Swimming 300m reps is a unique distance and it is great to develop your open water race speed. This workout 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 Drill/Swim;
- 3x 300m Build 1-3 40sec RI;
- 6x 25m SPRINTS 10sec RI;
- 200m CD (1,850m)
Option B
- 400m WU;
- 8x 50m Drill/Swim;
- 4x 300m Build 1-4 40sec RI;
- 8x 25m SPRINTS 10sec RI;
- 200m CD (2,400m)
Option C
- 1,000m WU;
- 8x 50m Drill/Swim;
- 6x 300m Build 1-3 40sec RI;
- 12x 25m SPRINTS 10sec RI;
- 200m CD (3,700m)
Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) covering 200m (Option A), 400m (Option B), or 1,000m (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 set is made up of three (Option A), four (Option B), or six (Option C) reps of 300m. For Options A and C these are done as Build 1-3 and Option B is done as Build 1-4. This means that you get faster with each rep over the three or four reps. Start with a moderate pace for the first rep, then build your pace for the next rep to a fast pace (if you are doing Option B build to a faster pace), and finish with your fastest rep. For Option C for your fourth rep return to a moderate pace and then build your pace again over the remaining reps. After each rep take a 40-second Rest Interval (RI).
The next set is six (Option A), eight (Option B), or twelve (Option C) reps of 25m sprints with a ten-second Rest Interval (RI) between each rep.
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 – 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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If you enjoyed this workout, I published a similar session 12 months ago.
Saturday Swim Session: 800’s for Swim Stamina
Coach Ray is the author of the successful 12 Weeks to an Ironman Swim PB – Swim Faster with Smart Training eBook.