Tri Swim Coach

Saturday Swim Session: More 200’s

200m is a great distance to build elements of both stamina and speed. Not pure speed like for a 25m or 50m sprint but sustained speed for longer events. 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.

This week’s session builds on last week’s workout is similar but with fewer 200s and a different rest period.

Option A

  • 200m WU;
  • 6x 67m Drill/Swim;
  • 5x 200m 30sec RI;
  • 200m CD (1,800m)

Option B

  • 400m WU;
  • 6x 67m Drill/Swim;
  • 7x 200m 30sec RI;
  • 200m CD (2,400m)

Option C

  • 1,000m WU;
  • 9x 67m Drill/Swim;
  • 8x 200m 30sec RI;
  • 200m CD (3,400m)

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. There are six (Option A & B) or nine (Option C) repetitions of 67m Drill/Swim, where you do a drill for the first 33m of the repetition and then normal swimming for the next 33m swimming. Feel free to use fins whilst doing the drill/swim set.  Do the drills below once through for Option A & B, and for Option C do them completely through and then do the first three again for a total of nine:

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

I wrote an article about swimming drills previously. Click here to read and watch it.

The main set is made up of sets of 200m. Complete five reps (Option A), seven reps (Option B), or eight reps (Option C). After each rep take a 30-second Rest Interval (RI).

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.

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