The main set of this workout is known (to me anyways) as the “Glen Housman” set. Glen Housman is an Australian, who won the silver medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Glen set the World Record in the 1500 Free in 1990 at the Aussie Commonwealth Games trials with a 14:52, but the record was never ratified by FINA because the timing system had failed during the race! Nonetheless, anyone who followed swimming at that time knew that Glen Housman took the 1500 from 14:55 to 14:52.
I never watched Glen do this set, nor have I talked with his coach about it … but growing up swimming this set as an athlete, we always called it the “Glen Housman” set! I was 16 in 1992 when Glen swam to a silver medal … so I assume my coach at the time (Murray Stephens, Olympic coach 1996) got it from Glen’s coach.
At T2 Aquatics we did this set one time last year, SCY. I’ve lost the exact intervals. The intervals below – and the full workout – is the exact workout I expect our T2 Aquatics athletes to do in a few weeks, sometime during the fall 2012. You can adjust the intervals (faster or slower) to accommodate your own needs, but the intervals should not be easy. You want to create a situation where the 3×200, as an example, are really a “broken 600” – and the times you are looking for should reflect that. Do not look for a single repeat that stands alone, on any distance. You may start the set with a bigger descend (say 556, 548, 542), but you want to descend “tighter” toward the end (208, 207, 206) and (101.0, 100.7, 100.2).
Workout
1×400 Free (540) 50R 50L breathing
8×100 Kick 4 — (2) mix + 4 — (150) Free
1×400 Drill (640) 50 Free 50 non Free
8×100 Pull 4 — (130) Free-Backx50 + 4 (120) Free rest 60
8×50 (50) Free descend by pairs
“Glen Housman Set”
3×500 Free (615) *Descend
8×50 Drill (1) 2 of each stroke or free
3×400 Free (5) *Descend
8×50 Drill (1)
3×300 Free (345) *Descend
8×50 Drill (1)
3×200 Free (230) *Descend
8×50 Drill (1)
3×100 Free (115) *Descend
8×50 Drill (1)
WORKOUT TOTAL: 9300
This workout was provided by T2 Aquatics Head Coach Paul Yetter.
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