More swimming...

Here is a 4,000 yard workout we did in January. The focus of this practice was swimming with paddles.

200 swim free
200 kick breast or back
10x50's Drill/Swim on 1:10 (odd free/even stroke)
200 swim breast or back

Paddles:
200 pull free
20x25's on :30 (odd free/even back or breast)
swim 100 easy free (no paddles)
10x50's on 1:00 (odd free/even back or breast)
swim 100 easy free (no paddles)
5x100's on 2:00 free
swim 100 easty free (no paddles)

This is lots of paddle work. You might experience some soreness the following day...

Enjoy!

Senior practice

Each year I let the Seniors on the team lead one swim practice. They write the workout and "coach" the team. They usually use their "favorite sets" as the workout. This year the seniors really liked sprinting, so the workout was mostly 50's and 25's. :-)

Here it is... from Nov 25, 2008

400 free
300 back
200 breast
100 fly

10 x 50's on :45

20 x 25's fly w/fins on :30

6 x 50's - sprint 25, get out, do 10 pushups, then swim 25
(this was pretty tough! 60 pushups all together!)

200 drill/swim cool down

Total yards: 2400

(btw, our practices are 1 hour and 30 mins long)

Ladders

Some people love this type of workout and some don't. However, it is a great way to build up your aerobic endurance. The goal should be to keep the same pace throughout the whole set. Time your first "rung" on the ladder and then try and keep the same pace throughout. If you swim your first 50 in 40 secs, your 100 should be around 1:20, and so on... Keep your rest interval the same through the whole set. 15 - 20 secs is good to start with.

Here is an example of a ladder:
50, 100, 150, 200, 150, 100, 50
Total = 800 yards

To mix it up a bit: change strokes, use it as a kick set or pulling set, repeat the ladder 2 or 3 times to build your yardage.

I've used ladders for sprinting also:
25, 50, 75, 100, 75, 50, 25
This gets a little tough when you get to the 100.

For an even better aerobic set, make the distances farther:
100, 200, 300, 400, 300, 200, 100
Total = 1600 yards

This type of set can get long and boring. But, focus on stroke technique, turns, or breathing to get the most out of this type of workout.

Keep on swimming!!!!
Life is better when you are wet :-)