Saturday Swim Session – Lotza Doubles

Swimming 67m reps (double lengths of a 33⅓ yard or metre pool) with a good rest can develop your speed and swimming them with short rests can develop your endurance. Put lots together within one workout with a mixture of rest and you can develop speed, endurance, and speed endurance. 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.

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

• 200 WU;
• 4x 67m (33m Drill/33m Swim);
• 4x 67m Build 1-4, 15sec RI;
• 6x 67m Build 1-3, ²/₃T Time + 10sec;
• 4x 67m Alt Fast & Easy, 10sec RI;
• 4x 67m Build 1-4, ²/₃T Time + 5sec;2
• 200m CD (1,867m)

Option B 

• 400m WU;
• 8x 67m (33m Drill/33m Swim);
• 6x 67m Build 1-3, 15sec RI;
• 6x 67m Build 1-3, ²/₃T Time + 10sec;
• 6x 67m Alt Fast & Easy, 10sec RI;
• 6x 67m Build 1-3, ²/₃T Time + 5sec;
• 200m CD (2,733m)

Option C

• 600m WU;
• 8x 67m (33m Drill/33m Swim);
• 6x 67m Build 1-3, 15sec RI;
• 10x 67m Build 1-5, ²/₃T Time + 10sec;
• 6x 67m Alt Fast & Easy, 10sec RI;
• 10x 50m Build 1-4, ²/₃ T Time + 5sec;
• 400m CD (3,667m)

Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) covering 200m (Option A), 400m (Option 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 is a set of four (Option B) or eight (Options B & 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, twice through if doing Option B or C or just once through for Option A:

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 previous. Click here to read it and watch the videos of how to do the respective drills.

Take your fins off for the next sets.

The next set is made up of four (Option A) or six (Options B and C) 67m reps. For Option A get faster every rep for four consecutive reps (e.g. swim the first one at a moderate pace, the second fast, third one faster and the fourth one fastest).  If doing six reps (Options B & C) get faster for three consecutive reps and then repeat the process with the fourth rep through to the sixth rep. Have a 15 second Rest Interval (RI) after each rep.

The next set is either six reps (Options A and B) or ten reps (Option C), once again building the speed as you go (Build 1-3 for Options A & B, or BUild 1-5 for Option C). This time your rest is based off your T-Time. If you don’t know your T-Time make sure you do this test session to set your T-Time here. Take two thirds of your T-Time and add ten seconds to it, this is how often you will start each rep. For example if your T-Time was 2:00 you would start every 90 seconds (two thirds of two minutes is 1:20, adding ten seconds is 1:30 minutes). If it took you 1:20 to swim your 67 you get ten seconds rest, and if you take 1:15 you get 15 seconds rest.

The following set of 67’s is made up of four (Option A) or six (Options B and C) reps. Alternate each rep fast then slow.  Regardless of whether it was a fast rep or a slow rep, you get ten seconds Rest Interval (RI).

The final set of 67m reps is made up of four (Option A), six (Option B) or ten (Option C) reps. As with the an earlier set these are based off your T-Time.  This time take two thirds of your T-Time and add five seconds to it and start each rep based off that time. This is also another build set, so get qwiker over each block the same as the previous T-Time set.

Then it is time for a 200m (Options A & B) or 400m (Option C) Cool Down (CD). Unlike the previous sets which have to be freestyle, the cool down (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: 250’s Followed By Sprints

I’ve taken my most popular training plan and given it a make-over for 2020. I’ve taken the 12 Weeks to an Ironman Swim PB – Swim Faster with Smarter Training and I’ve modified to expand the programme from 12 weeks and include an option for more than 3 swims per week.

Now the programme has created some great times for athletes competing at Ironman events around the world, but it was overly set in stone. Now if you have got between 8 & 24 weeks to an Ironman and are consistently swimming 3x, 4x, or 5x per week, I’ve created an option for you. This is regardless of the length of the pool 25m, 33⅓yd, or 50m pool.

This programme is peroidised and builds throughout as you get closer to your Ironman. It works through four key phases:

• Foundation & Injury Prevention Phase (building your base fitness and developing technique)
• Early Quality Phase (develop strength and continue developing technique)
• Transition Quality Phase (focus on threshold pace and maintain technique)
• Final Quality Phase (further develop your speed and maintain technique and taper off for the event)

Although the original 12-week programme is proven and gets RESULTS. This modified version is unproven. I know it will get the results, but I need the proof. I need a dozen people to complete the programme, so I can measure how much improvement the programme actually delivers.

If you are entered in an Ironman, Iron-distance event, or an Ocean Swim/Open Water event and have between 8 and 24 weeks to train for it, you might be a good fit to try this training plan out. Not everyone will be a good fit for this programme.

This training plan is for people that are keen to swim faster in their Ironman (or other events). You need to be committed to completing a minimum of three swim workouts every week. You need to be meticulous with tracking your training.