This looks like a deceptively easy workout, but it’s really about working that easy fast and then trying to maintain that easy fast. What is easy fast? It’s a term used in the competition community to describe that loose, relaxed 50 of a 200 race (and probably other races as well) where you are swimming fast. It doesn’t feel like you’re swimming fast, but you really are. And it’s all in that loose, relaxed place. Coming off the sprint 100, it’s a challenge to work yourself back into that relaxed, loose easy fast, but it’s a good one. So, those 25s are not for sloughing off. You want to keep your form and work them.
It works. That last all out 100 was on a 1:16, which is quite good for me, especially at the end of a workout. A few of the 50s in Set 2 were :36, which is really good for me.
Again, please adjust these times and distances to your fitness level and abilities. Your warmup 50s might be :40, which means you could probably do an extra round of Set 1. Or your warmup 50s might be 1:00, so you might need to drop a round off Set 1. All of it is okay because it’s really just about swimming, health, and enjoying ourselves.
55-minute swim workout, Friday sprint
500 warmup (~7:20 min)
Warmup set (600 yds, 10 min)
12 x 50 on :50
1-6–regular swim
7-9 & 10-12 descend
Main set (1700 yds, 30 min)
Set 1 — 5x (1000 yds, 17:30 min)
4 x 25 on :30–stretched out, but fast. This should be what’s called easy fast.
100 on 1:30–try to maintain that feeling of easy fast, but set an interval to swim faster than. For me, it was 1:20 or better.
50 easy
Set 2 (600 yds, 10 min)
8 x 75 on 1:15 — 50 sprint, get time, push off into easy 25
50 easy
100 all out
200 warm down
Total yards: 3100
