Swim Session

Saturday Swim Session: Technique Drills To Make You A Better Swimmer

Drills are the perfect way to break down your stroke and focus on key aspects of it. Following this programme will develop your swimming to make you a better swimmer.  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.

I’ve written these sessions for a 33⅓ metre pool, but a lot of the older style pools are 33⅓ yards long (100 feet), so simply interchange the metres for yards and do the session.

Option A

  • 200m Warm Up;
  • 16x 33m Drill;
  • 100m Easy swim focusing on Tech;
  • 16x 33m Drill;
  • 100m Easy swim focusing on Tech;
  • 200m Cool Down (1,667m)

Option B

  • 400m Warm Up;
  • 20x 33m Drill;
  • 100m Easy swim focusing on Tech;
  • 20x 33m Drill;
  • 100m Easy swim focusing on Tech;
  • 200m Cool Down (2,133m)

Option C

  • 800m WU;
  • 20x 33m Drill;
  • 100m Easy swim focusing on Tech;
  • 20x 33m Drill;
  • 100m Easy swim focusing on Tech;
  • 20x 33m Drill;
  • 100m Easy swim focusing on Tech;
  • 200m CD (3,300m)

Start the workout with a Warm Up covering of 200m, 400m, or 800m (Options A, B, or C respectively). 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 16 (Option A) or 20 reps (Options B and C) of 33m. Feel free to use fins whilst doing the drill set. Do the drills below four times through for Option A and five times 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 previously. Click here to read and watch it.


After the Drill/Swim set remove your fins and swim 100m nice and easy focusing on your technique.

Repeat the drills and technique swim a total of twice for Options A and B, or three times for Option C.

Complete the workout with a 200m Cool Down. Feel free to pause and stretch when needed and/or include stretching as part of each break until the distance is covered.

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 previously.

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