The Early Bird Gets the Tough Workout

So I got to torture.... er... coach the Master's Swim group this morning, which ordinarily would be a fun thing to do. Except that they practice at 5:00 am. I swore after college that I would never set foot in a pool at that ungodly hour of the morning ever again, but the main coach needed a sub, so there I was setting my alarm for 4:15. Actually, it feels surprisingly good to get up that early, and if I knew I could get to bed at a reasonable hour, I'd consider doing it for the long haul. But I know better than that.

I swam last night after teaching my Swim Conditioning class, and decided to figure out a new tough distance set to inflict on the guys this morning, and this is what I came up with for the main set:

3 x (100, 200, 300: decrease your 100 splits each time). That means the 100 splits in the 200 are faster than your first 100, and the splits in the 300 are faster still. If you really want to give yourself a run for your money, try descending the 3 overall repetitions as well (make your last 300 faster than your first one). And if you want to completely kick yourself in the butt, try to keep your stroke count below a certain number for the whole set, emphasizing holding good form while increasing your speed.

So there was some moaning and groaning when we got to this set, but I jumped in and swam it as well (after swimming last night, which was quite a novel experience as I usually don't swim two 4,000 yard workouts within 12 hours). The guys in my lane were leaving on a 1:30 interval which completely kicked me, so I'm feeling pleasantly wiped out right about now. So I'm not sure who inflicted what on whom, but I thought I'd share my killer workout here. I'm pretty sure this would be a good one to throw into any swim set aimed at increasing speed over distance.