Favorite Base Swimming Workouts

Triathlon Forum
1

My season ended prematurely with a pinched nerve. I will be slowly making it back to running, but have the go-ahead to start swimming. I have only been swimming for a couple years, and am still learning the ropes.

I swim mid 1:30s in short course meters fairly consistently during workouts, and in a 750 meter tri leg I swam 1:28/100 meters (short course), but feel that swimming is still one of the hardest legs…or at least improvements and comfort are the hardest gains. I typically swim 3 or 4 times a week and have swum as much as 10 k in a week. I have a fairly extensive background in running and biking, and know really well how to coach myself through the off season in those disciplines, but am a bit lost drawing up my off season for swimming. I’ve found that biking and running are REALLY easy. Just run some low intensity miles with drills once a week, and hills/strides occasionally. Biking is similar…just time in the saddle and spin classes is enough to set me up to put down top 3 bike splits in most races I’ve done so far.

Last year I raced XTERRAs and sprints. I may do that again, and may throw in a 70.3, and also may hit a competitive Olympic. What are some break and butter swim sets for the next 6 months. I don’t need much variety. If I repeated the same 5 workouts cyclically, I’d be fine as long as I can gradually build them.

What do you do?

2

How much time do you have available? If you really want to improve on the swim, you should be aiming for a lot more than 10K per week, the upper limit being whatever you can manage. For the average adult onset swimmer, building up to 20-30k is a good manageable volume.

3

About an hour per session. 2-4 sessions per week. Probably won’t race until may/june, and will only do base work up to my first race.

4

Assume that you will get through 2700-3000m per hour.

Slowman’s Tarpon workout series would be an excellent start for you, if you want the variety. Aim for 4 workouts per week.

I typically structure my own practices along these lines.

500-1000 warmup (some variation of swim, kick, pull, no more than 200 of each at a time) favorite warmup is 2-4 x (150swim, 50 kick, 50 pull). Start off as slow as I can swim with good technique, and gradually build through the warmup to a bit under a threshold pace.

4-8 x 50 @ 60 - build and or descend. this is to get ready to put in some work

20x50 or 10x100 @ 400m race pace. 50’s on an interval that gets 15-20s rest (I’m at 55’s) 100’s should get about 30-35s rest. Hit the same time for each one.

4x100 kick or pull. not necessarily hard, this is a technique / recovery set. should be moderately hard effort. (yes there is a lot of technique in kicking as well as the pull).

12 x 25 @ 35 - every other one fast. mix in other strokes if you want.\

warmdown.

Also, have a look through some of the sets in my sig line, those can be quite good.

5

About an hour per session. 2-4 sessions per week. Probably won’t race until may/june, and will only do base work up to my first race.

I like a nice simple workout espec if only swimming for an hour. I’m assuming you’re usually swimming scm, so maybe try 18 x 200 scm on 3:20, 36 x 100 m on 1:40, and 9 x 400 m on 6:40. Start out out slow on the first 400 m and then gradually go faster. then swim the last 200 easy as your cooldown. (When doing the 9 x 400, do the last 400 as an all-out 200, then very easy 200 warm-down.) If you can swim all four strokes decently, albeit a bit slower than freestyle obv, another nice hour WO would be 14 x 200 scm IM on 4:20. Personally, I love the way my freestyle feels on the last leg of an IM, after swimming the other strokes first. Swimming all 4 strokes really improves your feel for the water, since in each diff stroke you are grabbing the water and pulling/pushing it in a diff manner with your arms and legs. On days when your arms feel tired, do a long kick set with no kick board, like say 10 x 200 IM kick on 6:00, or whatever leave interval gives you around 15 sec rest. Another good hour set would be 6 x 400 m IM on 10:30 (or whatever interval works for you) with half swim, half kick, i.e. alternating 25 swim, 25 kick, for each 400 IM.

6

Whatever you do, don’t listen to eric. He thinks that 50,000m per week is a light week. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

7

This is my go-to workout. If I’m not in good shape, its very hard or impossible. If I’m in good shape, its only moderately hard. So I use it frequently to gauge my current conditioning:

Total: 4000 (SCM)

Warm up (1000)
your choice (I usually do 400 swim/400 pull/200 kick)

Main (2800)
10 X 200 (100 easy/100 fast) on 3:30

8 X 100 (50 easy/50 fast) on 1:45

Cool down (200)
easy choice

8

so maybe try 18 x 200 scm on 3:20, 36 x 100 m on 1:40, and 9 x 400 m on 6:40 another nice hour WO would be 14 x 200 scm IM on 4:20 do a long kick set with no kick board, like say 10 x 200 IM kick on 6:00 Another good hour set would be 6 x 400 m IM on 10:30

http://memecrunch.com/meme/PRZC/john-wall-bruh/image.jpg&w=800&h=300?w=612&c=1

I wish I could do ANY of those LOL
.

9

About an hour per session. 2-4 sessions per week. Probably won’t race until may/june, and will only do base work up to my first race.

I like a nice simple workout espec if only swimming for an hour. I’m assuming you’re usually swimming scm, so maybe try 18 x 200 scm on 3:20, 36 x 100 m on 1:40, and 9 x 400 m on 6:40. Start out out slow on the first 400 m and then gradually go faster. then swim the last 200 easy as your cooldown. (When doing the 9 x 400, do the last 400 as an all-out 200, then very easy 200 warm-down.) If you can swim all four strokes decently, albeit a bit slower than freestyle obv, another nice hour WO would be 14 x 200 scm IM on 4:20. Personally, I love the way my freestyle feels on the last leg of an IM, after swimming the other strokes first. Swimming all 4 strokes really improves your feel for the water, since in each diff stroke you are grabbing the water and pulling/pushing it in a diff manner with your arms and legs. On days when your arms feel tired, do a long kick set with no kick board, like say 10 x 200 IM kick on 6:00, or whatever leave interval gives you around 15 sec rest. Another good hour set would be 6 x 400 m IM on 10:30 (or whatever interval works for you) with half swim, half kick, i.e. alternating 25 swim, 25 kick, for each 400 IM.

just kiding about not listening to Eric, but I think those off times are a bit aggressive for the OP. he’s at 1:28 / 100 pace for his 750 / 800, I don’t think 1:40 per 100 off times are realistic. I’d suggest starting off at 2:00 per 100 and adjusting to a faster off time over time.

10

You can always adjust the intervals to suit your swim speed, and the number of swims in each set, to come up with a good hour’s swim. For example, you might try 5 x 400 m free on 12:00, or 6 x 400 m free on 10:00. I adjust my intervals frequently based on how I feel on any given day. I think most swimmers have to, unless they are only doing very limited volume such that they never get very tired.

11

Just got done with my noon swim, and took some liberties with the leave interval. I always think I can manage 1:40 for a leave, and I can…for a bit. My pacing isn’t great, nor is my strength (or ability to hold pace), unless I’m racing. I know most triathletes really hound on the bike and to a lesser extent, the run, but those two legs come quite easily for me. Swimming is still hard-fought for gains in speed, endurance and most importantly, comfort. I hammered the swim early last year and got from 1:43/100 m in my 750 to the 1:27, so that was a huge jump in speed/endurance, but I feel there are still gains to be made in comfort.

Some of these sets are really ambitions regardless of time. If I hit the morning lap times once a week or so, I have some more time, and the sets stated so far would be great goals (but more for an hour and twenty minutes or so).

Seems like most of you aren’t all that into drill sets. Can I ask why? Is that getting to be a bit of a waste of time at this level?

12

as one athlete asked me the same kind of question 2 days ago, I wrote this little article, copying it in case there is anything that could help! yes, I definitely have a different approach than conventional swim coach. I work with a very diversify group from beginner to multiple ironman pro winners, division 1 swimmers etc. at this time of the year, for those that are in off season, we get back to technical aspect, back to the base, revisiting the important concept.

SWIMMING TIPS FOR TRIATHLETES

An athlete asked me the best strategy to improve his swim for next season and I had too many coffee, my answer went like this;

-Find a group, a good coach, and get in the water.
…
-group: if your schedule permit, it’s better to be push by others. Find a swim club, master program, triathlon team that will focus on freestyle and long distance. You need a program that address this.

-Coach: find a good one, and if possible, a swim coach that understand triathlon or a triathlon coach that understand swimming!

-Don’t worrie about backstroke, breaststroke and fly. They are lots of fun to learn….and fun to practice, but if your goal is to improve as a triathlete and have limited time in the pool, focus where it matter. Keep those stroke for the warm up or cool down. And No…… You don’t need those other strokes to stay injury free, to be balance or be a rock star front pack swimmer. Same reason runners don’t need to learn to dance to be good runner……they simply run.

-Kicking. Learn to kick, but don’t think of it as propulsion… kicking is about stroke control and balance/body position. Once you got this part figure out, don’t waste too much time there either.

-Drill (conventional)….use with moderation, a full winter of drill won’t make you a better swimmer. Technical improvement will happen in hands with fitness improvement. The fitter you are, the longer you will hold good form/technique.

  • The best DRILL…… BAND ONLY, take a bike inner tube, make a small loop and tie your ankle with it. It as to be tight enough so you can’t kick. Now learn to swim that way…with proper body position. If you sink to the bottom of the pool, it’s good feedback that you are doing it wrong.

-Learn to swim with higher stroke rate. When we get in open water, it will become very clear why I want you to master that skill. Yes… it will require more fitness/conditioning. But it will make you faster.

-SWIM MORE….you think you swim a lot? Swim even more! If you are limited on time, cut the warm up and cool down and swim longer main set. Chatting at the wall with your lane matte isn’t recommended training methodology.

-Arrive at the pool excited, awake (caffeinated), ready, and learn to love the struggle, love the process, be piss off for greatness, be engage mentally. Have fun! You will become a better swimmer.

-The only 100% bullet proof way to magically improve is to bring a coffee to your coach in the morning on the pool deck….

hope to see you all at the pool…or the lake!

Coach JonnyO
www.JonnyoCoaching.com
improvement are guaranteed or you are fired

13

Seems like most of you aren’t all that into drill sets. Can I ask why? Is that getting to be a bit of a waste of time at this level?

There is plenty of advice from really good swimmers and coaches in other threads - I would suggest doing a thorough search. I highly recommend any advice from “DougStern”.

As for my n=1, I swam many years without a coach and without paying much attention to drills. Just a lot of freestyle. I had tried some drills, but got bored quickly and just never saw the purpose of any of them.

Last winter I took a technique class from a guy at our local pool. He of course taught drills, but the most important thing he taught was “why” we were doing the drills. And how the drills should feel. This was a critical ingredient that resulted in pretty significant improvements in my stroke.

So I guess my point is - the drills alone were pretty useless (for me). Only with the addition of a coach did they become valuable.

14

I’ve recently taken a shine to 4 x 800, pull the odd ones

and 6 x 600 descend 1 - 3 and 4 to 6

The athletes seem to be doing well with them.

15

Just got done with my noon swim, and took some liberties with the leave interval. I always think I can manage 1:40 for a leave, and I can…for a bit. My pacing isn’t great, nor is my strength (or ability to hold pace), unless I’m racing. I know most triathletes really hound on the bike and to a lesser extent, the run, but those two legs come quite easily for me. Swimming is still hard-fought for gains in speed, endurance and most importantly, comfort. I hammered the swim early last year and got from 1:43/100 m in my 750 to the 1:27, so that was a huge jump in speed/endurance, but I feel there are still gains to be made in comfort.

Some of these sets are really ambitions regardless of time. If I hit the morning lap times once a week or so, I have some more time, and the sets stated so far would be great goals (but more for an hour and twenty minutes or so).

Seems like most of you aren’t all that into drill sets. Can I ask why? Is that getting to be a bit of a waste of time at this level?

Drills are a great way to focus on little technical aspects of the stroke, but you need to know why you are doing them and what to emphasize. Sometimes the same drill can be used to focus on different things, depending on the point of emphasis. But again, you need to know why you are doing it.

I tend to just do one arm free / fly / back and catchup free /back. With those 2 drills, I can work on getting good extension at the front of the stroke, alignment at the front of the stroke, body roll and alignment, and trying to get a good catch. But I usually save drills for warmup and warmdown, or a recovery set in the middle. They are a supplement to the main set, not a substitute for the main set. If anything gets dropped from the practice, it’s drills. It isn’t that they are a waste of time, but they are lower on the priority list than kick and pull, which are in turn lower on the totem pole than swim sets.

Over the winter, don’t be too aggressive on the leave intervals. Better to get slightly too much rest and swim a bit faster than to get not enough rest and swim slower / not be able to make the interval.

16

I don’t always agree with you but I think this is probably the best advice I’ve heard for the vast majority of us who don’t have a strong swim background.

17

I always agree with jonnyo, even though sometimes his Frenglish makes me think I don’t.

18

Struggling swimmer here.
Been focusing on one from recent master’s swim…

200 - Freestyle
200 - kick
200 - pull

100
20 rest
200
30 rest
300
40 rest
400
50 rest
500
60 rest
400
50 rest
300
40 rest
200
30 rest
100

19

Early season I like IM sets. Work turns, underwaters, kicking. The aspects of swimming that you might neglect during tri-season when simply surface swimming and pulling is #1 prio.

Maybe a set like this
1000 SKIPS
10x200 IM as 25 drill/25 swim per stroke
10x100 IM on 1:50 if you manage to come in at 1:40
(IM work, aerobic+technique)

Or something like this
1000 SKIPS
4x100 one arm fly
4x50 fly with long underwaters, maybe with fins
20-30x25 fly on 45", all sub-whatever (ie keep on target power)
4x250 descend
(Swim specific strenght and efficiency)

Or maybe something more like this
1000 SKIDS (drill!)
8x25 underwater dolphin w/ fins on 40"
8x25 uw nofins as far as possible on 50"
200 very easy
5x200 on 3:20, no breathing in between the flags
3x400 pull breathe 3-5-7
(breathing restriction, efficiency, turns, kicking)

20

What’s too high for a stroke rate?

If left to my natural tendencies, I’ll easily do 27 strokes for 25m at 1:40-1:45/100 pace (Oly/HIM pace).