Speed Session #665

This Swimfit Speed Session will push you to swim fast for longer and be able to use easy swimming as recovery. This is a skill that can be tricky for newish swimmers.

We start our set with an easy warm up, followed by the sculling drill. This drill, when done right, really helps you to get a good feel and grip on the water. This will help you swim faster in the main set. We also go through a few 50's or 25's where you count your strokes for each distance, and the next one you up your pace and your stroke count. It's important to be able to up your stroke rate when swimming fast, you don't want to be stuck in one single rate for all your paces.

The main set 4, 2 or once through and starts with a 25 Freestyle fast, straight away followed with a 25 easy Freestyle. Use this easy Freestyle to recover as you'll only get 10 seconds rest before going into a 50 Freestyle fast and 50 Freestyle easy. We then go into a 75 fast/75 easy and finish with a 100 fast/100 easy.

When you go from a fast to an easy pace, focus on getting your breathing under control by changing your breathing pattern to whatever is comfortable for you and gets you enough air in. This might be a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio for the first few strokes. When you feel that you've got your breath back, the focus goes to relaxing your stroke to recover your muscles. If you have to you can even swim a bit of Breaststroke or Backstroke, as long as you keep moving.

If you'd like to mix it up a bit you could do the second, third and fourth sets with a different stroke in the fast sections, or go for Freestyle Kick or Pull. Always keep it fun and challenging!

Fast Lane

Warm up: 200 Swim / 100 Freestyle Pull / 100 Kick x 2

4 x 100 (50 Scull / 50 Freestyle Easy) - 10sec rest

4 x 50 Freestyle (Count strokes / +2 strokes each 50 and up your pace)

4 x

[25 Freestyle Fast / 25 Freestyle Easy - 10sec rest

50 Freestyle Fast / 50 Freestyle Easy - 10sec rest

75 Freestyle Fast / 75 Freestyle Easy - 10sec rest

100 Freestyle Fast / 100 Freestyle Easy - 10sec rest

1min rest]

200 Freestyle Kick Easy

Cool down: 200 Choice

Medium Lane

Warm up: 100 Swim / 50 Freestyle Pull / 50 Kick x 2

4 x 50 (25 Scull / 25 Freestyle Easy) - 10sec rest

4 x 25 Freestyle (Count strokes / +1 stroke each 25 and up your pace)

2 x

[25 Freestyle Fast / 25 Freestyle Easy - 10sec rest

50 Freestyle Fast / 50 Freestyle Easy - 10sec rest

75 Freestyle Fast / 75 Freestyle Easy - 10sec rest

100 Freestyle Fast / 100 Freestyle Easy - 10sec rest

1min rest]

100 Freestyle Kick Easy

Cool down: 100 Choice

Slow Lane

Warm up: 100 Swim / 50 Freestyle Pull / 50 Kick

4 x 50 (25 Scull / 25 Freestyle Easy) - 10sec rest

4 x 25 Freestyle (Count strokes / +1 stroke each 25 and up your pace)

25 Freestyle Fast / 25 Freestyle Easy - 10sec rest

50 Freestyle Fast / 50 Freestyle Easy - 10sec rest

75 Freestyle Fast / 75 Freestyle Easy - 10sec rest

100 Freestyle Fast / 100 Freestyle Easy - 10sec rest

100 Freestyle Kick Easy

Cool down: 100 Choice