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Freestyle Drills - Source: Swimming Canada
Open water safety considerations - Source: Swimming Canada
2,000m of strength: Short, but effective - Source: triathlonmagazin.ca
Get baseline data from athletes to identify:
Current comfort in water, swimming level, swimming endurance
Identify areas of focus (breathing, strokes, pulls, kicking, body position, sighting)
Individual drill regiment (What to constantly remind them between reps)
Introduce technique, show examples in pool sessions
Ensure all athletes have a personalized session set as early as possible so they can hit the pool on their own time
Start with easy sets; long "warmups", shorter main sets, big focus on drills and technique
Once technique is green, update sets for sprints to get used to applying good technique at fast speed
Once technique is green at speed, slow it down and start working on distance, note when technique falls off.
based on when technique falls off, personalized sessions to build from baseline distance.
Pool Session End Goals
2000m (80laps @25m pool) within 3000seconds
Non-stop swim in pool for 1hour with average of 38 seconds/lap (95 laps) or better
Start open water sessions (pool sessions still happen but less often, back to focusing on technique and drills in pool)
Start with 2x500meter on follow craft wake, near and parrallel to shore
Once open water confidence is higher 2 x 500m away from shore/back to shore on follow craft wake
2 x 500m away from shore and back unassisted
2 x 500m with lead swimmer, alternate lead swimmer on each 500m
2x500m, short "recovery" jog, 2x 500m with alternating lead swimmer
4x 500m no lead swimmer
2 x 1000m alternating lead swimmer
2000m alternating lead swimmer
2000m no lead swimmer
Open water phase End Goals
2000m no lead swimmer within 1hour 15minutes
average of ~140 seconds/100m
average of ~60-70 strokes/min
Comfortable with sighting
no drowning
Warm-up
200 (alternate 50 swim/50 kick) choice
2 x 50 freestyle drills
2 x 50 freestyle open water drills (sighting, 1 kick/stroke, strokes@[2, 2, 2, 3], start stroke ect)
2 - 3 minutes egg beater
Main Set
3×100 free – easy with 10 seconds rest - target ~200seconds/100m
100 easy backstroke
3x 100 free – medium pace with 10 seconds rest - target ~140seconds/100m
100 easy breaststroke
3×100 free – fast with 10 seconds rest - target ~180seconds/100m
100 easy choice
12x 25 with fins (4 fast kick/ 4 fast swim/ 4 fast kick) with 10 seconds rest
Cool down
1 x 50 freestyle drills
1 x 50 open water freestyle drills
100 easy choice
Sources: Based on 2,000m of strength: Short, but effective, modified and personalized for NB3 athletes by TCL
To-Do
Must rent/acquire dingy, paddle board or canoe as follow craft
Find good open water swimming spots
Warm-up
100 hand to feet wake swimming
100 side wake swimming (right)
100 side wake swimming (left)
2 - 3 minutes egg beater
Main Set
Idenitfy lead swimmer
run in and 200m free - fast, straight arm or tight strokes (simulating start with many people) side-by-side and tight, follow craft hugging swimmer if possible
500m free – easy ~200seconds/100m, 50 strokes/min (no lead swimmer)
100 easy backstroke
500m free – medium pace with 30-60 seconds rest - target ~140seconds/100m (w/ lead swimmer)
100 easy breaststroke, switch lead swimmer
500m free – medium pace with 30-60 seconds rest - target ~140seconds/100m (w/ lead swimmer)
100 easy choice
250m free - fast pace
Cool down
Run or bike
All Warmups and Cooldowns think about the following:
On stroke; Rotate your torso and reach forward with your hand
On pulls; Engage your lat as you initiate your pull
On pulls; Pop your elbow up and point your fingers towards the bottom of the pool during your pull
On pulls; Push the water all the way back past your hip
On Breath; Also keep your head still and look just slightly forward. When you turn your head to breathe, make sure you turn your head only to the side (don’t lift your head and look forward or back). You can think about keeping your bottom goggle underneath the water during your breath.