Minnow workout: a pacing primer
This workout emphasizes a basic skill for efficient swimming: maintaining
the lowest stroke count you can while swimming both fast and slow. The challenge
is to maintain that stroke count while swimming different speeds on both
descending and ascending intervals.
1. Warm-up
2. Kick set (start at comfortable pace and work to moderate pace by end
of set)
- 2 x 50 on 1:15
- 2 x 50 on 1:10
3. Warm-up set
- 3 x 25 on :40 -- take long strokes and count the number of strokes
it takes you to get to do a 25; swim at comfortable speed
- 4 x 25 on :35 -- reduce stroke count by 1 and pick up the pace to medium
speed
- 3 x 25 on :30 -- use same stroke count as second round but the speed
should be faster
4. Main set (do 5 times)
- 1 x 100 (ascend: 1:30 - 1:40 - 1:50 - 2:00 - 2:20 -- try to do the
3rd 100 with the same number of strokes/25 as the 25's in the warm-up set)
- 1 x 50 (active cool-down from 100's -- swim really easy, like on a
1:45)
- 1 x 150 (descend: 3:15 - 3:00 - 2:45 - 2:30 - 2:15 -- set your own
interval by estimating how fast you can do the first 150 at 95% effort,
and then add 20 seconds; adjust each succeeding interval so it's 15 seconds
faster than the previous one)
- 1 x 50 (active cool-down from 150's -- swim really easy, like on a
1:45)
4. Final set
- 8 x 25 on :40 (start with 12 strokes on the first 25 and then add one
stroke for each 25)
4. Warm-down