More challenges

I must admit to feeling pretty disappointed and annoyed that pools are not being allowed to safely re-open on July 4th at the same time as pubs, cinemas, restaurants and and many other venues.  Swim England published guidance over a week ago with the necessary protocols for safely returning to indoor swimming and we have a plan coming together for how we can get this working for Cambridge Triathlon Club.  It is quite clear there is a way to make the return to indoor swimming safe and I struggle to understand how going to the pub can be anywhere near as safe as allowing indoor swimming in a chlorine-filled pool.  Swim England have a petition for the government with over 100,000 signatures already if anyone wants to join Helen and myself in helping them to lobby the government to change their mind.  You can find it here.

So while we still have the challenge of no indoor pool to swim in, and no clarity on when we will, we can still get on with open water swimming and land training.  Another open water session that you could try was done by Helen, Doug and myself today at Milton.  Milton have extended the buoys to be closer to a 400m loop.

Warm Up – 800 (2 x Milton laps) steady pace

Subset – 400 (1 lap at Milton) swum as 30 strokes fast, 30 strokes easy

Main Set – Progressive set, all reps swum 1-3 progressive

• 3 x 200 (half lap) 1-3 progressive with no rest between each
• 30s rest
• 3 x 200 (half lap) 1-3 progressive with no rest between each
• 30s rest
• 400 (one lap) alternating 10s fast, 10s steady

Swim Down – 400 (1 laps) steady

For the dry land session this week we will be doing some high-intensity intervals from Wakefield Swimming Club.  If you want a sneak preview with examples of what to expect you can see below:

See you Saturday!

Rob

 

 

Into the groove

Hopefully you are intro the groove with open water swimming and many of you are clearly still doing this alongside the dry land swim focused workouts Tim, Heather, Helen and myself have been doing.  If you want some more ideas for open water training you are welcome to vary or try the set below that Helen and I did at Milton this morning.  10 laps flew by when breaking it up as a session like this and it felt good to get the heart rate up on a beautiful morning for open water swimming.

Warm Up – 600 (2 x Milton laps) steady pace

Subset – 300 (1 lap at Milton) swum as 20 strokes fast, 20 strokes easy (we actually did it as an alternating pursuit with each overtaking the other so alternating the lead to make it a bit more fun and to practise sighting and drafting)

Main Set – Pyramid 5 x 300 with 60s after each 300 swum as follows

• 300 alternating 75 fast, 75 steady
• 300 alternating 150 fast, 150 steady
• 300 fast all the way
• 300 alternating 150 steady, 150 fast
• 300 alternating 75 steady, 75 fast

Swim Down – 600 (2 laps) steady

For the Saturday Dry Land session this week we will be doing the Caleb Dressel Corentine #1 core set (yes, the harder one) alongside some longer swim intervals.  Remind yourself of the set below so you can keep up:

You will also need a band for some of the exercises this week.

See you Saturday!

Rob

More intensity

Open Water swimming is in full swing for many of us now and it appears most of us are doing this despite the lack of space at Milton.  Are you managing to do some sets for a bit more higher intensity as well as steady swimming?  Tim has written some good advice on this on his blog.  Some more ideas based on what Helen and I did for a main set at Milton this week are below:

Warm Up – 600 (2 x Milton laps) steady pace

Main Set – 12 x 75s as 75 fast, 75 steady

Subset – 300 (1 lap at Milton) fast swum as negative split

Swim Down – 300 (1 lap) steady

For the Saturday Dry Land session this week we will be doing the Triathlon Taren core set alongside some more intense Tabata-style swim circuits.  You will need a wall and something to stand on (for step-ups) for some of the exercises this week so please come prepared.  You can remind yourself of the Triathlon Taren core set below:

See you Saturday!

Rob

Keeping some intensity

One thing I am missing about not being able to do our regular pool sessions is the intensity.  I really valued the ability to do some high intensity work in the pool it is especially important as we get older to maintain our VO2 max as much as possible and high intensity swimming is a great low impact way to do this.  It is difficult to replicate during our dry land training sessions but with the return to open water we have a new opportunity.  Below is an open water session Helen and I have done this week to start doing some higher intensity swimming again even though we are still relatively unfit for swimming.  You can adjust to your own environment and level of fitness if you want to try it.

To judge the distances I would recommend either counting strokes or using approximately marked distances.  Most of us swim between 15 and 25 strokes per 25m on front crawl (half that number for breaststroke) and you should know what is approximately right for you.  Multiply by 4 to get strokes per 100m.

Warm Up – on land away from the start area to keep social distancing

• 10 x single arm swings, front and back, both arms
• 10 x R-arm forwards, L-arm backwards & opposite direction
• Tricep stretches
• Streamline stretch up and to both sides

Warm Up – in water

• 200 f/c swim acclimatisation
• 100 brs
• 100 f/c drills – alternating catch-up and single-arm with straight-arm recovery

Subset

• 12 x 50s 1-3 progressive with 25 very steady swim recovery (e.g. 40 strokes 1-3 prog, 20 strokes easy)

Main Set

• 2 sets of 3 x 150 at 400m race pace
• 10 strokes recovery after each 100
• 50 strokes recovery between sets

Swim Down

• 300 f/c steady

During the Saturday dry-land session this week we will be doing the Laura Philip Core set that you need some equipment for, namely:

• A small ball, such as a tennis ball
• A band, and
• A light weight such as a light dumb bell or large filled bottle of water

See you all Saturday!

Rob