Distance pacing
600 free focus: drive the hips into a clean, long body on an edge.
200 breaststroke 3-second glide with s slight chest press down to balance the hips. Use the glide to help you focus on stretching out the lats for your free
One of my favorite workouts is to help triathletes find the best way to steer their pacing. Many swimmers who have trained middle distance and distance have a good feel for the rhythm of their optimal distance pace. Try out several methods if you don’t know your focus, or stick to the one that works for you.
5 x 400 @ 1:00 rest
Use one or more of the methods below:
- Strong and steady- awareness of ideal middle distance race pace is needed here. This is even pacing at your optimal distance pace
- Technical variety- front quadrant, hip snap, lengthen the lats, split the rails, steady head, etc etc etc mix your focus up by 100
- On and off- twice through 100 at 5% above optimal pace and 100 at 3-4% slower than optimal pace.
- Build- make each 100 a little faster and snappier than the 100 before.
- Steady and sprint- find a steady pace but for 25-50 yards here and there activate a short sprint
- Bookends- open and close strong 100s with a steady, smooth, efficient middle 200
Coaches hate “garbage yards”- long, slow distance swimming with no pacing or technical purpose. It does very little to develop a swimmer’s speed or efficiency and is one of the worst ways to improve endurance.