used a series of 50s with hard efforts to start each block. Plenty of rest allowed to help keep the quality high.
