Konrad’s 2008 Friday A.M. swim workouts

Presented by Triathletix

I’m going to post these more or less weekly in reverse chronological order. Tweak the send-offs and distances as needed.

The Goal: Keep in mind, your swimming work should match your race goals. If you are doing an Ironman, you should swim more yardage with longer sets. If you are doing sprints, you might consider less yardage and more sprinting. In other news, grass is green, the sky is blue, water is wet.

BUT...though this stuff sounds obvious, too many people train for Malibu as if they are going to Kona. My goals are sprints and Olympic distance races. As such, there is more speed and power work and less total yardage.

Final Caveat: If your stroke isn't efficient, none of this applies. Stop hammering out yardage and (altogether now) TAKE A LESSON. Stop reinforcing bad habits and make 2008 the year you learn to swim smoothly and efficiently!

5/2/08

Ok, I usually don’t do 500’s but I was feeling motivated. I tried to give each of the three 500’s a different focus to keep it fresh.

w/u - 200 swim, 100 kick, 200 pull, 100 kick, 200 swim

10 x 100 @ 1:30. Focus was pace control. I wanted to every single 100 on the same time.

100 kick

3 x 500 @ 6:30

o #1 – Negative split (second half faster than the first half)

o #2 – 1^st, 3^rd, and last 100 hard, 2^nd and 4^th medium

o #3 – First 200 yards build, middle 100 hard, final 200 ez

100 kick warm down

4000 total yards in just over an hour.

4/26/08

Here's last week's Friday swim workout. Do this and I literally guarantee you'll qualify for Beijing. Or Kona. Or possibly Strawberry Fields.

w/u - 200 swim, 100 kick, 200 pull, 100 kick, 200 swim

5 x 100 pull @ 1:30

100 kick

9 x 150 @ 2:15. Here's how it breaks out:

o #1 - 150 easy

o #2 - 150 build (meaning "go a bit harder each length until you're going fast by the end")

o #3 - 150 super hard

Do this progression three times for a total of nine.

100 kick

5 x 50 @ :50 - really fast

2 x cup of coffee 1 x bowl of cream of wheat @ 1 hour 15 mins.

About 3000 yards in just under an hour (excluding coffee.)

4/19/08

w/u ("warm up") - 200 swim, 100 kick (no kickboard. on my back, arms extended), 200 pull, 100 kick, 200 swim

first set - 5 x 100 pull @ 1:30. I wanted to have no less than 20 secs rest so I was aiming to finish each in about 1:10 or so.

100 kick, then a couple minutes of stretching.

main set - 5 x 200 swim @ 2:45. I wanted to have no less than 30 secs rest so I was aiming to finish each in about 2:15 or so.

100 kick, then kill some time talking with friends.

6 x 50 @ :50, 1 breath down, 2 breaths back, no more than 14 strokes per length.

200 ez cool down.

About 3000 yards in just under an hour.