Swim

Saturday Swim Session: Enhance Your Threshold Pace

Developing your ability to sustain a higher pace, gives you the ability to build higher speed on top of the speed you can sustain (a great benefit for master’s swimmers). It also gives a great training stimulus to enhance your threshold swimming (a great benefit for triathletes and open-water swimmers). This session is perfect for master’s swimmers as well as open-water swimmers and triathletes.

Each Saturday I will post a Swim Session, and 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.

Read this article here for an explanation of Swim Intensity.

Option A

  • 400m WU Level II;
  • 4x 50m Drill/Swim;
  • 12x 100m Level IV 15RI;
  • 200m CD Level I-II (2,000m)

Option B

  • 600m WU Level II;
  • 8x 50m Drill/Swim;
  • 16x 100m Level IV 15RI;
  • 200m CD Level I-II (2,800m)

Option C

  • 1,000m WU Level II;
  • 8x 50m Drill/Swim;
  • 20x 100m Level IV 15RI;
  • 200m CD Level I-II (3,600m)

For the Warm Up (WU) start with a 400m swim (Option A) or 600m (Options B & C) at Level II. 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 four (Option A) or eight (Options B & C) 50m repetitions, made up of 25m Drill, then straight into 25m normal swimming. Feel free to use fins whilst doing this set.  Do the drills below once (Option A) or twice (Options B & C) through:

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

The main set includes twelve (Option A), sixteen (Option B), or twenty (Option C) reps of 100m swum at Level IV. Take a 15-second Rest Interval (RI) after each rep.

For the Cool Down (CD) swim 200m. Unlike the previous sets which have to be freestyle, the Cool Down (CD) (like the Warm Up (WU)) 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 and 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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Download the Garmin (.FIT) files for this workout for FREE

Take Your Swimming to New Heights: Swim Fitness Improver for Intermediate Athletes

Attention, intermediate swimmers! If you’re logging 2,000m to 3,000m per session and are determined to enhance your performance, our Swim Fitness Improver training plan is tailor-made for you.

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  1. Periodised for Progress: I believe in the power of periodisation. My meticulously structured program ensures that every session builds upon the last, optimising your training to achieve maximum results. You’ll experience a systematic progression that targets the specific needs of intermediate swimmers like you.
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Prior to using this plan, you should be able to swim 1,000 metres or yards continuously, 2,000 metres or yards total within a workout.

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