5X100 on whatever
4X100 on whatever -5s
1 min recovery
3X100 on whatever -10s
1 min recovery
2X100 on whatever -15s
1 min recovery
1X100 on whatever -20s
You should only barely / may not make the last one. WU and SD as needed.
I have a bunch of workouts that I've written on slips of paper and put in a bag. I pull one out and at my discretion choose it or try again. They all have different aims, so I like to make sure it fits with what I'm trying to accomplish at the time. Anyway, I pulled this one out yesterday. I had forgotten about it, but it's kind of a neat lunchtime set.
Warm up however you normally do. I did a 400 swim, 200 kick, 400 pull with technique and balance emphasis.
Then here's the set:
1 x 400 @ BASE
2 x 200 @ BASE
4 x 100 @ BASE + 15
I do three reps of the set. On the 100's I pick up the pace on each one so the last one gives me a fat rest and then it's back to the 400. It's kind of an interesting set because you just naturally keep pushing your pace faster and faster, so the last time through you kind of surprise yourself.
I was crunched for time the other day and I only had a half hour to get in a quick dip. Didn't really know what I was going to do to make it worthwhile. So I decided I'd do sort of an HIIT swim. I thought it would be interesting to swim 100's on a set interval and swim each one as fast as I could.
So the first 100 was my usual creaky warm up where I just get all my parts moving. Barely made the send off. Second 100 was a little faster and so on until by around my 5th 100 I was swimming a little faster than my all day pace. Those felt pretty good and so then I upped it a bit more. I'm not really a sprinter, so there weren't any records being broken, but I kept going faster and faster.
At some point I plateaued a bit for a few 100s, then I managed to drop my time a bit more. I held my fastest pace for a few 100s, then it started dropping off back down to my all day pace. And then my half hour was over and I had blown off a little steam. It was a pretty good workout for a half hour quickie.
I thought the idea of swimming as fast as you can every 100 was kind of a fun exercise because part of it was physical and part was mental. As you warm up you can go faster and faster. Then as you have been working as hard as you can you get where you are really moving. Then you start tiring and your ability to go fast diminishes. It was a micro example of a marathon, in a way.
I try to make it to the pool for an hour before my 12-hour nights, but it usually it ends up being 45 minutes because I'm a snoozer... I've been doing a quick warm up followed by a couple "broken miles." It's long enough to clear my mind and stretch my body, but interesting enough to keep me awake. The possibilities are endless; some favorites are...
2x [375, 275, 175], doing something different with the 75s like fly/back/breast by 25
3x [500 free, 50 kick]
275, 250, 225 ... 25, pushing the odds and DPS for the evens
This is my favorite "I don't feel like thinking of a set" set. It's easy to keep count of your laps, and can be scaled up or down. I usually do them with ~20 secs rest. I try to maintain a BASE tempo on the non-sprint laps.
500 every 5th lap sprint
400 every 4th lap sprint
300 every 3rd lap sprint
200 every other lap sprint
100 sprint
and back up the ladder:
100 recovery
200 every 4th lap sprint
300 every 3rd lap sprint
400 every other lap sprint
500 full effort
3000 is probably pushing it for a lunchtime main set, but it's easy to adjust based on your time and needs.
@SaraMcSwim said:
This is my favorite "I don't feel like thinking of a set" set.
Hey Sara, that's a nice set for a Friday afternoon, which is why I just did it. I modified it slightly with a 300 pull and a 200 kick thrown in for good measure. Did sprint kick on the 75's because my kick is mediocre at best and dismal on average. Pull was to emphasize technique and balance, so the sprint was fun to throw in to make sure I stayed on track.
Thanks for the nice variation on the inverted pyramid.
This could be considered either a lunchtime or average set depending on intervals and rest between sets::
500 warm-up
200
25
200
50
200
75
200
50
200
2x25
Repeat the above replacing the 200s with 150 and then one more time replacing the 150s with 100s.
All the long swims are on a base time with the short swims on the base time plus 10 as active recovery. Last night I was feeling strong so the long swims were on a base :40/50
I finished up with 12x50 in 3 sets of 4. Set one on :50 ,set 2 on :55 and set 3 on 1:00. Each set was working on breath control as:
1st 50 no breath for the 1st 25 and through the flip turn, breathe as much as you want for the 2nd 25
2nd 50 one breath for the 1st 25 and through the flip turn, breathe as much as you want for the 2nd 25
3rd 50 two breaths for the 1st 25 and through the flip turn, breathe as much as you want for the 2nd 25
4th 50 three breaths for the 1st 25 and through the flip turn, breathe as much as you want for the 2nd 25.
Comments
here's an interesting short main set.
5X100 on whatever
4X100 on whatever -5s
1 min recovery
3X100 on whatever -10s
1 min recovery
2X100 on whatever -15s
1 min recovery
1X100 on whatever -20s
You should only barely / may not make the last one. WU and SD as needed.
I have a bunch of workouts that I've written on slips of paper and put in a bag. I pull one out and at my discretion choose it or try again. They all have different aims, so I like to make sure it fits with what I'm trying to accomplish at the time. Anyway, I pulled this one out yesterday. I had forgotten about it, but it's kind of a neat lunchtime set.
Warm up however you normally do. I did a 400 swim, 200 kick, 400 pull with technique and balance emphasis.
Then here's the set:
I do three reps of the set. On the 100's I pick up the pace on each one so the last one gives me a fat rest and then it's back to the 400. It's kind of an interesting set because you just naturally keep pushing your pace faster and faster, so the last time through you kind of surprise yourself.
I was crunched for time the other day and I only had a half hour to get in a quick dip. Didn't really know what I was going to do to make it worthwhile. So I decided I'd do sort of an HIIT swim. I thought it would be interesting to swim 100's on a set interval and swim each one as fast as I could.
So the first 100 was my usual creaky warm up where I just get all my parts moving. Barely made the send off. Second 100 was a little faster and so on until by around my 5th 100 I was swimming a little faster than my all day pace. Those felt pretty good and so then I upped it a bit more. I'm not really a sprinter, so there weren't any records being broken, but I kept going faster and faster.
At some point I plateaued a bit for a few 100s, then I managed to drop my time a bit more. I held my fastest pace for a few 100s, then it started dropping off back down to my all day pace. And then my half hour was over and I had blown off a little steam. It was a pretty good workout for a half hour quickie.
I thought the idea of swimming as fast as you can every 100 was kind of a fun exercise because part of it was physical and part was mental. As you warm up you can go faster and faster. Then as you have been working as hard as you can you get where you are really moving. Then you start tiring and your ability to go fast diminishes. It was a micro example of a marathon, in a way.
I try to make it to the pool for an hour before my 12-hour nights, but it usually it ends up being 45 minutes because I'm a snoozer... I've been doing a quick warm up followed by a couple "broken miles." It's long enough to clear my mind and stretch my body, but interesting enough to keep me awake. The possibilities are endless; some favorites are...
2x [375, 275, 175], doing something different with the 75s like fly/back/breast by 25
3x [500 free, 50 kick]
275, 250, 225 ... 25, pushing the odds and DPS for the evens
No wall stops except between the 1650s.
This is my favorite "I don't feel like thinking of a set" set. It's easy to keep count of your laps, and can be scaled up or down. I usually do them with ~20 secs rest. I try to maintain a BASE tempo on the non-sprint laps.
500 every 5th lap sprint
400 every 4th lap sprint
300 every 3rd lap sprint
200 every other lap sprint
100 sprint
and back up the ladder:
100 recovery
200 every 4th lap sprint
300 every 3rd lap sprint
400 every other lap sprint
500 full effort
3000 is probably pushing it for a lunchtime main set, but it's easy to adjust based on your time and needs.
Hey Sara, that's a nice set for a Friday afternoon, which is why I just did it. I modified it slightly with a 300 pull and a 200 kick thrown in for good measure. Did sprint kick on the 75's because my kick is mediocre at best and dismal on average. Pull was to emphasize technique and balance, so the sprint was fun to throw in to make sure I stayed on track.
Thanks for the nice variation on the inverted pyramid.
This could be considered either a lunchtime or average set depending on intervals and rest between sets::
500 warm-up
200
25
200
50
200
75
200
50
200
2x25
Repeat the above replacing the 200s with 150 and then one more time replacing the 150s with 100s.
All the long swims are on a base time with the short swims on the base time plus 10 as active recovery. Last night I was feeling strong so the long swims were on a base :40/50
I finished up with 12x50 in 3 sets of 4. Set one on :50 ,set 2 on :55 and set 3 on 1:00. Each set was working on breath control as:
1st 50 no breath for the 1st 25 and through the flip turn, breathe as much as you want for the 2nd 25
2nd 50 one breath for the 1st 25 and through the flip turn, breathe as much as you want for the 2nd 25
3rd 50 two breaths for the 1st 25 and through the flip turn, breathe as much as you want for the 2nd 25
4th 50 three breaths for the 1st 25 and through the flip turn, breathe as much as you want for the 2nd 25.