It's time to spice up your training sets and get back into the swim of things with Lane Leader Swim Club. Director of Coaching, Pierre de Roubaix shares with us three sets for the beginner, intermediate and advanced swimmer. All sets are based off a workout he wrote for Olympic Triathlon Champion, Jan Frodeno and were developed for swimmers who wish to add some variety to their program.
Note: These sets do not constitute a training program. A swimming program should be administered by a professional swimming coach appropriate to each individual.
New Swimmer
Total time: 50min
Total distance: 1550m
| Distance | Set (m) | Stroke | Intensity | Interval | Time (min) |
| Warm up | |||||
| 200 | 200 | Freestyle | Warm up | 4 | |
| 100 | 4 x 25 | Freestyle kick with kickboard | Warm up | 10 sec rest | 4 |
| 100 | 4 x 25 | Freestyle pull with pullbuoy and paddles | Warm up | 10 sec rest | 4 |
| Drills | |||||
| Breathing drill: Hold onto the side of the pool with feet on bottom - exhale completly for 2 seconds through mouth and nose and inhale for 1 second | 2 | ||||
| 200 | 4 x 50 | Freestyle drills with fins: No 1 & 3: Finger tip drag drill No 2 & 4: Catch up | Finger drag - drag fingertips over the top of the water as you recover from each pull, ensure high elbows and relaxed hands. Catch up - thumbs touch at the front between strokes | 5 | |
| Regular Swim | |||||
| 700 | 1. 4 x 100 2. 4 x 50 3. 4 x 25 | Freestyle Swim | Moderate to high intensity, must have the ability to repeat at the same speed | 3min or 30 second rest, 1 min 30 or 20 sec rest, 45 sec or 10 sec rest | 21 |
| 150 | 6 x 25 | Choice | 15m sprint/10m cruise | 50 sec | 6 |
| Cool Down | |||||
| 100 | 100 | Choice (loosen up) | Cool down with any stroke of your choice | 4 | |
Intermediate Swimmer (Regular Gym Swimmer)
Total time: 60min
Total distance: 3000m
| Distance | Set (m) | Stroke | Intensity | Interval | Time (min) |
| Warm up | |||||
| 400 | 400 | Freestyle | Warm up | 7 | |
| 200 | 4 x 50 | Freestyle kick with kickboard | Warm up | 10 sec rest | 4 |
| 200 | 4 x 50 | Freestyle pull with pullbuoy and paddles | Warm up | 10 sec rest | 4 |
| Drills | |||||
| 200 | 4 x 50 | Freestyle drills with fins: No 1 & 3: Finger tip drag drill No 2 & 4: Catch up | Finger drag - drag fingertips over the top of the water as you recover from each pull, ensure high elbows and relaxed hands. Catch up - thumbs touch at the front between strokes | 4 | |
| Regular Swim | |||||
| 1400 | 1. 4 x 200 2. 4 x 100 3. 4 x 50 | Freestyle Swim | Moderate intensity, must have the ability to repeat at the same speed | 4min or 30 second rest, 2min or 20 sec rest, 1min or 10 sec rest | 28 |
| 100 | 100 | Easy Stroke | |||
| 300 | 3 x 4 x 25 | Choice stroke - can change stroke after each set of 4 x 25 | 1. Build up i.e. start length slow and finish length fast 2. 15m sprint/10m cruise 3 & 4. Swim medium fast | 40 sec | 8 |
| Cool Down | |||||
| 200 | 200 | Choice (loosen up) | Cool down with any stroke of your choice | 5 | |
Advanced Swimmer
Total time: 75min
Total distance: 5000m
| Distance | Set (m) | Stroke | Intensity | Interval | Time (min) |
| Warm up | |||||
| 400 | 400 | Freestyle | Warm up | 6 | |
| 200 | 4 x 50 | Freestyle kick with kickboard | Warm up | 10 sec rest | 5 |
| 200 | 4 x 50 | Freestyle pull with pullbuoy and paddles | Warm up | 10 sec rest | 5 |
| Drills | |||||
| 400 | 2 x 4 x 50 | 1. Freestyle drills with fins. No 1 & 2. Single arm right then left. No 3 & 4 Catch up and swim counting strokes 2. Same drills no fins | Press down on the water during catch to activate lat muscle and engage the hand acccelaration through the stroke | 10 sec rest | 10 |
| Regular Swim | |||||
| 2800 | 1. 4 x 400 2. 4 x 200 3. 4 x 100 | Freestyle Swim | Moderate to high intensity, must have the ability to repeat at the same speed and make the leaving time with at least 10 sec rest. | AAAA leaving time (olympic swimmer level) 4min40, 2min20, 1min10. AAA Leaving Time (olympic triathlete level) 5min, 2min30, 1min15 AA Leaving Time (Provincial level swimmer) 6min, 3min, 1min30 A Leaving Time (Provincial level triathlete/biathlete) 7min, 3min30, 1min45 | 37 |
| 100 | 100 | Easy stroke | 1 | ||
| 300 | 3 x 4 x 25 | Choice stroke - can change stroke after each set of 4 x 25 | 1. Build up i.e start length slow and finish length fast. 2. 15m sprint/10m cruise 3 & 4. Swim medium fast | 30 sec | 6 |
| Cool Down | |||||
| 200 | 200 | Choice | Cool down with any stroke of your choice | 5 | |