Tri Swim Coach

Saturday Swim Session: Broken 150’s

Sets of Broken 150s help you train both endurance and speed within the same session. This session is perfect for Ironman and Olympic distance triathletes or people doing longer Ocean Swims.

Each Saturday I will post a Swim Session, and most weeks I will load three options up for you to do. Option A is for swimmers who are after a workout between 1,000 & 2,000 metres. Option B is for swimmers who are after a workout between 2,000 & 3,000m and Option C will be greater than 3,000m.

Option A

  • 200m WU;
  • 4x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
  • 4x (150m, 30sec RI; 3x 50m 10sec RI)
  • 200m CD (1,800m);

Option B

  • 400m WU;
  • 8x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
  • 6x (150m, 30sec RI; 3x 50m 10sec RI)
  • 200m CD (2,800m);

Option C

  • 600m WU;
  • 12x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
  • 8x (150m, 30sec RI; 3x 50m 10sec RI)
  • 200m CD (3,800m);

Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) covering 200m (Option A), 400m (Options B), or 600m (Option C). During the warm-up feel free to stop and stretch as needed.  It doesn’t need to be a continuous swim.

Next up is a drill set of four (Option A), eight (Option B), or twelve (Option C) repetitions of 50m Drill/Swim, where you do a drill for the first 25m of the repetition and then normal swimming for the next 25m swimming. Feel free to use fins whilst doing the drill/swim set.  Do the drills below once through for Option A, twice through for Option B, and three times through for Option C:

  1. Kick On Side (KOS) left side 
  2. Kick On Side (KOS) right side 
  3. 6/1/6 
  4. 6/3/6

I wrote an article about swimming drills previously. Click here to read and watch it.

Coach Ray’s Top 3 Swimming Drills to Get You Swimming Smooth

Next, you progress to swimming sets of Broken 150s. Each Broken 150 involves swimming 150m as fast as you can with a 30-second Rest Interval (RI) before completing a set of three 50m sprints with a ten-second Rest Interval (RI). This completes the first rep. Straight after the last ten-second Rest Interval (RI) for the 50s, you are into the next full 150m rep!!! No rest for the wicked. If you are doing Option A, complete four full reps. If you are doing Option B complete six reps and for Option C you have eight reps to complete.

For the Cool Down (CD) swim 200m. Unlike the previous sets which have to be freestyle, the cooldown (like the warm-up) can be any stroke you wish to swim.  You can also stop and rest after any length.  I encourage you to stop and stretch during the cool-down.

If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.

I am the Head Coach and Director of Qwik Kiwi Coaching.

I specialise in assisting first-timers and recreational athletes to achieve their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729.

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As you follow the programme you will find yourself swimming 1,500m faster. Now whether that is a PB or not will depend on how fast you have swum in the past, but it will definitely be faster at the end of the 4 weeks than it is now. With this programme people improve on average by nearly 2 minutes, with some people improving by over 10%.

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Prior to using this plan, you should be able to complete a 1,500 metres continuous swim, 2,000 metres total within a workout.

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When purchasing, use the discount code “web25” to claim your 25% discount.

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