Courtesy of The Race Club.
Every swimmer should be seeking opportunities to swim fast in practice. Fast/high intensity training in practice is one of the primary building blocks of a well executed race. This week’s main set aims to help IMers push themselves to high intensities while still giving enough rest to execute each & every swim with INTENTION.
You’ll start each round with 3 x 200 IM’s – descending the effort so that the 3rd is as fast as you can go. Aim to execute your 200 IM breathing patterns, stroke rates, & race strategy as you plan to at the end of the season. Next, you’ll do 4 x 75 FAST. These will be IM order by round, so on round 1 – all 4 are butterfly… round 2 is all backstroke… round 3 – breaststroke… & round 4 is all freestyle.
For the butterfly, set your tempo trainer to 48 & breath every stroke or follow the 2 up/1 down breathing pattern. For backstroke, set the tempo trainer to 90 & focus on hitting your underwater dolphin kick counts & maintaining a good position. For breaststroke, set the tempo trainer to 46 & practice skipping the pullouts (doing 1 dolphin kick & then breaking out). For freestyle, set the tempo trainer to 90 & try to maintain a medium octane technique breathing every other stroke to your strong side. After you’ve finished the 75’s all that’s left is some fast 25s with fins. The odd’s will always be underwater dolphin kick & the evens will be the stroke (by round) you did on the 75s. EVERY SINGLE 25 is as fast as you can go (no breath on butterfly & freestyle). You’ll do dolphin kick breaststroke on the breaststroke round since you’ll be wearing fins. Choose the appropriate interval for you on the 200 IM’s that gives you at least 20 seconds of rest between efforts.
4 Rounds
- Swim 3 x 200 IM – Descend 1-3 to FAST @ 2:45/3:15/3:45
- Swim 4 x 75 Stroke (by ROUND) with tempo trainer – ALL FAST @ 2:00
- Kick/Swim 8 x 25 with fins odds: underwater dolphin kick FAST, evens: Stroke (by ROUND) FAST @ :45
- Kick/Swim 100 easy backstroke – alternate kick/swim by 25 @ 3:00
Learn more about the FINIS Tempo Trainer here.
Have fun & flip fast!
Coach Nolan
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Gary Hall, Sr., Technical Director and Head Coach of The Race Club (courtesy of TRC)
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THE RACE CLUB
Because Life is Worth Swimming, our mission is to promote swimming through sport, lifelong enjoyment, and good health benefits. Our objective is for each member of and each participant in The Race Club to improve his or her swimming performances, health, and self-esteem through our educational programs, services and creativity. We strive to help each member of The Race Club overcome challenges and reach his or her individual life goals.
The Race Club provides facilities, coaching, training, technical instruction, video, fitness and health programs for swimmers of all ages and abilities. Race Club swim camps are designed and tailored to satisfy each swimmer’s needs, whether one is trying to reach the Olympic Games or simply improve one’s fitness. Our programs are suitable for beginner swimmers, pleasure swimmers, fitness swimmers, USA swimming or YMCA swimmers, or triathletes; anyone who wants to improve swimming skills. All of our Race Club members share an enjoyment of being in the water and use swimming to stimulate a more active mind and body.