Kick, Pull, Swim is a great set you can use to develop your technique and enhance your stamina. This session is 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;
- 8x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
- 3x 150m KPS 20sec RI;
- 8x 50m on ½T+10sec;
- 200m CD (1,650m)
Option B
- 400m WU;
- 8x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
- 3x 150m KPS 20sec RI;
- 8x 50m on ½T+10sec;
- 3x 150m KPS 20sec RI;
- 8x 50m on ½T+10sec;
- 200m CD (2,700m)
Option C
- 800m WU;
- 8x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);
- 5x 150m KPS 20sec RI;
- 8x 50m on ½T+10sec;
- 5x 150m KPS 20sec RI;
- 8x 50m on ½T+10sec;
- 200m CD (3,700m)
Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) covering 200m (Option A), 400m (Option B), or 800m (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 is a drill set of eight 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, twice through:
I wrote an article about swimming drills previously. Click here to read and watch it.
The next series of sets involves swimming a set of KPS (or Kick, Pull, Swim). In this set, you swim the distance of 150m without stopping, with the first third (50m) simply kicking (click here for a video on how to do a kick drill without a board). For the next third (50m) quickly grab a pull buoy and swim with arms only and then for the final third (50m) swim normally. After each 150m effort take a 20-second Rest Interval (RI) before completing the next rep. For Options A and B complete three reps and complete five reps for Option C.
The next set involves a series of eight reps of 50m sprints. These are done on half your T-Time plus ten seconds (for example if your T-Time was 2:10, half of that is 1:05, then adding ten seconds means you start each rep on every 1:15). The faster you swim each rep, the more rest you get and the better you can go on the next rep. So work really hard in these reps. For more information on T-Times see this article here.
If you are doing Option A, that is the end of the workout and you can move to the Cool Down (CD). If you are doing Options B or C, repeat the KPS set and then the Sprint Set again before the Cool Down (CD).
For the Cool Down (CD) swim 200m. 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 Coaching.
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.
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If you enjoyed this workout, I published a similar session 12 months ago.
Saturday Swim Session: Other Strokes
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