Special Sets: The Training That Made Katie Hoff a World Champion and World-Record Holder

Special Sets: The Training That Made Katie Hoff a World Champion and World-Record Holder

Today’s question: Besides being swimmers, what do Allison Schmitt, Katie Ledecky and Ariana Kukors have in common? Answer: They all possess current American records once held by U.S. 400 IM (LC) record holder Katie Hoff. Whether these marks fall again remains to be seen, but with Paris beckoning in four months, the prospect for new standards in the 200, 400 free and 200 IM remains bright.

North Baltimore product Hoff burst upon the national scene at age 14 in 2003 when she finished second at the U.S. Open in both the 200 and 400 meter IM. From there, her star burned brightest through 2011 before finally being derailed by lung blood clots and retiring in 2015.

In those years, Hoff was a teenage phenom. Intelligent, photogenic and guided by her NBAC coach, Paul Yetter, she headed to the 2004 Olympics in Athens positioned for podium finishes. That journey ended with finishes of seventh in the 200 and 17th in the 400 individual medleys.

Heading into the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Hoff held the American record in the 200 IM (2:09.71) and the world standard in the 400 IM (4:31.12) from that year’s Olympic Trials. American expectations for her were impossibly high. Media pundits who labeled her as the “female Michael Phelps” made the comparison only worse after Phelps’ eight gold medals. Yetter correctly opined that Hoff’s three medals (silver in the 400 free and bronze in the 400 IM and 4×200 free relay) were “significant.” Still, her fourth-place finishes in the 200 IM (American record) and 200 free, in addition to her inability to advance in the 800 free (11th place after prelims) as part of a very ambitious schedule, were viewed unfairly.

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Hoff excelled internationally at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships. At the 2005 meet in Montreal, she logged two firsts with championship records in the 200 and 400 IM (2:10.41, 4:36.07). In Melbourne in 2007, she snagged two world records, going 4:32.89 in the 400 IM and 7:50.09 in the 4×200 free relay with Natalie Coughlin, Dana Vollmer and Lacey Nymeyer. In between those two Worlds, she bagged gold in the 200 free, 400 IM and silver in the 200 IM and 400 free at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships in Victoria, BC. Five years later in Shanghai, her final World Championships appearance, she joined Missy Franklin, Dagny Knutson and Allison Schmitt to claim gold (7:46.14) in the 4×200 freestyle relay.

Though Hoff changed coaches several times, notably in 2009-11, working with Bob Bowman (NBAC) and Sean Hutchison (Fullerton Area Swim Team), her halcyon years were spent with Yetter. “Katie’s practices were so good that she was among the best in history—even in today’s terms,” claims Yetter. “The way she strung them together was jaw-dropping. Monday through Saturday, any week…she was a freight train. She was consistently excellent in practice.”

SELECT KATIE HOFF WORKOUTS (2005-07)

Thursday, May 3, 2005 (SCY)

1 x 600 swim choice @ 7:30
4 x 200 alternate pull @ 2:30 + IM drill @ 2:45
1 x 300 free IM* @ 4:10 (* free, back, breast, free)
4 x 100 kick @ 1:40
12 x 50 @ :45 (3 of each discipline – 2 drill 1 swim)
14 x 300

Odds: Free [3:30 (2:59), 3:25 (2:57), 3:20 (2:55), 3:15 (2:55), 3:10 (2:53), 3:05 (2:52), 3:00 (2:52)]

Evens: Free IM [3:45 (3:13), 3:40 (3:11), 3:35 (3:09), 3:30 (3:07), 3:25 (3:05), 3:20 (3:04), 3:15 (3:01)]

300 easy
6 x 75 @ 1:15 (25 fly drill + 25 free + 25 fly kick)
20 x 50 @ :45 (9 cruise choice + 1 fast fly)
200 easy

Saturday p.m., May 6, 2006 (SCY)

4 x 100 free @ 1:20
4 x 100 free IM @ 1:25
1 x 400 kick @ 6:20 (50 choice + 50 free descend)
4 x 100 IM drill @ 1:35
8 x 50 free @ :40 (descend in pairs)

4x:

4 x 25 free @ :30 (stroke count minus one)
3 x 50 free @ :40 (at stroke count)
1 x 400 free @ 4:05 (negative-split and descend)
4 x 100 free IM (Rd 1 @ 1:30, Rd 2 @ 1:40, Rd 3 @ 1:50, Rd 4 @ 2:00)

Katie’s times on the 400s:

Round 1: 3:46.1 (1:54.4 + 1:51.7)

Round 2: 3:44.7 (1:52.9 + 1:51.8)

Round 3: 3:41.2 (1:51.8 + 1:49.4)

Round 4: 3:37.3 (1:50.8 + 1:46.5)

12 x 25 @ :30 (#6 and #12 fast)
300 swim-down (underwater turns at opposite end)

Monday a.m., Nov. 5, 2007 (SCY)

1 x 400 free @ 5:00 (25 breathe to right, 25 breathe to left)
1 x 400 free IM @ 5:15
1 x 400 IM @ 6:00 (50 kick + 50 drill)
1 x 400 free @ 4:45 (every 4th 25 fast)
1 x 400 IM @ 5:50 (50 drill + 50 kick)

12 x 25 breast @ :30 (2 swim + 2 kick)
Vertical kick 6x @ :20 on, :20 off (flutter kick, toss med ball to partner)
12 x 25 @ :30 (2 fly drill + 2 breast swim)
1 x 200 loosen
3 x 400 pull @ 5:00 (breath per 25: 5, 4, 3, 3)
3 x 200 pull @ 2:25 (descend 1-3)
3 x 100 free @ 1:25 (#3 fast)
3 x 100 free @ 1:15 (#3 fast)
3 x 100 free @ 1:10 (#3 fast)
12 x 40 free @ :40 (descend by sets of four, hold fastest)
300 swim-down

Monday p.m., Nov. 5, 2007 (LC)

5 x 100 free @ 1:30 (50 breathe right + 50 breathe left)
5 x 100 kick @ 2:00 (descend 1-5)
5 x 100 IM drill @ 1:45
5 x 100 free IM @ 1:35

4 x 150 (100 free IM + 50 fast free kick) @ 2:20, 2:15, 2:10, 2:05

10x:

50 free + 25 breast kick + 50 free + 25 breast drill + 50 breast swim

(5x continuous + 5x rest @ :20-:30 at 135M, drill into timed 50 breast to finish 200M cycle)

Katie’s times off hand touch: 40.5, 40.1, 39.9, 39.2, 38.1, 37.1, 37.3, 37.1

200 easy

4x:

3 x 100 free (Rd 1 @ 1:35, Rd 2 @ 1:30, Rd 3 @ 1:25, Rd 4 @ 1:20)
4 x 50 free @ :45 (descend 1-4)

Katie’s times on final two 50s of each round: 30.9, 29.2 / 30.3, 29.2 / 29.7, 28.6 / 29.7, 28.1

6 x 75 @ 1:30 (50 free, 25 scull)

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007 (SCY)

4 x 300 free IM @ 4:00 + pull @ 3:45 + IM drill @ 4:15 + kick @ 4:45
6 x 50 free @ :50 (25 moderate + 25 fast)
4 x 200 free IM @ 2:40 + pull @ 2:30 + IM drill @ 2:50 + kick @ 3:10
4 x 50 free @ :55 (25 fast + 25 easy)
4 x 100 free IM @ 1:20 + pull @ 1:15 + IM drill @ 1:25 + kick @ 1:35
2 x 50 free @ 1:00 (fast in and out of walls)

10 x 50: 1 free-fly x25 @ :45 + 2 free-back @ :45 + 3 free-breast @ :45 + 4 free @ :40 (descend free 1-4)

3x:

1 x 100 @ 1:30 (25 free + 25 choice stroke drill)
1 x 150 @ 2:05 (25 fly + 50 back + 75 breast)
1 x 200 free @ 2:35
1 x 300 IM* @ 3:45 (* i.e., 25 fly + 50 back + 75 breast + 150 free)
3 x 50 easy @ :40

Extra :20 between rounds

Katie’s IM* times:

#1 3:04.3 (last 150 free 1:23.8)

#2 3:01.1 (last 150 free 1:23.0)

#3 2:58.3 (last 150 free 1:21.3)

The practice with the 300 IMs was the style of set that we did often post-summer 2006. The 150s at the end (as well as the breaststrokes) were timed and given more importance than the overall time of the 200. We used a conversion for the 150s at the end: multiply the 150 time by 3, and then divide by 4.

Katie was 1:21.3 on the end of her last 300 that day, so we multiply by 3 (4:03.9), and then divide by 4 (1:00.9). This gave Katie a basic idea of what to shoot for coming home in the 400 IM (LC) as well as what to shoot for coming home in a 1000/1650 short course freestyle race.

24 x 50 free, every 6th fast
6 on each interval: :50, :45, :40, :50
Every 6th free: 24.8, 24.7, 24.3, 23.7
1 x 300 free-non free x25
6 x 25 scull @ :40

Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach, golf and swimming writer. His critically acclaimed coming-of-age golf novel, “Too Much Loft,” is in its third printing, and is available from store.Bookbaby.com, Amazon, B&N and book distributors worldwide.

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