We are 3 or 5 days removed from our Florida HS State Championships, depending on which “Class” the athletes are in. We are trying to get back to some strong Stroke Training on Tuesdays, following a Kick/Pull/Threshold on Monday.
First, to understand Tuesday’s workout one must know about Monday’s workout. A brief description of Monday November 12:
- Kick Set: 800 Kick (1215) + 8×50 Kick (50)
- Pull Set: 400 (5) + 8×100 (115 for 2, 110 for 2, 115 for 2, 105 for 2)
- Threshold Set: 3×300 Free (330) / 4×200 Free (220) / 4×200 Free (215) ….OR….3x 5×100 (125 R1), (120 R2), (115 R3) — all Free or Back-Breast
Today’s workout is going to a non Freestyle set for many in the training group. Some of our male freestylers who specialize (and a small amout of females as well) will do the freestyle set. The stroke set is geared toward strong 50s stroke at the end of each “200” — which starts with some kicking and drilling within the first 150. The KEY is to work the 150s very well. The 50 free must be done with an every 5 breathing pattern. The 50 kick must be strong, and must progress through the set. The 50 drill must be strong and well done and progress through the set. As the 50 swims get faster (the athletes will descend in groups of 3), the 150s must descend as well — at least through the first 6 rounds. After round 6 the 150 times may level off, but they should not get slower in an effort to “rest more” for the 50s swim….that would defeat the purpose of the set!
The Stroke group will do a set with some strong 25s kick with a thumb lock, 25s with breath control, and 25s going either Fly or Free after the main set. The Thumb Lock Kicking is done with a 7.5M underwater kick (not 15M underwater) — and then a very hard ‘headup’ flutter kick the rest of the way. We have not done this a lot this year, but it’s a great drill and we need to do more of it.
The Freestyle set is just a bit more swimming (225 yards per 3:10) — and it is done much the same way: the 175 must be breathing every 5th and it must be done well. The interval of (220) for a 175 is not hard, but it’s not going to allow a ton of rest either. I imagine the athletes will get 20-25 seconds rest after each 50, and 15-25 seconds rest after each 175.
The Freestyle group will do a set of 7×300 pull on (330) with the last one fast to finish.
Workout
4x:
200 Free (230) {50R 50L 100 Negative}
150 Kick (230) {50 Free + 50 non Free + 50 Choice}
100 IM Drill (140)
50 PB (55) {Fast}
9×50 — #1 Free-Stroke Kick (55), #2 Free-Stroke Drill (50), #3 Free-Stroke Swim (45)
| Stroke Group {200 Fly, 200 Back, or 200 Breast} | Mid-Distance/Distance Free Group |
|---|---|
| Stroke = Breast or Fly9x: 150 — which is 50 Free 5th + 50 Stroke Kick + 50 Stroke Drill (210) 50 — which is 50 Stroke*at 200 Pace (1)300 {25 Free + 25 DBL arm Back + 25 Side Kick}4×25 (30) Fast Kick Thumb Lock 4×25 (30) easy Free with 2 breaths max 4×25 (30) Fly or Free Swim Fast with stroke count3x25 (30) Fast Kick Thumb Lock 3×25 (30) easy Free with 2 breaths max 3×25 (30) Fly or Free Swim Fast with stroke count 2×25 (30) Fast Kick Thumb Lock 1×25 (30) Fast Kick Thumb Lock 200 easy |
Stroke = Free9x: 50 Free (1) at 200 Pace 175 Free (220) 5th225 easy7x300 Pull (330) – last one Fast*200 easy |
WORKOUT TOTAL STROKE GROUP: 4700 – FREE GROUP: 7000
Additional Comments
Everything we do as coaches should be geared toward our athletes. There is no magic formula. Every one of my workouts is done with certain athletes in mind. Generally my highest-level athletes are the athletes who I imagine doing a certain thing during the workout. One of my younger guys came back from our HS State meet, has been here every day even when others have skipped out a little bit — and he’s been on fire. Yesterday he swam a strong set of 8×300 in the morning Back-Breast- Free, then in the evening he swam the 8×100 pull with paddles, pb, and an ankle strap like this: {2 on (115) at 56-57 / 2 on (110) at 52.8-52.6 / 2 on (115) at 58.2-56.5 / 2 on (105) at 52.0-51.6}….then he did 3×300 at 257; 4×200 at 157; and 3×200 at 155. So, today, I think he’s ready to swim a strong set of 50s at 200 race pace, and follow it (based off yesterday’s 100s pull) with a strong set of 300s pull — going strong all the way through, and Fast on the end.
Some of my other athletes, male and female, are getting back into the groove pretty well also, but need to do some other strokes and balance out their taper (with work) and their meet (with less intense swimming). We’ve gone a few days without much “Speed” training, and today we’re going back to it — but we’re going to start with some great kicking and drilling, as well as swimming. The swimming is going to be done with one 50 at time fast. It should be a good workout because I think we’re setting the athletes up to swim pretty fast, with great stroke — which is always a priority. I don’t think they are ready to do 30×100 (130) — every 3rd fast….but with more work like today’s set, they will be ready to do the 30×100 in 10 days.
This free workout was provided by T2 Aquatics head coach Paul Yetter.
Some or parts of our workouts & resources and/or the accompanying PDF may only be available to premium members. If you would like to gain full access and help us support the swimming community, please choose one of our subscriptions to our platform.
