Swim Progressions/Markers

Some ideas to track your swimming

Swim Marker Sets

5x400, on 20 RI – descend for effort and speed – easy/steady/mod-hard/fast/very fast

Continuous (1,500)
50 fast, 50 steady — 100 fast, 50 steady — 150 fast, 50 steady — 200 fast, 50 steady — 250 fast, 50 steady — 300 fast, 50 steady — 200 fast

Continuous (3,000)
200 fast, 100 steady — 300 fast, 100 steady — 400 fast, 100 steady — 500 fast, 100 steady — 400 fast, 100 steady — 300 fast, 100 steady — 200 fast, 100 steady

The change of pace work in the long TTs are useful to help the time go by and also to make it more stimulating.

Another good TT is a straight 2,000 or 3,000 for time. Athletes that are new to these sorts of workouts could start with 1,000 or 1,500 and add 300 every 1-2 weeks to build up to 3,000. With elite training, a continuous, easy 4,000 swim each week is a nice session. With your longer continuous swims, you need not be aiming for a personal best each time.

For a faster benchmark set, try 15-20 x 100 where you aim to hold best 1,000 pace on 5s RI. Swim perfectly even splits. For example, if your best 1,000 pace is 1:45 per 100 then you could swim 15x100 on 1:50 and aim to arrive on 1:45 for the entire set.

Finally, in my Coaching Ironman Athletes article there is a test set of 8x400. This is a good set for sub-60 minute IMers or athletes that enjoy longer main sets. The protocol is explained in the article and I'll chat through in our discussion. Athletes that are 75+ min IMers should consider starting with 8x300 or, even, 8x250. Use the same protocol to set the send off intervals.

Remember that Ironman is a 2.4 mile continuous swim. So the most effective benchmark sets will help you track (and build) your aerobic endurance and economy.

Swim
Triathletes rarely need encouragement to swim 50s and 100s quickly on long rest. Where they need encouragement is on the challenging, longer main sets. Here are a few of my favorites. Note: When I schedule fast intervals, I avoid the use of the words ‘hard’, ‘very hard’ or ‘max’. I find that these words carry a connotation that often results in an athlete going one gear up from target.

4K Aerobic Swim

• Swim the entire set using three-stroke breathing
• Depending on skill level, swim the distance continuous or broken
• Note total time to complete the set
• Builds race specific endurance and confidence about ability to complete the swim 4x 750-1000 on 20-30s RI
• Choose the interval distance based on duration desired and athlete ability
• Pattern is:
  
  • Build by quarters to half-ironman distance race (HIM) effort;
  • Negative split with the first half at ironman-distance race (IM) effort and the second half at HIM effort;
  • Build by quarters to Olympic Distance (Oly) effort; and
  • Build by quarters to best effort
• Athlete should descend the workout with the fastest interval being the final one
• Teaches pace control, pace judgment and builds race specific endurance
  

5x 400 on 10s RI

• Start at easy pace and make each swim faster
• Final swim should be best average pace for the distance (very fast effort)
• Teaches pace judgment and assists coach with determining appropriate steady-state swim pacing

8x 300 or 400

• Pattern is:
  
  • 1 to 4 – Base; Base -10s; Base -20s; Base -30s;
  • No extra rest before #5;
  • 5 to 8 – Base +10s; Base -10s; Base -30s; Base -50s
• Splits should be set so that #4 is a “barely make it” split
• When the athlete makes interval #8, reduce all send offs by 5s the next time

All of the above swims are freestyle workouts.

I encourage all my athletes to work towards learning all four strokes as well as flip turns. I also discourage the use of swim gear for important and benchmark main sets.

Finally, I believe that nearly all endurance swimming should be done using three stroke breathing. It is the fastest way I know to improve a triathlete’s balance, relaxation and swimming economy.

There can be a lot of resistance on these points (no doubt some of you are shaking your heads right now!) but, over time, your athletes will see the benefits of using this approach to swimming.

Ideas for BIG swim improvement

Video: Underwater and above – review with a trusted coach. That should help with your efficiency.

Volume: January to April – aim for an average of 10,000 per week and insert a ten day period at 20,000 in each month.

Frequency: January to April – aim for at least 22 swims per month

Duration: Longest swim 90 mins, then 3 swims at 75 minutes

Workouts: February to May – use my Swim Marker Sets (see above) to track progress. These are real benchmarks, and not tracked in many Masters programs.

Recovery: Don't start hitting it hard in October/November – you've had a big year. Keep swimming but keep it light and let yourself shake all your season fatigue.