Tri Swim Coach

Saturday Swim Session: Long Swim with a Twist

Stamina is a key consideration for longer-distance swimmers such as triathletes and open-water swimmers. This session builds your stamina and endurance. This is a great session for triathletes and open water swimmers to do to build their sustained speed.

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.

The inspiration for today’s workout comes from The Essential Swimmer written by Steve Tarpinian (RIP).

Option A

  • 200m WU;
  • 8x 50m Drill Swim;
  • 1,000m Swim 4th length choice;
  • 200m CD (1,800m)

Option B

  • 400m WU;
  • 8x 50m Drill Swim;
  • 2x 1,000m Swim 4th length choice, 60sec RI;
  • 200m CD (3,000m)

Option C

  • 400m WU;
  • 8x 50m Drill Swim;
  • 3x 1,000m Swim 4th length choice, 60sec RI;
  • 200m CD (4,000m)

Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) covering 200m (Option A) or 400m (Options B & 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/swim set. There are eight, 50m repetitions made up of 25m Drill, then straight into 25m normal swimming. Feel free to use fins whilst doing this 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 main set involves reps of 1,000m, three lengths swim freestyle, and for every fourth rep swim a length of your choice. Whether you swim butterfly or one of the other competitive strokes (backstroke or breaststroke) or do a length of drill it’s up to you – just don’t stop swimming. Option A does a single 1,000m rep. Options B & C have a 60-second Rest Interval (RI) between the two and three reps they do respectively.

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

I’ve recently launched a new swim training plan that will improve your swimming. If your goal this year involves swimming faster with limited time to train. Complete the form below and get more information about this great plan.

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