Weekly Swim Workout #9

A Guiding Principle

At Steele Coaching, we believe in deliberate practice: being systematic, purposeful, and attentive to details. When you do this, you focus your attention on specific goals that will improve your overall performance.

Deliberate practice opens the door for you to focus on the process rather than the outcome. When you do this on a regular and consistent basis, the outcome takes care of itself.

We help you focus on the little things so that you can improve your performance and finally achieve the BIG things.

Weekly Workout: 10 Hard 100s

Note: the workout is listed above; what follows is the why / purpose as well as descriptions of workout components and drills

Warm Up

A bunch of 75s kick off this week’s workout. 75s are a great way to get into things, especially during the Warm Up since they don’t require a ton of focus early on. In a sense, they allow both your body and your mind to warm up.

The first four are just easy swimming of your choice.

The next four add in some kicking during the middle 25 to help get your legs into your swimming.

The final four are to be done as follows: 25 backstroke, 25 streamline kick, and 25 build. There is a little bit more focus on the final four to 1) integrate some backstroke as that is the focus of the drill portion of this week’s workout and 2) to elevate your heart rate prior to the Main Set.

Main Set

The Main Set includes four Rounds of the following pattern:

1 X 200 distance per stroke (DPS)
4 X 50 backstroke drills
8 (-2 by Round) X 50 P500
1 (+1 by Round) X 100 all out

1 X 200 DPS
Given the increasing intensity of each Round, the 200 to kick off each Round is designed to 1) aid in recovery and 2) help you find your stroke after higher intensity swimming.

We’ve noted this before, and it’s worth repeating here: when you get tired, the first thing to fall apart in swimming is your form. So, use the 200s at the start of each Round to focus on the fundamentals of good freestyle swimming.

If you have an Finis Swim Snorkel, we highly recommend that you use it here to draw your attention to the minutiae of swimming without the need to worry about stroke fundamentals getting thrown off by side-to-side breathing.

Paddles are also encouraged to help you focus on grabbing more water while elongating your stroke.

Note: It’s easy to rely on swimming tools — pull buoy, snorkel, fins, paddles, etc.—because they can 1) make you swim faster and 2) make swimming feel easier. Remember that these are tools and should not be used as crutches to create a false sense of swimming efficiency and speed. Like all aspects of swimming, be purposeful with your tools.

4 X 50 Backstroke Drills
Please note that fins are recommended for all of the drills with the purpose being two-fold: 1) continuing to encourage recovery prior to the higher intensity portion of each Round and 2) to create power/momentum so that you can focus on the fundamental aspects/purpose of each drill.

25 Right (R) / 25 Left (L): push off on your back and do your breakout with your right arm. When your arm enters, hold it there and kick the remainder of the 25 in that position. Points to focus on: right hip and right shoulder should be pointing toward the bottom of the pool (left hip and left shoulder are to the sky/ceiling) and your head should be in streamline position so that you are looking at the sky/ceiling. On the way back (second 25), repeat the same drill; however, you’ll be on your left side.

T-Shape Drill: this is essentially a balance/core drill. Similar to the above drill, you’ll be kicking on one side of your stroke. While in that position, hold one arm in the recovery position—the top of your stroke when your hand is pointing at the sky/ceiling—and one arm doing the exact same thing, but underwater. This drill focuses on body position while continuing to hold a straight line while kicking. Play with this drill where you kick the entire 50s in the “T” position and then trying to rotate more during the 50s by holding the “T” position for 10 kicks on one side and then rotating to the other side.

L-Drill: with each stroke, pause to make an “L” shape with your arms by focusing on 90 degree formations; as one arm enters the water, pause at the streamline position while the recovery arm is paused at the top of the stroke (toward the sky/ceiling). Hold the “L” shape for approximately 10 kicks.

1/10 Drill: take one stroke and pause on one side to take approximately 10 kicks; repeat on the opposite side.

8 (-2 by Round) X 50 P500
We’re continuing to work on pacing this week. As mentioned before, in distance swimming it’s easy to focus on your 100 times — it makes logical sense. However, when swimmers do this, they often slip into pacing that is slower than their goal pace. By the time they hit the 100 marks, they’ve fallen too far off their pace.

Therefore, the focus of the P500 50s is “feeling” your goal 500 pace (P500) for 50s. For example, if your goal 500 is 5:30, you would want to hold :33s for the P500 50s.

Know your P500. Find it early and settle in to an decreasing number of 50s per Round. As you move through the set, these should feel easier and easier as you not only get more rest, but you’ll be working on top end speed for the final component of each Round.

1 (+1 by Round) X 100 All Out
Pretty simple here. This is just good, hard swimming. There is ample rest after each 100, so use it wisely, especially as the number of 100s increases. We often find easy sculling or double-arm backstroke to the middle of the pool and back a great way to actively recover rather than just hanging on the wall, letting your muscles seize.

In an ideal world, you’ll maintain consistent times on your 100s through the entire workout while also ensuring that you 50 pace for the 100s is 2–3 seconds faster than your P500 50s.

Warm Down

This week’s workout is hard. Be smart and get in a long, easy Warm Down that 1) takes care of your body and encourages recovery and 2) focuses on finding your backstroke from when you are tired. Remember to be mindful of your technique at all points of your workout and fight to maintain it, even when tired. Muscle memory is key to efficient and effective swimming.