Swim Session

Saturday Swim Session: 400’s

Swimming repetitions of 400m repeatedly will develop your stamina and ability to sustain a faster pace. This session is perfect for Ironman and Olympic distance triathletes or people doing longer Ocean Swims.

Each Saturday I will post a Swim Session, 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;
  • 8x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
  • 2x 400m FS 20sec RI;
  • 200m CD (1,600m)

Option B

  • 400m WU;
  • 8x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
  • 4x 400m FS 20sec RI;
  • 200m CD (2,600m)

Option C

  • 400m WU;
  • 8x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
  • 6x 400m FS 20sec RI;
  • 200m CD (3,400m)

Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) covering 200m (Option A), and 400m (Options B or 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 eight 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, twice through:

  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.

The next set involves swimming two (Option A), four (Option B), or six (Option C) reps that are 400m long. Swim them as fast as you can maintain and only take a 20-second Rest Interval (RI) between them.

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 & 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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