Minnow workout: baseline

1. Warm-up (rest 60 seconds between each step)

• swim easy non-stop for 4 minutes; stay relaxed and keep the stroke long and smooth
• swim easy non-stop for 2 minutes
• swim easy non-stop for 1 minute

2. Baseline set

• 2 x 100; 10 second rest between 100's
  • 100 swim at moderate speed; watch the clock to see how long it takes you because you'll use this time as a baseline for the rest of the workout
  • 100 swim or kick at easy speed
• 3 x 100 short rest
  • add 20 seconds to your baseline 100 time and round up to the nearest 10 seconds to get your interval (if your baseline time was 1:47, your rest interval is 1:47 + :20 = 2:07, rounded up to 2:10)
  • pace yourself so all three 100's are the same speed; watch the clock to see if you're pacing yourself well
• 3 x 100 medium rest
  • add 30 seconds to your baseline 100 time and round up to the nearest 10 seconds
  • try to swim these 100's two to four seconds faster than the 100's in the short rest step
• 3 x 100 long rest
  • add 40 seconds to your baseline 100 time and round up
  • compare your times for the 100's to the previous set and try to pace yourself two to four seconds faster again.
  • keep track of your times and try to do this workout once a week; when you start getting more than 25 seconds' rest on all three 100's on the short-rest step, decrease the interval by 5 seconds; do the same for the medium-rest and long-rest steps

3. Warm-down

• swim easy non-stop for 4 minutes