swimnetwork.com just posted its version of the hardest swim workouts ever. Now I know everyone on slowtwitch has done way harder;) but all of them looked too tough for me. Tom Dolans 24 * 400’s looked killer and Vendts 30 * 1000’s made me hurt just thinking about them.
heres the link
http://www.swimnetwork.com/blogs/blog/20091111/the_hardest_sets_of_all_time-6462.html
mitch
Each set is various levels of ridiculous.
I guess the argument can be made that those sort of sets toughen you up mentally. I wonder whether they’re really necessary physically.
I seem to recall being told that Grant Hackett once swam a 3km fly time trial.
all of those look crazy!!! how long would it take to do 30x1000? I guess if you are an olympic swimmer and make a full day out of the pool on a regular basis then ok, but seriously, 30k in one set???
how different is it from a pool to the ocean? i mean obviously the actual bay is much harder so how much time in a pool would be needed to equate to being able to swim strong in the ocean? like say triple the actual distance needed in a pool or something like that?
i ask because i only have a league sized pool to start practicing in.
It said he did each one a 10min send off. So I think he did it in 300 min. That’s insane!
did you guys catch this one in the comments?
short course meters
3200 @ 48:00
2 x 1600 @ 24:00
4 x 800 @ 12:00
8 x 400 @ 6:00
16 x 200 @ 3:00
100 x 50 @ 1:00
21400 total…done by a 14 y/o A/AA swimmer…pretty impressive for a non-elite. I venture to say a lot of folks on this board could make the intervals, for at least part of the workout.
metres as opposed to yards i presume?
30x1000 is simply ridiculous.
but the sadistic genius award goes to the whoever came up with the 80x200 while wearing gym shorts and tights. That is gnarly.
short course meters
3200 @ 48:00
2 x 1600 @ 24:00
4 x 800 @ 12:00
8 x 400 @ 6:00
16 x 200 @ 3:00
100 x 50 @ 1:00
Any sane person would stop at the 200’s, I mean who can, or would want to, keep track of 100x50? I loose count after about 20 of anything, max.
In the comments a 13 y/o talks about doing straight 3000m fly…that’s INsane
.
i used to train with a guy who at 14 used to do 30 minute tests (ie swim as far as you can in 30 minutes) doing all fly. his form was still good at the end…
short course meters
3200 @ 48:00
2 x 1600 @ 24:00
4 x 800 @ 12:00
8 x 400 @ 6:00
16 x 200 @ 3:00
100 x 50 @ 1:00
Any sane person would stop at the 200’s, I mean who can, or would want to, keep track of 100x50? I loose count after about 20 of anything, max.
When i was a age-group swimmer, we use stacks of kickboards to keep count of long sets. Each board would represent some round number (5 or 10), that way we would only have to keep track of a small number.
Toughest set this month - 24X125 SCY on 1:22 - (I’ve been taking the swim easy this year)
Toughest practice since I started keeping a log (2 years ago) -
6:00 AM WU 4X{4X25 free on :20, 4X75 5/20 mix free/back on 1:00}
1600
6:28 AM 3X900 paddles/zoomers negative split 300 back/600 free on 11:20
Held 9:20 (3:20/6:00), 9:14 (3:20/5:54), 8:55 (3:14/5:41)
2700/4300
7:04 AM 8X225 dec. 1-4 odd=75fl/50ba/50br/50fr, even=50fl/50ba/75br/50fr
on 3:05, Held 2:39-2:34
1800/6100
7:31 AM 20X100 free on 1:05, Held :56-:57
2000/8100
7:55 AM 8X300 free steady w/paddles on 3:45, Held 3:15
2400/10500
8:32 AM 16X125 free w/paddles on 1:25, Held 1:20
2000/12500
9:02 AM 3X{3X50 5r5l free on :45, 3X100 20yd. underwater kick, 5yd. swim
on 1:25}
1350/13850
9:26 AM 16X100 zoomer/board kicking free on 1:25, Held 1:14
1600/15450
9:51 AM 16X150 dec. 1-4 75ba/75br on 2:10, Held 1:55-1:50
2400/17850
10:28 AM 8X300 free on 3:20, Held 2:53, #8=2:51
2400/20250
10:54 AM WD 200 easy TOTAL = 20,450 yards ~ 5 hours.
From memory, back in HS, we (I) did…
6X250 on 2:25
6X1000 on 10:05
Lots of 10K races long course holding ~1:08s
The best set I’ve heard (by a female)
100 on :59
100 on 1:01
2X100 on :59
200 on 2:02
3X100 on :59
300 on 3:03
4X100 on :59
400 on 4:04
5X100 on :59
500 on 5:05
6X100 on :59
600 on 6:06
7X100 on :59
700 on 7:07
Racing a 25K or longer is by far more difficult than any of the above listed sets.
Just not sinking is a big enough workout for me 
.
BTW, I think it’s ironic that Cullen Jones is on the banner ad for an article “hardest swim workouts ever.” Yeah, sprinters work hard 
.
And I thought my 100x100s were tough. Wow. 30x1000m. I have to digest this. The crazy part of me is trying to see how I can go about this (it’s the ultra side of me that’s singing right now.
I have an English Channel Swim on my bucket list. The 30x1000 will definitely be attempted. >:-)
Holy Cow… In school I did several 15k work outs but never went beyond that. You’re a beast! Did you do this with others or solo?
My coach has given me two similar, really hard pre IM workouts that I hate.
both are 40x100
First one is 40x100 with 10x100 free warmup (say 20 second rest in between) then 10x medley, rest 20, followed by 20x at IM race pace with 5 seconds rest
Second one is 40x 100 with 1000m warmup beforehand. Then it’s just 40x100 leaving at IM race pace (ie 5 seconds per 100 faster than race pace, then 5 seconds rest) hang on as long as you can! I have never finished this workout BTW, but got into the low 30’s a couple of times, before I couldn’t make the interval.
Go hard or go home…I’ll see you at home! LOL
I’ve known one guy who attempted the channel crossing. Hypothermia got him. I think he may try again in 2011. He did some really long swims, but never anything like the 30*1000. The fact that Vendt did them on a 10 minuet send off leaves me shaking my head in awe.
In the comments a 13 y/o talks about doing straight 3000m fly…that’s INsane
I’ve done this many times, my Sr. year in HS I remember being so stoked to get under 31min for my 3000 fly (30:55).
We did it all in HS, 20x400IM, 20x500, timed 10,000s, 100x200, etc. The hardest sets though were the lactate tolerance sets like 6x200 fly at your race pace on 10min. If you didn’t puke you didn’t go hard enough. The worst “monster” set was 6x800IM on 9min. The interval was tough enough but I had to take each 200fly out under 2min and bring home each 200fr under 2min or I had to start over.
In a similar vein, as a miler it was important for me to hold a certain pace on short rest. So one set I hated was 10x100 @1:05 holding 56s. If I missed any I had to start over, I think I ended up doing 60+ (all below, or damn close, to 56.0) before I was able to go home.