In August 2019, I’m aiming to swim 21km (plus potentially a little more) at Vidöstern Simmet, which is billed as Sweden’s toughest open water race. At Outdoor Swimmer we frequently get asked for ideas for training sessions, so I started sharing the training sessions I’m doing for that on Twitter @SimonDGriffiths for anyone else that wants to try them. I’ve now decided to move them here as I kept running out of characters on Twitter. These are mostly sessions I’ve done with Teddington Masters Swimming Club and created by the club coaches (thank you Ian, Lorraine and Veronica). Others I do with friends (AKA “The 400 Club”). Tuesday morning sessions are often adapted from sets originally created by Fiona Ford from Triathlon Europe, who is a Swim Smooth coach and contributor to Outdoor Swimmer.

Training sessions often appear to be written in code so please ask via Twitter if anything is not clear. Abbreviations I use include:

FC = Front crawl, BA = Backstroke, BS = Breaststroke, Fly = Butterfly, IM = Individual Medley, +10s = take about 10 seconds rest before starting the next swim.

The main pools I use are Hampton Pool (36m long), Richmond Pools on the Park (33.3m long), Teddington Pool (25m) and Hanworth Pool (25m)

Adapt the distances for the length of pool you’re training in and adjust the times to suit your own swimming speed. Let me know via Twitter how you get on.

Training sessions from 1 to 15 January

Training sessions from 16 to 31 January

Training sessions from 1 to 14 February

Training sessions from 15 to 28 February

Sneaky lunchtime session with TSCM

Warm up

450m easy FC, stroke focus

Main

4 x 50m IM order as 25m kick, 25m drill + 15s rest

5 x 100m mixed strokes as:

1. 25m FL sprint, 10s rest, 75m FC build
2. 25m FL sprint, 10s rest, 25m BA, 25m BS, 10s rest, 25m FL sprint
3. Repeat 1
4. Repeat 2
5. Repeat 1

50m easy

5 x 100m as:

1. 25m FL, 75m FC
2. 25m FC, 25m BA, 50m FC
3. 50m FC, 25m BS, 25m FC
4. 100m FC
5. 100m IM

50m easy

4 x 100m as 25m sprint, 25m easy – one on each stroke

1 x 100m IM

Cool down

150m easy

Total distance: 2400m

Teddington Masters club session

Warm up

200m FC, 200m BA, 200m FC, 200m BA, 200m FC

Prep set

4 x 50m FC off 45s

4 x 25m IM order sprints w. 30s rest after each

50m easy

3 x 50m FC off 40s

25m easy, 25m FL sprint, 25m BA sprint, 25m BS sprint w. 30s rest after each

2 x 50m FC sprint off 35s

50m easy

Main set

2 x 200m FC off 3:00, 50m easy, 2 x 200m FC off 2:55, 100m easy

400m FC – swim strong

100m easy

3 rounds of 4 x 100m FC off 1:35 (round 1), 1:30 (round 2) and 1:25 (round 3)

50m easy after each round

Cool down

150m easy BA/FC

Total distance: 4650m

Another speed set from the archives originally created by Jack Maitland and adapted to a 33m pool.

Warm up

200m FC, 200m kick, 200m BA

3 x 66.7m descend as 400m race pace, 200m race pace, max

Main Set

5 rounds of:

• 100m FC max, 15s rest,
• 66.7m FC max, 15s rest,
• 33.3m FC max, 15s rest
• 3 x 66.7m FC easy, 10s rest

100m FC max, 15s rest, 66.7m FC max, 15s rest, 33.3m FC max, 15s rest

Cool down

200m alt FC/BA

Total: 3200m

Relentless CSS session with 2km main set

Warm up

100m FC, 100m BA, 100m FC, 100m BA

200m FC drill

200m FC as 1 length kick, 1 length drill, 1 length swim x2

3 x 66.7m FC build (+20s rest)

Main set (all FC at CSS pace)

2 x 100m off 1:35 (approx. 15s rest)

3 x 133.3m (4 lengths) off 2:05 (approx. 18s rest)

4 x 200m off 3:10 (approx. 30s rest)

3 x 133.3m (4 lengths) off 2:05 (approx. 18s rest)

2 x 100m off 1:35 (approx. 15s rest)

Cool down

200m alt BA/FC

Regular Monday morning 400s

Warm up

600m as (100m FC, 33.3m BA)x4 plus 66.7m FC

Main set

8 x 400m FC off 6:15 (Descend from 5:45 to 5:30)

200m BA easy

Cool down

12 x 33.3m FC easy, breath holding and stroke focus + 15s rest after each

Total distance: 4400m

1 hour club session with Teddington Masters in cool and windy conditions

Warm up

18 lengths FC (648m), 2 lengths BA (72m)

Main set

12 lengths FC (432m) + 45s

9 lengths FC (324m) +15s

6 lengths FC (216m) +15s

3 lengths FC (108m)

2 lengths easy (72m)

4 x 2 lengths FC off 1:05 (288m) (approx. 10s rest after each)

4 x 1 IM (144m)

2 lengths easy (72m)

3 x 2 lengths FC off 1:00 (216m) (approx. 5s rest after each)

4 x 1 IM (144m)

2 x 2 lengths FC off 0:55 (144m)

4 x 1 IM (144m)

2 lengths sprint (72m)

Cool down

6 lengths easy (216m)

Total distance: 3312

Regular Teddington Masters session

Warm up

18 lengths as 2 lengths FC, 1 length IM order drill (648m)

Main set

a. 3 x 8 lengths as 1 length IM order 1 length FC (864m) 30s rest after each

2 lengths easy

b. FC set as:

2 x 6 lengths of 3:30, 4 x 3 lengths off 1:45, 6 x 2 lengths off 1:15, 12 x 1 lengths off 40s (1728m)

2 lengths easy

c. 12 x 2 lengths as 1 length FL, 1 length FC off 1:30 (864m)

Cool down

8 lengths easy, stroke focus (288m)

Total distance: 4536m

Club session with Teddington Masters

Warm up

200m FC, 200m BA, 200m FC, 200m BA, 200m FC – focus on technique. On FC, breathe to least comfortable side.

Main set

4 x 50m FC off 45s (approx. 7s rest)

4 x 25m underwater fly kick (approx. 30s rest after each)

3 x 50m FC off 40s (approx. 3s rest after each)

2 x 50m not FC (15s rest after each)

2 x 50m FC off 35s (1s rest!)

2 x 25m easy

4 x 25m IM order sprints (30s rest after each)

2 x 200m FC off 3.00 (approx. 20s rest)

50m easy

2 x 200m FC off 3.00 (approx. 20s rest)

100m easy

400m FC (target time 5:30)

50m easy

4 x 25m IM order sprint

4 x100m FC off 1.35 (approx. 10s rest after each)

2 easy

4 x 100m FC off 1.30 (approx. 5s rest after each)

100m easy

100m FC sprint

Swim down

150m easy

Total distance: 4500m

This is a speed training set from the archives originally created by Jack Maitland and adapted to a 33m pool.

Warm up

200m FC, 200m drill, 200m alt FC/BK

5 x 66.7m kick as 1 easy, 2 & 3 medium, 4 & 5 hard

Main Set

4 x (33.3m FC sprint, 15s rest, 100m FC easy, 20s rest)

3 x (66.7m FC sprint, 20s 133.3m FC easy, 20s rest)

2 x (100m FC sprint, 20s rest, 100m FC easy, 20s rest)

1 x (133m FC sprint, 20s rest, 66.7m FC easy, 20s rest)

Cool down

2 x 133.3m FC easy breath 3/5/7/3 +15s rest

66.7m BA

Total: 3000m

Still feeling below par so swam this at CSS + 3 to 5s per 100 instead of CSS

Warm up

200m FC, 200m BA, 200m alt 1 length kick, 1 length drill

6 x 66.7m as 1 length sprint, 1 length easy, mixed strokes

Main set

6 x 66.7m FC off 1:00 (approx. 5s rest after each)

2 x 100m FC off 1:35 (approx. 10s to 15s rest after)

1 x 200m FC

2 minutes rest

9 x 67m FC off 1:00 (approx. 5s rest after each)

4 x 100m FC off 1:35 (approx. 10s to 15s rest after)

2 x 200m FC off 3:10 (approx. 20s rest)

Cool down

200m easy mix BA and FC

Total distance: 3400m

Regular Monday morning training, but it was much harder than usual today!

Warm up

400m FC, 200m BA

Main set

8 x 400m FC off 6:15 (target pace 5:40m per 400, actual pace dropped to around 6:00 per 400m at end)

Cool down

200m FC easy

Total distance: 4000m

Bracknell Masters Gala

Pre-race warm up

1200m alternating 200m FC, 200m BA

4 x 25m FL sprints + 30s rest

4 x 25m BS sprints + 30s rest

4 x 50m FC off 45s medium effort

100m BA easy

Total warm up: 1500m

Races

50m backstroke – 34.65

50m freestyle – 28.58

100m fly – 1:11.71

100m freestyle – 1:01.87

50m breaststroke – 37.22

200m IM – 2:38.53

Swim down between and after races: 800m

Total distance: 2850m

Light training set with a few sprints and some turn practice before racing tomorrow

Warm up

100m FC, 100m BA, 100m FC, 100m BA, 100m BS

Main set

4 x 75m FC kick, increase effort on each length, focus on underwater FL kick at start of each length

4 x 75m FC as 25m scull drill and 50m steady

4 x 75m FC steady. Include 1 x 10m sprint per 75m

8 x 50m as 15m sprint, 35m easy. Work through strokes in medley order

Turns practice – focus on speed in and out of the wall and legal turns. (About 100m swim distance)

Cool down

300m FC easy

Total: 2000m