Set of the Week
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Swim Set of the Week - November 6, 2009

Posted by Glenn Mills on Nov 06, 2009 10:16AM (2,806 views)

We thought we'd ramp it up a bit this week.  Here's the main set for my breaststroke group from a couple days ago.  Remember, it's not just about completing the set, it's about meeting the goals of the set throughout.

This practice is in a 25-meter pool.

4 x 100 Breast on 1:45 - Set up a pace goal.  It has to be something that will be challenging to maintain as you progress through the set.  Each swimmer was given a goal time to match, and the goal is to hit that goal time, swimming as easily as possible... as if you were going to have to swim much farther at that pace.  The goal times ranged from 1:20 to 1:25 based on the swimmer.

Easy 100 free for recovery

3 x 200 Breast on 3:20 (1:40 / 100 pace) - The swimmers were required to meet, or exceed the previous average 100 pace.

Easy 100 free for recovery

2 x 300 Breast on 4:45 (1:35 / 100 pace) - Just as in the 200s, the average 100 pace had to be maintained or exceeded.  It's during this part of the set where the coach can really discover where each swimmer's stroke breaks down, and what each swimmer will need to focus on during all of their training to fix prior to the championship part of the season.

Easy 100 free for recovery

1 x 400 Breast for time - Continue to maintain or exceed the average 100 pace set up at the beginning of the set.  Each swimmer should know at this point where problems in their strokes are, and the coach can remind them with some verbal encouragement (AKA yelling) during the swim.

Sets like this are very challenging physically and mentally.  Letting the swimmers simply go through the motions to finish the set isn't worth it.  The coach must be involved and remind each athlete what they need to be working on during the set.  There is always a danger with long breaststroke sets in that you'll set up too slow of a pace for the swimmers.  These sets MUST be done with a lot of thought by both the swimmers and the coaches.


Tags breaststroke, coaching, training


Responses

Responded Nov 07, 2009 05:07PM

That set looks awesome! I'm going to def try it.
Responded Nov 09, 2009 09:48AM

tough! Especially, when the coach is yelling I guess, hehe. Lucky I am a butterflier and don't hear anything but the water. He can yell as much as he wants :D :D :D

Responded Nov 09, 2009 06:35PM

I really love the way coach shouting on swimmers - its funny mm I wish I got coach like that ;(
Responded Nov 11, 2009 06:13AM

I'm chasing a Long Course WR in 3 weeks. It is 1.24.7. I will set my goal at 1.45, so I guess I repeat at about 2.15 and so on. Does that sound about right or is that ambitious? I will give this a try 1 day each week for the 3 weeks to toughen up. Fun if you don't cry!

Tony Goodwin
Responded Nov 11, 2009 02:50PM

Sounds like a play Tony. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes.
Responded Nov 17, 2009 07:27AM

We did the set last night splitting the pool in half, 3 lanes on fly and 3 on breast. The flyers started on about 1.30 target and 2.10 turnaround, (turnarounds were 4.15 for the 200s, 6.10 for the 300s and 8.00 for the 400s) and ended on 1.40s (25m pool). The breaststrokers maintained about 1.45s throughout. A bit of moaning at the start but once they got into it they enjoyed the challenge. Improtantly I had good lane leaders who struck a good standard pace. We added in an extra 100m backstroke for each recovery as well as the free, both a 2.00 turnaround. Total meterage in the 90 minutes, including warm up and warm down was 4300. Nice session, Barbara, thanks
Responded Nov 17, 2009 07:29AM

Note, I was looking at them to purely maintain their pace goal as opposed to reducing. In fact they slipped slightly but it was a good lesson in pacing for them and showed them the difficulties of starting too quickly!

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