I have one more triathlon and then duathlon worlds, so swim training will fall off the map after August 22nd. This morning I did my final big swim workout of the season. In fact, it was my longest so far at 4000 yards. Since I’ve been spouting some opinions about swimming and what I do (or don’t do) has been a topic of concern, I thought I’d share.
More than just a workout, this should give you a pretty good picture of what I do just about any time I do a pool session. Very little changes beyond the details and distance of the main set (anywhere from 1k-2k) and some variability in what I do after the main set if much at all. So here goes.
(Short course yards)
Warm up:
100 free / 100 drill / 100 free / 100 drill /100 free
4×50 @ :50 odds – fly/free evens – fist drill/free (swim strong, especially 2nd 25)
300 kick w/ board (free / fly / free / breast)
Main set:
3×100 @ 1:25
2×200 @ 2:45
2×300 @ 4:10
2×200 @ 2:45
3×100 @ 1:25 descend (1:19, 1:17, 1:16)
100 free ez w/ pull buoy
Other sets:
8×50 @ :50 paddles, steady pace focus on stroke mechanics
100 free ez w/ pull buoy
2×50 @ :55 1st 25 no breather fast turnover, 2nd 25 ez
100 free ez w/ pull buoy
2×50 @ :55 1st 25 no breather fast turnover, 2nd 25 ez
100 free ez w/ pull buoy
It’s not a killer workout by any means, but it’s a good solid effort and leaves me with that post-swim all over fuzzy feeling in my muscles. You know what I mean. Tomorrow is a more intense bike/run brick, so I wasn’t looking to blow myself out in the pool today. In general, I’ve developed a philosophy of saving those big, big spend-it-all days for special occasions. Typically races, but sometimes some specific prep for the A events will meet that standard. This kind of effort budgeting process helps with consistency.
So that’s it. I’ll swim open water later this week and will do a shorter swim early next week. Race will be the following Saturday, so that’s when I get to spend 2+ hours with the motors revved high to see what I get for all this preparation. Pending no major execution errors. Fun.
Looks like a great, solid workout! Nice job!! Just out of curiosity – when you swim open water, do you swim the same pace throughout? Or do you swim timed “pieces” (ie 5 or 10 min fast/hard effort followed by a recovery?) – or do you just go out and swim a steady tempo? I’ve always been curious. Thanks! Keep up the great training
Marit, thanks for your question!
More often than not, it’s pretty steady with a few pace changes and perhaps some fast starts/finishes at the end. Open water is intended to practice dealing with the conditions of no walls, chop and weather. The pool is where I deal more with pace changes, etc. Of course, the type of races I have pending will factor in too.
Looks like about what I do in the pool (when I am training). I don’t vary my workouts either and also do a solid 1K-2K main set and that is about it, I think it works great for previous swimmers! Good luck in the upcoming races!