Tri Swim Training

Saturday Swim Session: How 150m Reps Can turn You Into A Faster Swimmer

150m is a great distance that can be used to develop sustainable speed. You need to hold your speed for longer than 100m reps and can hold a faster speed than 200m reps. This session is perfect for Ironman and Olympic distance triathletes or people doing longer Ocean Swims.

Each week I will load three options up for you to do. Option A is for swimmers who are after a workout less than 2,000 metres. Option B is for swimmers who are after a workout between 2,000 and 3,000m and Option C will be greater than 3,000m.

Option A

  • 200m WU;
  • 4x 50m Drill/Swim;
  • 6x 150m 30sec RI;
  • 200m CD (1,500m)

Option B

  • 400m WU;
  • 8x 50m Drill/Swim;
  • 10x 150m 30sec RI;
  • 200m CD (2,500m)

Option C

  • 800m WU;
  • 12x 50m Drill/Swim;
  • 12x 150m 30sec RI;
  • 200m CD (3,400m)

Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) covering 200m (Option A), 400m (Option B) or 800m (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 repetitions (Option C) 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 (Option A) twice through to make eight reps (Option B), or three times through to make twelve reps (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.

The Main Set is a made up of a 150m reps. Complete six reps for Option A, ten reps for Option B and twelve reps for Option C. After each rep take a 30 second Rest Interval (RI).

For the Cool Down (CD) swim 200m. Unlike the previous sets which have to be freestyle, the cool down (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.

Join over 2,576 people who have already signed up to be kept up to date with great workouts and training information in my informative newsletter.

Share this post so your friends can benefit as well.

If you enjoyed this workout, here is a similar session I published 12 months ago.

Saturday Swim Session: 50’s for Fitness

Get my 4 Weeks to a Faster 1500m With Only Two 2km Sessions per Week through Training Peaks. Results Guaranteed. Purchase here. Use discount code CR25 to get a 25% discount.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.