A Longer Workout

I enjoyed swimming in Lake Tahoe recently on a relay team.  What an awesome backdrop for an open water swim!

A Longer Workout

We did this longer workout last Saturday, gearing up for Catalina.  I trained with Dr. Mark Smitherman, who is ramping up for a 12 miler he's doing this September in South Carolina.


1 x 300 on 4:30            )
2 x 150 on 2:15, -5      )   x 6,  shorten by -5 each time
3 x 100 on 1:35, -5      )


3 x 400 k on 4:30
3 x 400 p on 4:00

50 on 1:00      )
100 on 1:30    )
150 on 2:15    )    x 5

300 on 4:30    )

10 x 75 on 1:20

450 cool down

12,000 scy

Typical Tuesday

Typical Tuesday

5 x 200 warm up on 3:00
5 x 200 kick on 3:40
28 x 25 on :25
8 x 75 on 1:15    }
200 easy on 3:30}    x 3

Total 5100 scy

Saturday Grind
Since we were in the open water last Saturday, today we did a long workout that was supposed to be for a total of 15,000 short course yards.  Imagine our disappointment to see that our pool wasn't set up for scy, but instead was set up for short course meters.  We adjusted the intervals, and did it all, anyway. 

10 x 150 warmup on 2:05

10 x 100 kick on 1:50

10 x 100 on 1:37 }
10 x 100 on 1:32 }
60 x 100 on 1:28 }  No rest between sets, for
10 x 100 on 1:32 }      a total of 100 x 100s
10 x 100 on 1:37 }

20 x 75 on 1:20 drill

8 x 75 on 1:15 fast

4 x 100 cool down

15,000 scm

10 x 125 warm up on 1:45
10 x 75 drill swim drill on 1:15
15 x 100 on 1:40  1 fast, 2 easy
6 x 150 kick on 2:45
12 x 25 fast, easy on :40
150 cool down
Total 4850 scy

Overdistance Workout II

1x100    Warm up  on 1:30
1x200    Warm up    on 3:00
1x300    Warm up    on 4:30
1x400    Warm up    on 6:00
1x300    Warm up    on 4:30
1x200    Warm up    on 3:00
1x100    Warm up    on 1:30
                      
12x75    Kick    on 1:30
                      
30x100    Swim    on 1:20
                  
12x75    Drill    on 1:20
                      
30x100    Swim    on 1:20
                      
12x75    Backstroke on 1:20
                      
30x100    Swim    on 1:20
                  
8x25    Fast Swim    on :30
                      
6x100    Warm Down on  1:30

Total 14,105 SCY

Overdistance Workout

Today's workout was written by my teammate and emerging marathon swimmer Chris Burke.  He's been training like a mad man for the last couple of years, and he's ready to take on the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim, Manhattan, Catalina, and the English Channel.  A group of us met today and did his workout, emphasizing quantity over quality, until he blew us away at the end holding 1:10s on the set of 20 x 100s.   He held a similar pace just 2 days ago, when he completed 5070 yards for the USMS Hour Swim National Championship.  

10 x 150 Warm up 2:15
1 x 400 Swim on 6:00   }
2 x 200 Swim on 3:00   }
4 x 100 Swim on 1:30   }     2 x's through
8 x 50 Kick on 1:00       }
12 x 300 Pull on 4:00
10 x 100 Kick on 1:50
12 x 75 Drill on 1:20
20 x 100 Swim on 1:20
3 x 100 Warm Down on 1:30
TOTAL 12,500 SCY

Food for thought:  To complete a marathon, a swimmer may need to swim more than 40,000 yards, battling wind, waves and cold water.   

Visiting college and high school teams train at our pool during the holidays, so we swim long course meters when we're not relegated to the auxiliary pool. Today was a pretty typical workout, with an emphasis on longer rest intervals because we are gearing up for the Hour Swim later this month.

3 x 300 warmup on 4:30
12 x 100 kick on 1:50
16 x 50 drill, hypoxic, or speedplay on 1:00
8 x 100 50 fly, 50 free on 1:50
8 x 100 free on 1:50
200 cool down
4700 LCM TOTAL