Swim Workouts

In my Ironman Training Plan I will be using 17 different swim workouts over the course of the 30 weeks, these will be combined with the usual open water swim sessions with the Tri club when summer comes around. Swimming really isn’t my strong point and these sessions are designed to build my technique, and hopefully get me on my bike quicker and in better shape.

Key: Terms and abbreviations used in the workout

• wu - warm up
• cd - cool down
• DR - Swim Drills
• Pull : Done with Pull Buoy ( ie: no kicking )
• Pool Size : My pool is in Metres, and so are my sessions.
• @ 20 secs : 20 seconds of rest at the pool wall after each effort in the set.
• Perceived Effort : warm up, cool down and drills will be done at 65-70% perceived effort, main sets will be done at 80-85% perceived effort.

BASE PHASE ( Weeks 1-10 ) about 2500m a week

1. 300m wu, 8x50m DR, 12 x 100m @ 20 secs, 8x50m DR, 200 cd
2. 300m wu, 8x50m DR, 3 x 125 @20 secs, 2 x 175m @ 30 secs, 3 x 125m @ 20 secs, 8 x 50m DR, 200 cd
3. 300m wu, 8x50m DR, 16 x 25 @10 secs, 1 x 400m@ 60 secs, 16 x 25 @ 10 secs, 8 x 50m DR, 200 cd
4. 300m wu, 8x50m DR, 1 x 300 @40 secs, 3 x 200 @30 secs, 1 x300 @30 secs, 8 x 50m DR, 200 cd
5. 2500m straight swim at comfortable pace ( 75-80% perceived effort )

BUILD PHASE ( Weeks 11-20 ) about 3000m a week

1. 500m wu, 8x50m DR, 4 x 200m @ 20 secs, 6 x 100 @ 15 secs, 8x50m DR, 300 cd
2. 500m wu, 8x50m DR, 16 x 25 @10 secs, 600m pull, 16 x 25m @ 10 secs, 8 x 50m DR, 300 cd
3. 500m wu, 8x50m DR, 10 x 50 @15 secs, 4 x 100m@ 20 secs, 10 x 5o @ 15 secs, 8 x 50m DR, 300 cd
4. 500m wu, 8x50m DR, 200-300-400-500 @45 sec, 8 x 50m DR, 300 cd
5. 500m wu, 8x50m DR, 7 x 125 @20 secs, 7 x 75m @15 secs, 8 x 50m DR, 300 CD
6. 3000m straight swim at comfortable pace ( 75-80% perceived effort )

PEAK PHASE ( Weeks 21-30 ) about 3500m a week

1. 500m wu, 8x50m DR, 12 x 75m @ 20 secs, 12 x 50 @ 15 secs, 12 x 25m @ 10 secs, 8x50m DR, 300 cd
2. 500m wu, 8x50m DR, 5 x 400m @45 secs, 8 x 50m DR, 300 cd
3. 500m wu, 8x50m DR, 6 x ( 50+100+150) @20 secs, 8 x 50m DR, 300 cd
4. 500m wu, 8x50m DR, 5 x 200 @ 30 secs, 5 x 100m @ 20 secs, 5 x 50m @ 10 secs, 6 x 25 @ 5 secs,8 x 50m DR, 300 cd
5. 500m wu, 8x50m DR, 3 x 150 @20 secs, 4 x 250m @30 secs, 3 x 150m @ 20 secs, 8 x 50m DR, 300 CD
6. 3500m straight swim at comfortable pace ( 75-80% perceived effort )

Drill Sets ( DR )

My drill sets will be made up from the following drills and technique specific exercises depending on which aspects of my swimming style I feel needs extra work that week. I’ll be using a pullbouy to strengthen my arms and short fin flippers to srengthen my kick and build swim specific leg muscles.

1. Chest Lean – Wearing fins, kick with face down, chin pointed at the bottom of the pool, hands held firmly at your side. Lift head and breathe to the front as and when.
2. 3 Stroke Kick-on-side – Kick with fins whilst lying on your side on the surface of the water. Top arm at your side, Bottom arm flat out in front. After 10 kicks take 3 slow strokes and change sides.
3. One Arm - wearing fins, swim in the “superman” position, face down both arms out in front, take a stroke with your left arm, glide for 3 seconds. After each length change arms. 
4. Catch-ups – wear fins and swim normally except you hold your hand out fully extended in front of you and don’t take your next stroke until your other hand touches it.
5. Fists – No Fins. Swim normally but with clenched fists instead of open hands.
6. Fingertip Drag -  swim normally but without a high forearm recovery. Drag your fingertips across the surface of the water.
7. Vertical Kicking – wearing fins, treading water basically using a small powerful kick. Starting with 1 minute with your arms by your side, eventually doing 5 minutes with your hands on your head.