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4 Swim Workouts for Variety in the Pool
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Land-locked and cold, winter leaves us with no choice other than training in the pool exclusively (unless you’re really bold). Knowing this, it is important to structure your sessions with purpose, progression and variety. These four simple ideas for swim workouts vary in distance and function, with each workout allowing the option for your own iterations of drills, number of repeats and length of rest intervals.
Swim No. 1
1 of 5
- 300 warm up, :30 rest
- 6x50 drills of choice, :20 rest
- 100 easy, form-focused, :20 rest
- 6x50 build, :15 rest
- 100 easy, breath-focused, :20 rest
- 6x50 build, :20 rest
- 300 warm down
Total: 1,700 yds
- 6x50 drills of choice, :20 rest
- 100 easy, form-focused, :20 rest
- 6x50 build, :15 rest
- 100 easy, breath-focused, :20 rest
- 6x50 build, :20 rest
- 300 warm down
Total: 1,700 yds
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TRIATHLONSwim No. 2
1 of 5
- 300 warm up, :30 rest
- 4x50 drills of choice, :20 rest
- 100 easy, form-focused, :20 rest
- 4x200 (each 200: 50 build/50 easy/50 build/50 easy) :20 rest
- 100 easy. breath-focused, :20 rest
- 4x100 descending (First: 60 percent; 2nd: 70 percent; Third: 80 percent; 4th: 90+ percent) :20 rest
- 300 warm down
Total: 2,200 yds
- 4x50 drills of choice, :20 rest
- 100 easy, form-focused, :20 rest
- 4x200 (each 200: 50 build/50 easy/50 build/50 easy) :20 rest
- 100 easy. breath-focused, :20 rest
- 4x100 descending (First: 60 percent; 2nd: 70 percent; Third: 80 percent; 4th: 90+ percent) :20 rest
- 300 warm down
Total: 2,200 yds
Find your next
TRIATHLONSwim No. 3
1 of 5
- 300 warm up, :30 rest
- 8x50 drills of choice, :20 rest
- 8x25 MAX (all out sprint effort), :30-:40 rest
- 200 easy, :20 rest
- 6x25 MAX, :30-:40 rest
- 200 easy, :20 rest
- 4x25 MAX, :30-:40 rest
- 200 easy, :20 rest
- 2x25 MAX, :30-:40 rest
- 200 warm down
Total: 2,000 yds
- 8x50 drills of choice, :20 rest
- 8x25 MAX (all out sprint effort), :30-:40 rest
- 200 easy, :20 rest
- 6x25 MAX, :30-:40 rest
- 200 easy, :20 rest
- 4x25 MAX, :30-:40 rest
- 200 easy, :20 rest
- 2x25 MAX, :30-:40 rest
- 200 warm down
Total: 2,000 yds
Find your next
TRIATHLONSwim No. 4
1 of 5
- 300 warm up, :30 rest
- 4x50 drills of choice, :20 rest
- 100 easy, :20 rest
- 2x (100 build, :15 rest
200 easy, :15 rest
300 (50 MAX, 200 easy, 50 MAX), :30 rest)
- 300 warm down
Total: 2,100 yds
- 4x50 drills of choice, :20 rest
- 100 easy, :20 rest
- 2x (100 build, :15 rest
200 easy, :15 rest
300 (50 MAX, 200 easy, 50 MAX), :30 rest)
- 300 warm down
Total: 2,100 yds
Find your next
TRIATHLONAbout the Author
Bryan Mineo
Bryan Mineo is a veteran swim coach with nearly two decades of experience, having coached thousands of athletes from beginners to Olympians across North America. He’s also the founder of One With the Ocean, a nonprofit that teaches underserved youth to swim.
Swim coach and open-water specialist.
TheSwimMechanic.com