In 2001, I coached a group that had 90 minutes of pool time each day. I wanted more! In an attempt to get a “full” workout in, I decided to combine my warmup and main series a few times per week. This workout is an example of what I started in 2001, and have continued to do through this year.
How often do we start the practice with a 2000 warmup, then do an 800 pre-set, then a 2400 main series? I know this is a basic practice plan for the teams with which I’ve worked. When you only have 90 minutes, it’s tough to get all this in, and then also get in a secondary set afterwards (which I feel is appropriate to do multiple times per week). One way to deal with this is to combine that 2000 yard warmup and 2400 yard set. After all, we tend to spend the later part of the warmup “already warm” and the beginning part of the main series “warming into the set”.
This set cycles through some 150 yard freestyle repeats. We had just completed a strong set of threshold 200s the Saturday prior to this Tuesday practice, so the athletes were especially ready for just a few fast 150s. After each 150, there is a series of drills to keep everything moving, and set up the next round.
Elizabeth Pelton did this set, and got down to 1:22, 1:20, and 1:18 (split 39.9-39.0) on the last three. A twelve year old boy went 126, 123 on the final two rounds as well!
The athletes continued to swim well through the final set of fly 50s, making for a big day of fast active rest efforts. Below the workout, you can see the goal time guide that I included in the workout. This workout is exactly what the athletes see each day — a typed sheet that they can place on the deck in front of their lane. It’s extremely important to have the goals written out as much as possible, so the athletes can truly see what they are striving for! I was actually fairly easy on them with the goals (in terms of what I was asking for) because I kept in mind that we were at the beginning of the season (September) — you can see that there is
1. a goal time 200 column,
2. a column for the “virtual” pace of a 200 without a dive (like we do when we train from a push),
3. the pace needed on a 150 to “hit” that virtual 200 time,
4. and finally the “early season” goals — done negative split.
The negative split aspect of the repeat is a key. There is no sense in doing a pace swim at the distance of a 100-400 without it being negative split, in my opinion. Why practice deceleration? Negative split practice is the practice of acceleration, and in particular when you consider LCM racing, you must have the ability to accelerate in your bag of tricks.
“Great effort springs naturally from great attitude.”
– Pat Riley
Workout
5x:
1×150 Free (150) descend 1-5, Negative Split
2×100 IM Drill (130)
4×75 Back-Brst-Free (115)
6×50 Pull (50) – odds Negative Split; evens 5th
8×25 (30) Fly Drills 4– 3R.3L.Full to finish length + 4 – human stroke
4×25 (30) Free/Fly
2x: 3×50 Fly (1)* + 1×100 Easy (140)
3x: 2×50 Fly (1)** + 1×100 Easy (150)
4x: 1×50 Fly (1)*** + 1×100 Easy (2)
8×100 Free IM (130) – extended walls and double pullouts
WORKOUT TOTAL: 7750
This workout was provided by T2 Aquatics Head Coach Paul Yetter.
Goal Time Guide
| Goal 200 Dive | Virtual Push Time | Push 150 Goal | September 13 Rd 3-5 Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:43.5 | 1:46.0 | 1:19.5 | 1:24.5, 1:22.5, 1:20.5 (40.5 – 40.0) |
| 1:47.5 | 1:50.0 | 1:22.5 | 1:27.5, 1:25.5, 1:23.5 (42.0 – 41.5) |
| 1:51.5 | 1:54.0 | 1:25.5 | 1:30.5, 1:28.5, 1:26.5 (43.5 – 43.0) |
| 1:55.5 | 1:58.0 | 1:28.5 | 1:33.5, 1:31.5, 1:29.5 (45.0 – 44.5) |
| 1:59.5 | 2:02.0 | 1:31.5 | 1:36.5, 1:34.5, 1:32.5 (46.5 – 46.0) |
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