Set Of The Week: Pre-Thanksgiving Lactate Tolerance

Jun 21, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Nathan Adrian (USA) was the fastest qualifier in the Men's 100M Freestyle during the morning session of day four at the George F. Haines International Swim Center in Santa Clara, Calif. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

Photo Courtesy: Robert Stanton/USA Today Sports Images

Welcome to Swimming World’s Set Of The Week! This week’s set is lactate tolerance set from the blocks that should wipe out your athletes just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. Take a look at the set below and the description that follows:

6 Rounds:

75 all out + 75 ez; all on 4:00

50 all out + 50 ez; all on 3:00

25 all out + 25 ez; all on 2:00

*all out swims are from the blocks

This set consists of six rounds of a 150, 100, and 50, with each distance split between a sprint swim and an easy swim (i.e. – the 150 is 75 all out, 75 easy, 100 is 50 all out, 50 easy, and the 50 is 25 all out, 25 easy). The all out swims should be from the blocks and swimmers can go right into their easy swim after each all out swim. The interval for each swim decreases by a minute as you move through the set, and swimmers should roll through the rounds without any added rest.

This is by no means an easy set: there is 900 yards of all-out swimming built in, and although there is an equal amount of easy swimming built in your athletes will only get a moderate amount of rest. When explaining the set, it may be helpful to assign paces to each all out swim. For instance, the 75 could be at 200 pace, the 50 at 100 pace, and the 25 focused on high tempo. This set is designed for swimmers to do their main stroke for all six, but IMer’s and two-stroke athletes can switch strokes by rounds.

The biggest thing to watch for during this set is the integrity of your athlete’s strokes. It is very easy to get very tired early on in this set and lose focus, so constantly remind them of their starts, turns, and breakouts to make sure they are as being as efficient as possible when trying to achieve their desired pace. While it is a long set, athletes should aim to maintain their pace goals throughout the length of the set. This is a great test set to incorporate at peak yardage points throughout a season and test your athletes on their control of race specifics when they are tired. Happy swimming!

All swimming and dryland training and instruction should be performed under the supervision of a qualified coach or instructor, and in circumstances that ensure the safety of participants.

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