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A Pool Workout to Increase Open Water Swim Finish Speed!
by Trent Grimsey, English Channel World Record Holder - 6:55 hours |
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"Dedication is what you do when no one else is watching." A lot of triathletes and distance swimmers struggle with speed. It has even happened to me from time to time. I do massive endurance workouts and sometimes let my speed sessions fall by the wayside. Any endurance athlete knows it’s easy to swim at the one pace all day but as soon as we need to pick up the pace at the end of a race it’s just not there.
Everything I do in my training is geared towards being able to change my speed at the end of a race. If one of my marathon swim races ever comes down to a sprint finish I need to be able to sprint.
Below I have written a simple workout which will help you with the change of speed towards the end of a race:
| 5km Pool Workout |
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| 600, 4th 50m backstroke |
warm up |
| 4x100 last 50m 5secs faster than the first 50m on 1.30s |
warm up |
| 8 x 50 odds kick/swim, evens drill/swim 1.00s |
kick, drills |
| 100 easy |
warm up |
18 x 150 –
3 on 2.10s
3 on 2.05s
3 on 2.00s
3 on 2.05s
3 on 2.00s
3 on 1.55s |
main set |
| 6 x 50 one easy, one fast on 1.00s |
warm down |
| 300 kick |
warm down |
| 200 easy |
warm down |
Every session should be either descending in time cycles or have some speed work thrown in there just before the warm down. This is going to get your body out of its comfort zone and make it respond when you ask it to instead of just swimming in that comfortable aerobic zone all the time which is very hard to get out of when you need to step it up.
The above workout can be adjusted to meet your experience level and goals.
Keep swimming, be safe.
Trent
Trent Grimsey is a member of the Australian National Open Water Swimming Team and one of the best open water swimmers in the world. Trent is the English Channel World Record Holder and is the 2012 FINA Open Water Grand Prix Champion.
Trent participated in the 2011 FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China and on the FINA 10KM Marathon Swimming World Cup and the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix series. He won the shortened 2012 Maratón Internacional Hernandarias – Paraná in Argentina. Trent also has the following accomplishments: FINA World Championships 25km (Rome)- SILVER, 2009 FINA World Cup 10km (Sharjah) - GOLD,
2009 Waikiki Rough Water Swim (Hawaii)- GOLD, 2010 Australian Nationals 5km - GOLD, 2010 The Great Australian Swim (Redcliffe) - 1st, 2011 Maui Channel Swim (team) 18K - 1st (Maui, Hawaii), 2011 Optimis Sport Distance Swim Challenge 20km - 1st (Los Angeles, USA), 2011 Australian Nationals 5km - SILVER, 2011 The Great Australian Swim (Coolangatta) - 1st, 2011 Noosa Blue Ocean Swim - 1st, 2011 Cadiz Freedom Swim (Cape Town, South Africa) - 2nd, 2012 Capri-Napoli Marathon - 1st, set course record - World Record English Channel Swim set August 28, 2012 of 6:55 hours.
Trent attended Genesis Christian College, completed his Diploma of Remedial Massage, is now completing his Diploma of Fitness, and lives in Brisbane, Australia.
More about Trent Grimsey
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"Dedication is what you do when no one else is watching."
A lot of triathletes and distance swimmers struggle with speed. It has even happened to me from time to time. I do massive endurance workouts and sometimes let my speed sessions fall by the wayside. Any endurance athlete knows it’s easy to swim at the one pace all day but as soon as we need to pick up the pace at the end of a race it’s just not there.
Everything I do in my training is geared towards being able to change my speed at the end of a race. If one of my marathon swim races ever comes down to a sprint finish I need to be able to sprint.
Below I have written a simple workout which will help you with the change of speed towards the end of a race:
18 x 150 –
3 on 2.10s
3 on 2.05s
3 on 2.00s
3 on 2.05s
3 on 2.00s
3 on 1.55s
Every session should be either descending in time cycles or have some speed work thrown in there just before the warm down. This is going to get your body out of its comfort zone and make it respond when you ask it to instead of just swimming in that comfortable aerobic zone all the time which is very hard to get out of when you need to step it up. The above workout can be adjusted to meet your experience level and goals.
Keep swimming, be safe. Trent
Trent Grimsey is a member of the Australian National Open Water Swimming Team and one of the best open water swimmers in the world. Trent is the English Channel World Record Holder and is the 2012 FINA Open Water Grand Prix Champion. Trent participated in the 2011 FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China and on the FINA 10KM Marathon Swimming World Cup and the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix series. He won the shortened 2012 Maratón Internacional Hernandarias – Paraná in Argentina. Trent also has the following accomplishments: FINA World Championships 25km (Rome)- SILVER, 2009 FINA World Cup 10km (Sharjah) - GOLD, 2009 Waikiki Rough Water Swim (Hawaii)- GOLD, 2010 Australian Nationals 5km - GOLD, 2010 The Great Australian Swim (Redcliffe) - 1st, 2011 Maui Channel Swim (team) 18K - 1st (Maui, Hawaii), 2011 Optimis Sport Distance Swim Challenge 20km - 1st (Los Angeles, USA), 2011 Australian Nationals 5km - SILVER, 2011 The Great Australian Swim (Coolangatta) - 1st, 2011 Noosa Blue Ocean Swim - 1st, 2011 Cadiz Freedom Swim (Cape Town, South Africa) - 2nd, 2012 Capri-Napoli Marathon - 1st, set course record - World Record English Channel Swim set August 28, 2012 of 6:55 hours.
Trent attended Genesis Christian College, completed his Diploma of Remedial Massage, is now completing his Diploma of Fitness, and lives in Brisbane, Australia.
More about Trent Grimsey