Spending a large amount of time swimming at or near your threshold pace and mixing in a bit of faster (or slower) swimming will develop not only your ability to sustain the pace, but also give your VO2 max a boost. This session is great for swimmers and triathletes preparing for longer, open water swims.
Last week I wrote an article about the original version of this workout:
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 an article from Swimming World Magazine which was submitted by Andrew Tangle. Although designed for National level swimmers I will have modified versions of it next week for the rest of us. You can read the article here.
Option A
- 200m WU;
- 3x 100m F/S on T-Time + 20sec;
- 3x 100m F/S on T-Time + 40sec;
- 3x 100m F/S on T-Time + 10sec;
- 1x 100m Easy 30sec RI;
- 2x 100m Choice 20sec RI;
- 2x 100m Choice 40sec RI;
- 200m CD (1,800m)
Option B
- 400m WU;
- 4x 100m F/S on T-Time + 20sec;
- 4x 100m F/S on T-Time + 40sec;
- 4x 100m F/S on T-Time + 10sec;
- 1x 100m Easy 30sec RI;
- 3x 100m Choice 20sec RI;
- 3x 100m Choice 40sec RI;
- 3x 100m Choice 10sec RI;
- 200m CD (2,800m)
Option C
- 400m WU;
- 5x 100m F/S on T-Time + 20sec;
- 5x 100m F/S on T-Time + 40sec;
- 5x 100m F/S on T-Time + 10sec;
- 1x 100m Easy 30sec RI;
- 4x 100m Choice 20sec RI;
- 4x 100m Choice 40sec RI;
- 4x 100m Choice 10sec RI;
- 200m CD (3,400m)
For the Warm Up (WU) start with a 200m (Option A) or 400m swim (Options B & C). Break this swim up, loosen into it. Take some breaks and stretch.
The first set is made up of three (Option A), four (Option B), or five (Option C) reps of 100m. Swim this set as Freestyle (F/S) swimming it on your T-Time plus twenty seconds. If you aren’t familiar with how the T-Time occurs have a read this article that explains it:
The second set is made up of three (Option A), four (Option B), or five (Option C) reps of 100m. Swim this set as Freestyle (F/S) swimming it on your T-Time plus forty seconds. As you’ve got more time to recover, you can really push the pace on these reps.
The third set is made up of three (Option A), four (Option B), or five (Option C) reps of 100m. Swim this set as Freestyle (F/S) swimming it on your T-Time plus ten seconds.
The next set is a single 100m rep swum nice and easy and followed by a 30-second Rest Interval (RI).
The fifth set is made up of two (Option A), three (Option B), or four (Option C) reps of 100m. Swim this set using any stroke of your choice. Take a twenty-second Rest Interval (RI) after each rep.
The Sixth set is made up of two (Option A), three (Option B), or four (Option C) reps of 100m. Swim this set using any stroke of your choice. Take a 40-second Rest Interval (RI) after each rep. As you’ve got more time to recover, you can really push the pace on these reps. This is the last set if you are doing Option A.
The seventh set is made up of three (Option B) or four (Option C) reps of 100m. Swim this set using any stroke of your choice. Take a ten-second Rest Interval (RI) after each rep.
For the Cool Down (CD) swim 200m. 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.
Keep an eye out for next week’s article that will cover a modified version of this workout for the majority of us.
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.
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