Coach Chris
Speed work
Warm up
Swimmer's choice
600
Drill
- 16x50
#1-4 freestyle on cruise+10 sec
#5-8 nonfree on cruise+15 sec
#9-12 kick on cruise+20 sec
#13-16 choice of stroke on cruise+20 sec. Descend 13-16
1x50 to 1x200 to synch up the lanes prior to the main set
(1000/1600)
Main Set
- Today's main set is based on ideas from Kerry O'Brien of Walnut Creek Masters.
A sprint 100 is a difficult race. Frankly, no one can crank out a full 100 at 100% intensity. There will always be some amount of acceleration and deceleration, some amount of hard effort and some amount of coasting during the race. The trick is to know when to apply the power, and when to keep a lid on it. The pool set up for this set is to place markers, like orange cones, in certain places along the side of the pool. In our case, since we are working in a 25 m pool, I placed cones at the halfway point, the 12.5 m mark
This first portion of the set is designed to stress the sustainability of high intensity swimming during a 100. Moderate pace does not mean letting your stroke mechanics go to pot. Maintaining good mechanics during the moderate portion of the swims makes acceleration to fast pace and sustaining it easier. The idea on that last length isn't so much to be accelerating-that's too late in the race-but to minimize the deceleration at the end. This is the "Hang on" part of the race, and disciplined efficiency is everything at that point.
To increase the energy in the pool, try spreading your lanes around, so that folks have someone to race when they do this set.
8x100 on cruise+60 sec.
#1 87.5 m moderate/12.5 m fast
#2 75 m moderate/25 m fast
#3 62.5 m moderate/37.5 m fast
#4 50 m moderate/50 m fast
#5 all moderate (yes, we're giving you a chance to recover)
#6 37.5 m moderate/62.5 m fast
#7 25 m moderate/75 m fast
#8 12.5 m moderate/87.5 m fast
Choice of strokes, but do the same thing on all 8x100.
The next portion of the set reinforces the notion of maintaining good mechanics on either side of the speed work, for the reasons noted above. The major take away from this portion of the set, however is "easy speed." Easy speed is about efficiency-using good mechanics, good streamlines off the walls and start to generate as much speed for as little effort as possible. This is especially true during the opening potion of a sustained high intensity race like a 100 or 200. You'll need that speed at the start, but you'll also need to save enough juice to hold it together at the end. Again, moderate does not mean sloppy/easy.
10x50 on cruise+40 sec
#1 12.5 m fast/37.5 m moderate
#2 12.5 m moderate/12.5 m fast/25 m moderate
#3 25 m moderate/12.5 m fast/12.5 m moderate
#4 37.5 m moderate/12.5 m fast
#5 all moderate
#6-10 repeat the pattern from #1-5 above. Try a different stroke.
(1800/3400)
Last set
- 300 choice of swim, kick and/or drill to cool down.
Choice of strokes
(300/3700)