Olympic Inspiration

What a wonderful week we have had with so much to admire from the Olympics. Some fantastic triathlon performances and drama from both the men’s and women’s triathlon and two great silver medals for the Brits. And in the pool some fantastic racing to enjoy from Peaty’s domination of his event to the spectacular 200m Brit gold and silver freestylers in Tom Dean and Duncan Scott.

Did you see who was 4th in the men’s 200m freestyle? None other than David Popovici – the 16 year old Romanian who I posted a video of a few weeks ago – and certainly one to watch in the future. And what about Katie Ledecky being beaten in the 400m freestyle final? For someone who has dominated women’s distance freestyle for so long it feels like the start of a new era.

We will be looking to emulate the Olympic racing prowess we have been watching with the return of pursuit swims to help us practise our racing skills. And for your daily core workout we will return to a pure core routine from Heather Robertson to continue building abs of steel. This core set and the session are shown below. See you on Saturday!

Rob

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 1 – Saturday 31st July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

100 f/c kick, 100 b/c kick

200 alternating finger tip drag f/c and full stroke

Main set – aerobic pace

11 x 150s f/c 

1-6 aerobic pace f/c pull with paddles off 2:15

7 -11 aerobic pace f/c swim off 2:20

Subset – f/c technique, working on cadence

8 x 25 f/c with 10s rest, alternating 25 head-up front crawl looking ahead, 25 f/c with straight arm recovery & high cadence

5 x 50 f/c golf stroke with 20s rest, reducing golf stroke by at least 8 between first and last 50 with faster stroke rate

Subset – pursuit swims

6 x 100s with 30s rest, trying to catch the person in front

3^rd 25 is “live” on first and second 100

2^nd 25 is “live” on third and fourth 100

Both 1^st and 4^th 25s are “live” on fifth and sixth 100

“Live” 25s are where you try and catch the swimmer in front and avoid getting caught yourself by the swimmer behind, go 3s behind the swimmer in front

Swim down 

200 choice

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 2 – Saturday 31st July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

100 f/c kick, 100 b/c kick

200 alternating finger tip drag f/c and full stroke

Main set – aerobic pace 

10 x 150s f/c 

1-5 aerobic pace f/c pull with paddles off 2:40

6-10 aerobic pace f/c swim off 2:45

Subset – f/c technique, working on cadence

8 x 25 f/c with 15s rest, alternating 25 head-up front crawl looking ahead, 25 f/c with straight arm recovery & high cadence

5 x 50 f/c golf stroke with 20s rest, reducing golf stroke by at least 8 between first and last 50 with faster stroke rate

Subset – pursuit swims

6 x 100s with 30s rest, trying to catch the person in front

3^rd 25 is “live” on first and second 100

2^nd 25 is “live” on third and fourth 100

Both 1^st and 4^th 25s are “live” on fifth and sixth 100

“Live” 25s are where you try and catch the swimmer in front and avoid getting caught yourself by the swimmer behind, go 3s behind the swimmer in front

Swim down 

200 choice

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 3 – Saturday 31st July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

100 f/c kick

200 alternating finger tip drag f/c and full stroke

Main set – aerobic pace 

9 x 150s f/c 

1-5 aerobic pace f/c pull with paddles off 2:50

6-9 aerobic pace f/c swim off 2:55

Subset – f/c technique, working on cadence

8 x 25 f/c with 15s rest, alternating 25 head-up front crawl looking ahead, 25 f/c with straight arm recovery & high cadence

5 x 50 f/c golf stroke with 20s rest, reducing golf stroke by at least 8 between first and last 50 with faster stroke rate

Subset – pursuit swims

6 x 100s with 30s rest, trying to catch the person in front

3^rd 25 is “live” on first and second 100

2^nd 25 is “live” on third and fourth 100

Both 1^st and 4^th 25s are “live” on fifth and sixth 100

“Live” 25s are where you try and catch the swimmer in front and avoid getting caught yourself by the swimmer behind, go 3s behind the swimmer in front

Swim down 

200 choice

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 4 – Saturday 31st July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

100 f/c kick

100 alternating finger tip drag f/c and full stroke

Main set – aerobic pace 

8 x 150s f/c 

1-4 aerobic pace f/c pull with paddles off 3:15

5-8 aerobic pace f/c swim off 3:20

Subset – f/c technique, working on cadence

6 x 25 f/c with 15s rest, alternating 25 head-up front crawl looking ahead, 25 f/c with straight arm recovery & high cadence

5 x 50 f/c golf stroke with 20s rest, reducing golf stroke by at least 8 between first and last 50 with faster stroke rate

Subset – pursuit swims

6 x 100s with 30s rest, trying to catch the person in front

3^rd 25 is “live” on first and second 100

2^nd 25 is “live” on third and fourth 100

Both 1^st and 4^th 25s are “live” on fifth and sixth 100

“Live” 25s are where you try and catch the swimmer in front and avoid getting caught yourself by the swimmer behind, go 3s behind the swimmer in front

Swim down

200 choice

Using your core

One of the secrets to fast, efficient swimming is making use of your biggest muscles. Swimming good front crawl is a total body movement with your legs in sync with your arms and all connected via your core. So getting a good rotation, powered by your core, will really help with this and engage your biggest muscles. The drills we will be doing this week will help you focus on that to prepare for the long main set, where efficient effort will be key. One of the drills we haven’t done before – I call it alternating Unco – and you can see Lexie Kelly doing it here.

How are the daily core exercises going? Hopefully you are getting back some of the core strength we all built up during lockdown and this will really help with the rotation we are focusing on this week. I have a new one for the daily core this week which is very swim specific and provides more of a total body workout in only 10 mins per day. Check it out below:

Now restrictions are relaxed we can go back to shallow-end starts for our sets. Please do continue to be both safe and considerate to others in your lane and keep your space whenever possible, especially when arriving, changing and leaving. The session is below:

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 1 – Saturday 24th July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

200 own choice f/c drills

200 slow f/c breathing every 3 or 5

Subset – high-elbow pull with body rotation

2 sets of 4 x 25 with 15s rest after each 25, swum as

1^st 25 sideline kick w. quarter stroke to catch (L)

2^nd 25 sideline kick w. quarter stroke to catch (R)

3^rd 25 alternating Unco (3 strokes each side)

4^th 25 full stroke engaging core for good rotation

3 x 50 f/c swim 1-3 prog off 20s rest, keeping good rotation

Main set – aerobic pace

5 x 75 f/c off 1:15, 1-5 progressive

5 x 125 f/c off 1:55

5 x 75 f/c off 1:10

5 x 125 f/c off 2:00, 1-5 progressive

Subset – aerobic pace

2 x 300 f/c pull with paddles w 30s rest

Swim down

200 choice 

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 2 – Saturday 24th July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

200 own choice f/c drills

100 very slow f/c breathing every 5

Subset – high-elbow pull with body rotation

2 sets of 4 x 25 with 15s rest after each 25, swum as

1^st 25 sideline kick w. quarter stroke to catch (L)

2^nd 25 sideline kick w. quarter stroke to catch (R)

3^rd 25 alternating Unco (3 strokes each side)

4^th 25 full stroke engaging core for good rotation

3 x 50 f/c swim 1-3 prog off 20s rest, keeping good rotation

Main set – aerobic pace

5 x 75 f/c off 1:25, 1-5 progressive

5 x 125 f/c off 2:15

5 x 75 f/c off 1:20

5 x 125 f/c off 2:20, 1-5 progressive

Subset – aerobic pace

2 x 200 f/c pull with paddles w 30s rest

Swim down

200 choice 

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 3 – Saturday 24th July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

100 own choice f/c drills

100 very slow f/c breathing every 5

Subset – high-elbow pull with body rotation

2 sets of 4 x 25 with 15s rest after each 25, swum as

1^st 25 sideline kick w. quarter stroke to catch (L)

2^nd 25 sideline kick w. quarter stroke to catch (R)

3^rd 25 alternating Unco (3 strokes each side)

4^th 25 full stroke engaging core for good rotation

3 x 50 f/c swim 1-3 prog off 20s rest, keeping good rotation

Main set – aerobic pace

4 x 75 f/c off 1:30, 1-4 progressive

4 x 125 f/c off 2:20

4 x 75 f/c off 1:25

4 x 125 f/c off 2:25, 1-4 progressive

Subset – aerobic pace

2 x 300 f/c pull with paddles w 30s rest

Swim down

200 choice 

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 4 – Saturday 24th July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

100 own choice f/c drills

100 very slow f/c breathing every 5

Subset – high-elbow pull with body rotation

2 sets of 4 x 25 with 15s rest after each 25, swum as

1^st 25 sideline kick w. quarter stroke to catch (L)

2^nd 25 sideline kick w. quarter stroke to catch (R)

3^rd 25 alternating Unco (3 strokes each side)

4^th 25 full stroke engaging core for good rotation

3 x 50 f/c swim 1-3 prog off 20s rest, keeping good rotation

Main set – aerobic pace

4 x 75 f/c off 1:45, 1-4 progressive

4 x 125 f/c off 2:45

4 x 75 f/c off 1:40

4 x 125 f/c off 2:50, 1-4 progressive

Subset – aerobic pace

2 x 200 f/c pull with paddles w 30s rest

Swim down

200 choice 

Effortless Speed

The Olympics starts next week so we have some exciting swimming to look forward to. One particularly impressive swimmer to look out for is featured in Brenton Ford’s recent video on David Popovici after he broke the Junior World record in the 100m Freestyle. He swam faster than Caleb Dressel recently swam in the US trials so an exciting race is likely in Tokyo.

Brenton also makes some interesting points in his analysis about David’s stroke – especially how well he anchors himself to push himself forward, the importance of body weight strength training and practising good technique when fatigued. To pick up on a couple of these points we have a new body weight daily core routine for everyone and the swim session this week has some fast 50s with the return of our Will Clarke set to help you practise good technique while tired and swimming fast.

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 1 – Saturday 17th July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

200 own choice kick

200 own choice swim, not f/c

Technique set – working on EVF

4 x 50 f/c with 20s rest, swum as

1^st 25 f/c catch-up with pause at EVF

2^nd 25 f/c full stroke

4 x 50 f/c swim 1-4 prog off 15s rest, good EVF

Main set – easy/fast intervals

40 x 50 f/c 

16x50m off 45 every 4th 50m fast

12x50m off 50 every 3rd fast

8x50m off 55 every 2nd fast

4x50m off 60 every 1 fast

Swim all fast 50s 2-3s faster than your 400m race pace

Extended Swim down, decreasing pace

300 pull with paddles, 200 pull without paddles, 100 own choice

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 2 – Saturday 17th July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

100 choice kick

200 own choice swim, not f/c

Technique set – working on EVF

4 x 50 f/c with 20s rest, swum as

1^st 25 f/c catch-up with pause at EVF

2^nd 25 f/c full stroke

4 x 50 f/c swim 1-4 prog off 15s rest, good EVF

Main set – easy/fast intervals

40 x 50 f/c

16x50m off 50 every 4th 50m fast

12x50m off 55 every 3rd fast

8x50m off 60 every 2nd fast

4x50m off 65 every 1 fast

Swim all fast 50s 2-3s faster than your 400m race pace

Extended Swim down, decreasing pace

300 pull with paddles, 200 pull without paddles, 100 own choice

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 3 – Saturday 17th July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

100 own choice kick

100 own choice swim, not f/c

Technique set – working on EVF

4 x 50 f/c with 20s rest, swum as

1^st 25 f/c catch-up with pause at EVF

2^nd 25 f/c full stroke

8 x 50 f/c swim 1-4 prog off 15s rest, good EVF

Main set – easy/fast intervals

30 x 50 f/c

12x50m off 55 every 4th 50m fast

9x50m off 60 every 3rd fast

6x50m off 65 every 2nd fast

3x50m off 70 every 1 fast

Swim all fast 50s 2-3s faster than your 400m race pace

Extended Swim down, decreasing pace

250 pull with paddles, 150 pull without paddles, 50 own choice

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 4 – Saturday 17th July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

100 own choice kick

150 own choice swim, not f/c

Technique set – working on EVF

4 x 50 f/c with 20s rest, swum as

1^st 25 f/c catch-up with pause at EVF

2^nd 25 f/c full stroke

4 x 50 f/c swim 1-4 prog off 15s rest, good EVF

Main set – easy/fast intervals

26 x 50 f/c

12x50m off 60 every 4th 50m fast

8x50m off 65 every 3rd fast

4x50m off 70 every 2nd fast

2x50m off 75 every 1 fast

Swim all fast 50s 2-3s faster than your 400m race pace

Extended Swim down, decreasing pace

200 pull with paddles, 100 pull without paddles, 50 own choice

More all round fitness

So how did the daily Taren core sets go? I would love to hear how it is going. Please reply in the comments to let me know. This week we have a new core set for you courtesy of my planking friend. Tattoos and fitted cap optional. Let me know in the comments below how you get on!

We are continuing the all round fitness theme in our session this week. So we are back to week B configuration to make sure you are used to swimming in different lanes. And the session includes more variety on both kick and IM work alongside our longest main set since our return from lockdown 3.

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 1 – Saturday 10th July 2021

Warm up

6 x 100s f/c off 1:45 with every 3^rd length catch-up

Subset – kick

10 x 50s 1-5 prog kick off 1:15, 1-5 f/c, 6-10 b/c w/out float

Main set – aerobic pace

20 x 100s f/c, swum as 4 sets of 5

    Set 1: swum off 1:35                       

    Set 2: swum off 1:30

Brucey bonus 1 min                   

    Set 3: swum off 1:40, odd lengths catch-up

    Set 4: swum off 1:30                       

Subset

12 x 50 IM order

    1-4 full stroke, steady pace off 10s rest

    5-8 kick, steady pace off 15s rest

    9-12 full stroke, fast off 20s rest

Swim down

200 choice

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 2 – Saturday 10th July 2021

Warm up

6 x 100s f/c off 1:50 with every 3^rd length catch-up

Subset – kick

8 x 50s 1-4 prog kick off 15s rest, 1^st 4 f/c, 2^nd 4 b/c w/out float

Main set – aerobic pace

20 x 100s f/c, swum as 4 sets of 5

    Set 1: swum off 1:45                       

    Set 2: swum off 1:40

Brucey bonus 1 min                   

    Set 3: swum off 1:50, odd lengths catch-up

    Set 4: swum off 1:40                       

Subset

12 x 50 IM order (just on 25m towards deep end)

    1-4 full stroke, steady pace off 10s rest

    5-8 kick, steady pace off 15s rest

    9-12 full stroke, fast off 20s rest

Swim down

200 choice

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 3 – Saturday 10th July 2021

Warm up

6 x 100s f/c off 2:00 with every 3^rd length catch-up

Subset – kick

8 x 50s 1-4 prog kick off 15s rest, 1^st 4 f/c, 2^nd 4 b/c w/out float

Main set – aerobic pace

16 x 100s f/c, swum as 4 sets of 4

    Set 1: swum off 1:55                       

    Set 2: swum off 1:50

Brucey bonus 1 min                       

    Set 3: swum off 2:00, odd lengths catch-up

    Set 4: swum off 1:50                       

Subset

12 x 50 IM order (just on 25m towards deep end)

    1-4 full stroke, steady pace off 10s rest

    5-8 kick, steady pace off 15s rest

    9-12 full stroke, fast off 20s rest

Swim down

200 choice

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 4 – Saturday 10th July 2021

Warm up

4 x 100s f/c off 2:20 with every 3^rd length catch-up

Subset – kick

6 x 50s 1-3 prog kick off 20s rest, 1^st 3 f/c, 2^nd 3 b/c w/out float

Main set – aerobic pace

16 x 100s f/c, swum as 4 sets of 4

    Set 1: swum off 2:10                       

    Set 2: swum off 2:05

Brucey bonus 1 min                       

    Set 3: swum off 2:20, odd lengths catch-up

    Set 4: swum off 2:05                       

Subset

8 x 50 IM order (just on 25m towards deep end)

    1-4 kick, steady pace off 15s rest

    5-8 full stroke, fast off 20s rest

Swim down

200 choice

All round fitness

Well done for tackling the ratchet set last week. It was clearly a challenge for pretty much all of us. But everyone I saw tackled it positively and I think many surprised themselves with how well they coped. Good effort!

How many of you do regular strength and conditioning work now that lockdown has ended and we are back swimming? I think it is so valuable and big thanks to Tim and Heather for laying on Zoom based conditioning session for the club. Please take full advantage of it if your schedule allows.

Another way of keeping some conditioning work going is with a daily core workout. It doesn’t need to be long, only 5-10 mins, but can really benefit you if you do it daily. I have been doing a different one each week since lockdown ended (with motivation from a planking friend) and think it has really helped me get back to a decent swim speed after my injury and 5 months away from swimming. This week I am planning to do a double Triathlon Taren Core set. I’d love to hear from anyone that joins in to see how they get on. You can follow along to the video below and just replay it as many times as you want to do it every day. Do try and do it every day though to make it a habit!

The session this week adds in the all round fitness theme with a slightly less intense session but more variety in the strokes with some IM work. The session is below:

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 1 – Saturday 3rd July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c, 200 own choice kick

200 Alternating 25s b/c, brs                    15

Main Set 1 – aerobic pace pull with paddles

6 x 150 f/c, 1^st 3 off 2:20, 2^nd 3 off 2:25        35

Technique set – all with a pause at EVF

2 sets of 3 x 50 f/c drills with 15s rest swum 

50 Sideline kick w quarter-stroke to catch

50 Unco with pause at EVF

50 catch-up with pause at EVF

Main set 2 – aerobic pace swim           

4 x 100 f/c off 1:40

4 x 100 f/c off 1:35, 1-4 prog

Brucey bonus 1 min

4 x 100 f/c off 1:30

4 x 100 f/c off 1:40, 1-4 prog

Subset – different strokes   

6 x 50s Medley changeovers (Fly-B/c, B/c-Brs, Brs-F/c, repeat) off 1:00 

Swim down

100 choice 

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 2 – Saturday 3rd July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

200 Alternating 25s b/c, brs

Main Set 1 – aerobic pace pull with paddles

6 x 150 f/c, 1^st 3 x 150s off 2:45, 2^nd 3 x 150s of 2:50

Technique set – all with a pause at EVF

2 sets of 3 x 50 f/c drills with 15s rest swum 

50 Sideline kick w quarter-stroke to catch

50 Unco with pause at EVF

50 catch-up with pause at EVF

Main set 2 – aerobic pace swim           

4 x 100 f/c off 1:55

4 x 100 f/c off 1:50, 1-4 prog

    Brucey bonus 1 mins

3 x 100 f/c off 1:45

3 x 100 f/c off 1:50, 1-3 prog

Subset – different strokes           

6 x 50s Medley changeovers (Fly-B/c, B/c-Brs, Brs-F/c, repeat) off 1:10 

Swim down

100 choice 

Cambridge Triathlon Club Session

Lane 3 – Saturday 3rd July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

150 Alternating 25s b/c, brs

Main Set 1 – aerobic pace pull with paddles

5 x 150 f/c, 3 off 2:50, 2 off 2:55

Technique set – all with a pause at EVF

2 sets of 3 x 50 f/c drills with 15s rest swum 

50 Sideline kick w quarter-stroke to catch

50 Unco with pause at EVF

50 catch-up with pause at EVF

Main set 2 – aerobic pace swim       

4 x 100 f/c off 2:00

4 x 100 f/c off 1:55, 1-4 prog

    Brucey bonus 1 min

3 x 100 f/c off 1:50

3 x 100 f/c off 1:55, 1-3 prog

Subset – different strokes                   

6 x 50s Medley changeovers (Fly-B/c, B/c-Brs, Brs-F/c, repeat) off 1:20 

Swim down

100 choice 

Cambridge Triathlon Club Swimming Session

Lane 4 – Saturday 3rd July 2021

Warm up

200 f/c

200 Alternating 25s b/c, brs

Main set 1 – aerobic pace pull with paddles

4 x 150 f/c, 1^st 2 x 150s off 3:20, 2^nd 2 x 150s of 3:30

Technique set – all with a pause at EVF

2 sets of 3 x 50 f/c drills with 15s rest swum 

50 Sideline kick w quarter-stroke to catch

50 Unco with pause at EVF

50 catch-up with pause at EVF

Main set 2 – aerobic pace swim

3 x 100 f/c off 2:10

3 x 100 f/c off 2:05, 1-3 prog

    Brucey bonus 1 min

3 x 100 f/c off 2:00

3 x 100 f/c off 2:10, 1-3 prog

Subset – different strokes                   

3 x 50s Medley changeovers (Fly-B/c, B/c-Brs, Brs-F/c) off 20s rest 

Swim down

100 choice

See you Saturday!

Rob