Saturday Swim Session: 800’s

Swimming 800m reps is a great way to develop your threshold pace of swimming. They are perfect for Ironman and Olympic distance triathletes or people doing longer Ocean Swims.

Each Saturday I will post a Swim Session, most weeks I will load three options up for you to do. Option A is for swimmers who are after a workout between 1,000 & 2,000 metres. Option B is for swimmers who are after a workout between 2,000 & 3,000m and Option C will be greater than 3,000m.

Option A

  • 200m WU;
  • 4x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
  • 800m;
  • 4x 50m 20sec RI;
  • 200m CD (1,600m)

Option B

  • 400m WU;
  • 8x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
  • 2x 800m 45sec RI;
  • 4x 50m 20sec RI;
  • 200m CD (2,800m)

Option C

  • 600m WU;
  • 8x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
  • 3x 800m 45sec RI;
  • 8x 50m 20sec RI;
  • 200m CD (4,000m)

Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) covering 200m (Option A) or 400m (Options B) or 600m (Option C). During the warm-up feel free to stop and stretch as needed.  It doesn’t need to be a continuous swim.

Next up are four (Option A) or eight (Options B and C) repetitions of 50m Drill/Swim, where you do a drill for the first 25m of the repetition and then normal swimming for the next 25m swimming. Feel free to use fins whilst doing the drill/swim set. Do the drills below, once through for Option A and twice through for Options B and C:

  1. Kick On Side (KOS) left side 
  2. Kick On Side (KOS) right side 
  3. 6/1/6 
  4. 6/3/6

I wrote an article about Swimming Drills a few weeks ago. Click here to read and watch it.

Take your fins off for the next sets.

Each option then moves onto a set of 800m reps. Option A only has one, Option B has two, and Option C has three. Take a 45-second Rest Interval after each rep. Try and keep your pace nice and consistent across all the reps.

Next up is a set of ’50s. There are four to complete for Options A and B and eight for Option C.  These are sprints and after each rep take a 20-second Rest Interval (RI) prior to the next rep.

Then it is time for a 200m Cool Down (CD). Unlike the previous sets which have to be freestyle, the cooldown (like the warm-up) can be any stroke you wish to swim.  You can also stop and rest after any length.  I encourage you to stop and stretch during the cool-down.

If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.

I am the Head Coach & Director of Qwik Kiwi – Endurance Sports Consultant.

I specialise in assisting first-timers and recreational athletes to achieve their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729. Make sure you sign up for my informative newsletter.

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