6 Week Swim Challenge - Workout Wednesday

W1B4

Yesterday we talked about how to get yourself calm and work on breathing - specifically the ability to exhale underwater which allows you to inhale easier and more effectively. For many people they are past the point of feeling anxious and can breathe effectively while swimming, however the manner in which they do breathe is causing fundamental deficiencies in their stroke. More on this in a moment.

I wanted Wednesday’s main focus to be on delivering to you some new workouts from the swim coaches I’ve enlisted for help. Let’s do that first and then come back to breathing better.

A swim workout from Coach Deb, Head Coach of Chico Masters Swim. I love Chico Masters and is what I wish every Masters Swim Program was, which would have a highly qualified coach providing not only interesting workouts but present on deck offering advice on technique. If you’re a swimmer or triathlete in Chico, CA and you want to improve as a swimmer the first place to begin is attending Chico Masters workouts at least twice per week.

Warm Up - (typically the first 10 minutes of the Chico Masters is unstructured so that people can arrive at different times, doing a bit of warm up on their own and then Coach Deb has a warm up to supplement it. I do my best to be in the pool as close to 6 am as possible so that I can get the full 60 minutes in.)

WU - 200-150-100-50 Last 50 Kick.
MS - 3 x
5 x 50 S/D - #1 Catch Up, #2 6K/P, #3 R,L
150 - #1 Pull, #2 Broken 75 Desc., #3 Broken 50 Desc.
100 - #1 Broken 50, 25, 25, #2 BK/FR, #3 Broken 25 all fast
CD - Choice

I know many of you are going to look at that workout and instantly have a glazed look come over you, so let me explain it.

WU: 200-150-100-50 Last 50 Kick. (The last 50 of each is kick which can be a variety of kicking options - dolphin kick on your back, backstroke kick, breaststroke kick, flutter kick on side or front, with Kickboard or without)

MS (Main Set)
3 times through: (1 time through will be the 5 x 50’s, then the 150, and finally the 100 and then repeat that sequence 2 more times)
A. 5 x 50 S-D #1 is Catch Up, #2 6K/P (I call this switch drill which is 6 kicks and then 1 stroke), #3 R, L (Single Arm Freestyle)
First time through you’d do 5 x 50 as Swim 25, Drill 25 doing the Catch Up Drill which could be full catch up drill or 3/4 catch up drill, and of course you could do each on subsequent 50’s. The main thing to remember here is that you are using the Catch Up drill to improve the timing of your stroke.

Second time through you’d do 5 x 50 as Swim 25, Drill 25 doing the 6 kicks, 1 stroke drill. You can also do this as 6 kicks, 3 strokes and again try each on subsequent 50’s. Here you are working on your rotation and timing with the intention of bringing them into your stroke.

Third time through you’d do 5 x 50 as Swim 25, Drill 25 doing the drill as one arm freestyle. I’d probably do them as #1 Left arm, #2 Right arm, #3 as 3 strokes Left, 3 strokes Right and repeat. #4 Left Arm, #5 Right Arm. Swimming one arm freestyle helps you concentrate on setting the catch for a strong pull and coordinating it with hip rotation/drive.

B. 150 - #1 Pull, #2 Broken 75 descending, #3 Broken 50 descending
First is 150 using a pull buoy.
Second is broken by 75 and descending which means you would swim a 75, take a very short (less than 5 seconds rest to check your time) and then swim the final 75 1-2 seconds faster.
Third is like second only split up as 50’s.

C. 100 - #1 Broken 50, 25, 25 #2 BK, FR #3 Broken 25 all fast
First is a 50 with a short rest to check time, then 2 x 25’s with a short rest to check times,
Second is 50 Backstroke and 50 Freestyle
Third is broken by 25’s all of them fast.

Cool Down - last 5 minutes of practice on your own easy swimming, your choice of stroke.

Let’s add up the total yardage. WU is 500 (+any additional done on your own). MS is 500 per set or total of 1500. CD would be about 100-400 depending on the person. Which makes the total yardage anywhere from 2100 to 3000. Some of you will see this workout and say it’s too long for you, for your current level. No problem, just start with one set of the Main Set and it would only be 1100 yards. Or do just 2 x through the Main Set.

Here’s another workout from Adina O’Neill, Founder and Head Coach of Team B*REAL. (TeamBREAL.com Adina@Adinaoneill.com)

Speed 25’s (1300)
WU: 200 Easy, 4 x 50 drill
MS: 6 x 25 Sprint - complete recovery of 30-60 seconds
200 Easy
6 x 25 Sprint - complete recovery of 30-60 seconds
CD: 4 x 50 Drill, 200 Choice

It’s feeling like this blog is getting on the long side, so I am going to keep it brief regarding improving your breathing and go into more detail tomorrow.

One of the most complete drills I’ve found for correcting a lot of technique flaws is the One Goggle in the Water Drill. It’s very simple and yet can be very difficult for some people to get right. When you breathe, simply keep one goggle in the water. I like to focus on seeing under water with the low goggle to ensure that it stays in the water. Tomorrow I’ll include several videos explaining the drill as well as talk about all the flaws that breathing sub optimally can create. For those of you who’ve not heard of this drill here’s a video demonstration:

Coach Deb to her swimmers, aka Dr. Debra Roth retired from Chico State in 2021. She’s been coaching all levels of swim team for over forty years and had the distinct privilege of coaching swimmers as a “head coach” at college, high school, age group, masters, and Special Olympic programs. Coach Deb is ASCA level 4 certified. Early in her career she coached 37 All-Americans, placed in the top 10 at NCAA Division II Championships, and earned conference “coach of the year” twice as the women’s swim team coach from 1979-1991 at Chico State. She was inducted into both the Chico State Athletic Hall of Fame (2006) and the Chico Area Sports Hall of Fame (2012) for her achievements as an athlete and coach.

Fun fact which I did not know until joining the Chico Masters Swim: Remember the story I told in the first blog of the 6 Week Swim Challenge about almost getting kicked out of Triathlon 101 at Chico State only to be allowed to stay if I went to the Chico State Masters Swim? Well, that coach’s name is Dave. I was telling Coach Deb the story and she said was Dave’s Coach at Chico State. That makes me a descendent of Coach Deb by way of Coach Dave.

Let’s have a little fun…if you’ve read this far and you’d like to be entered to win some goggles from Blueseventy leave a comment which can be as short as “Hi” or anything you want. I’ll pick a winner just from those who comment.