some sample swim sessions

hunnymonster

I've had quite a few requests for swim sessions. I'm a triathlon coach not a dedicated swim coach but I thought it might be useful to post some samples. My training though is of course front crawl biased. Hopefully a proper swimmer will come along and complete the story. You might want to lengthen the sessions, cut them short etc but it will give a starting point.

Drills:
There are hundreds of different drills out there, most of them are variations on the following

catch-up
Swum like regular freestyle, except one arm is stationary, always extended forward (front arm), pointing towards the destination, while the other arm performs the stroke (working arm).When the working arm moves forward and "catches-up" with the stationary arm, they change places.

fist drill
swum like regular free style except hand made into a fist

zipper drill (also called fingertip or high elbow drill)
swum as normal but when your arm comes out of the water, move it forwards along the side of your bosy as if you are doing up a zip, your elbow will be forced high and yor fingertips should be just dragging the top of the water.

pull:
swum as normal but with emphasis on the pull section of the stroke, Do not stop pulling until hand touches thigh. If your pool allows this can be done with paddles or pogies. Some people put a pull bouy between their legs to maintain position while not kicking

one arm,
swum as normal but stroking with only one arm.

kick:
arms outstretched, swim by kicking only. can use a float if you need. take a single stroke when you need to breathe.

side kick:
as above but swim on your side. lower arm outstretched, upper arm along your side. Aim to have one eye under and one eye over the water level

vertical kick
almost treading the water but trying to use arms as little as possible and keeping body straight with toes pointed towards bottom of pool. Water polo players are great at this one.

hypoxy swims
for anaerobic work, swim lengths taking breaths every 3rd, 5th.7th and 9th stroke.


The following are some swim sessions designed for triathletes. They come from a sports scientist (and pro triathlete) Silke Hinrichs. Again, these are not the gospel but might be useful for someone without a lot of experience.

session 1

200 m swim mixing strokes 20 secs recovery
2 x 100m pull 20 secs after each
4 x 50m kick 20 secs after each

200m swim 25m fast / 25m easy 60 secs recovery
300m swim 50m fast / 50m easy 90 secs recovery
400m swim 100m fast / 100m easy

4 x 50m easy mixing strokes off 1.30

5 x 100m fast off 3 mind best effort

300m easy cool down

(2500 m)

session 2

200m swim mixing strokes 30 secs recovery
2 x 100m pull 30 secs after each
4 x 50m kick 30 secs after each

100m swim 25m fast / 25m easy 60 secs recovery
200m swim 50m fast / 50m easy 90 secs recovery
300m swim 100m fast / 100m easy

4 x 50m easy mixing strokes

8 x 50m fast off 2 mins Best effort

300m easy cool down

(2100m)


session 3
5 x 200m 2 x front crawl
1 x kick 20 secs between each
2 x mixed choice

4 x 400m 1st straight swim
2nd 2 x 200m 20 secs recovery
3rd straight swim
4th 4 x 100m 20 secs recovery

4 x 100m as 25 fast
75 easy 15 secs recovery
8 x 50m progressively getting faster 10 secs recovery

1 x 200m pull
4 x 100m cool down alternating 1 x swim choice / 1 kick

(4000m)

session 4

5 x 200m 2 x front crawl
1 x kick 20 secs between each
2 x mixed choice

4 x 300m 1st straight swim
2nd 2 x 150m 20 secs recovery
3rd straight swim
4th 3 x 100m 20 secs recovery

3 x 100m as 25 fast
75 easy 15 secs recovery
8 x 50m progressively getting faster 10 secs recovery

1 x 200m pull
3 x 100m cool down alternating 1 x swim choice / 1 kick

(3400m)

session 5

WARM UP

800m 100m freestyle
100m butterfly – arms
100m breast
100m 2 x left / 2 x right
All needs to be done 2 times
MAIN SESSION

500m 20 x 25m sprint 20 secs rest

100m easy

1500m 200m easy
200m faster
100m fast
All needs to be done 3 times
1st time with Paddle + Pull bouy
2nd time with pad
3rd time without

500m 50m technique 1st time side
2nd time high elbow
3rd time feel water
4th time cross
50m kicking
All needs to be done 5 times
200m breathing every 3 stroke
200m cool down

(3800m)

session 61000m 200m freestyle
200m medley (25 change)
200m freestyle
200m butterfly – technique
200m Pull bouy

200m easy

1000m 1000m – TEST!!!
400m cool down

(2600m)

session 7:
300m choice

300m 50m breast stroke
50m freestyle
All needs to be done 3 times

MAIN SESSION

500m 25m freestyle sprint
25m easy
All needs to be done 10 times with 20 secs rest

100m easy

400m 50m breathing every 5 stroke
50m breathing every 4 stroke
50m breathing every 3 stroke
50m breathing every 2 stroke
All needs to be done 2 times

800m 4 x 200m increase 40 secs rest

100m easy

400m 25m kicking
25m technique 1st time catch up
2nd time cross
3rd time high elbow
4th time 2 x left / 2 x right
25m kicking
25m technique Do it the same way as before
All needs to be done 4 times
200m cool down

(3100m)

session 8
400m 100m medley
100m freestyle
All needs to be done 2 times

600m 6 x 100m with 30 secs rest

100m easy

500m 25m medley (sart-butterfly; back-k; breast; freestyle)
75m freestyle (Fast but still aerobic)
All needs to be done 5 times

400m 100m breathing every 5 stroke
100m breathing every 4 stroke
100m breathing every 3 stroke
100m breathing every 2 stroke

600m 50m sprint
100m easy
50m sprint
All needs to be done 3 times

100m easy

200m with Pull-bouy

200m cool down

(3100m)

AngryHippie

Some very goods sets in that. Good find.


The only thing missing is the measurement.

To measure your progress, a session with a 500m warmup and a 200m timed swim. The target times and ON times for those main sets is based off of that.
Also a SWOLF session every 6 or 6 weeks should help. The way that works is you do 10 x 50m front crawl, ten seconds rest between each, Count your strokes and add it to your time for each 50. Then remove the highest and lowest value for each, Sum them and calculate your average. This is a good gauge of improvement, as it removes the possibility of going faster by using more strokes.

i.e.

50m #1 37s 28 strokes = 65
50m #2 37s 29 strokes = 66
50m #3 38s 29 strokes = 67
50m #4 37s 27 strokes = 64
......
50m #10....

remove the highest and lowest, average is 65.5