Sprint Distance
The Sprint distance swim workout is 2,000 yards.
200 yards – freestyle warm up.
600 yards – 8 x 75 yards.
Use a kickboard for this entire set. Do these as 25 yard freestyle swim with the kickboard between your knees, 25 yards kick, 25 yards freestyle swim with the kickboard between your knees. When the kickboard is between your knees, minimize the amount the kickboard sticks out of the water. It will be more difficult for you (translated better for you) to keep the kickboard submerged. Do these on 5 seconds rest.
600 yards – 4 x 150 yards. Put fins on for this entire set. Do these as 50 freestyle swim, 50 kick (any stroke kick you like), 50 freestyle swim. Select an interval that will give you about 5 seconds rest.
350 yards – 200 yards, 100 yards, 50 yards. Put paddles and pull buoy on. Breathe every 3 strokes for the 200, every 5 strokes for the 100, every 7 strokes for the 50. Select an interval that will give you 5-10 seconds between the 200, 100, 50.
200 yards – 8 x 25 yards. These are all no breath freestyle. Or at least go as far as you can without breathing. If you have to breathe, then minimize the # of breaths you must take. Swim the first 2 on an interval of 40 seconds, the next 2 on 35 seconds, the next 2 on 30 seconds, the final 2 on 25 seconds.
50 yards – freestyle warm down.
Olympic Distance Workout
The Olympic swim workout is 3,000 yards
200 yards – freestyle warm up.
400 yards – put on fins. 4 x 100 yards. Odds are freestyle. Evens are butterfly or backstroke. Do these as 25 kick, 50 drill, 25 swim. Interval is 5 seconds rest.
1,800 yards – (200 freestyle swim + 4 x 100 IM) – repeat for a total of 3 times through. Build your speed during the freestyle. I did the freestyle on 1:30 – this gave me about 5 seconds rest. I did the IM’s on 1:40 – this also gave me about 5 seconds rest. 400 yards – put on pull buoy and paddles. 3,5,3,7 breathing pattern by 100’s.
200 yards – freestyle warm down.
The Ironman Distance Workout
The Ironman distance swim workout is 4,000 yards.
400 yards – freestyle warm up.
500 yards – with fins. 10 x 50 yards as 25 kick, 25 stroke/drill. The odds are freestyle. The evens are your choice of stroke other than freestyle (don’t do breast stroke with fins).
1,200 yards – 6 x 200 yards. The odds are freestyle. The evens are anything, but freestyle. Do these on 5-10 seconds rest. Build your speed throughout each 200 so you are very fast for the final 50 of the 200.
50 yards – easy freestyle.
1,000 yards – 10 x 100 yards freestyle TIP (tightest interval possible.) Select an interval that you can make for all 10, but barely make because you need to make these fast. I used 1:20 and I consistently got about 2 seconds rest. You want to do this set with a solid, sustained and consistent effort with minimal rest.
50 yards – easy freestyle.
500 yards – put on pull buoy and paddles. 3,5,7,3,7 breathing pattern by 100’s.
300 yards – freestyle warm down.