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

Training sessions from 1 to 15 March

Training sessions from 16 to 31 March

Training sessions for April 2019

Training sessions May 2019

Training sessions June 2019

Sprint set adapted from an original by Jack Maitland

Warm up

200m FC, 200m drill, 200m alt FC/BA (600m)

Main set

4 x (33.3m sprint, 15s rest, 100m easy, 20s rest) (533.3m)

3 x (66.7m sprint, 20s rest, 133.3m easy, 20s rest) (600m)

2 x (100m sprint, 20s rest, 200m easy, 20s rest) (600m)

1 x 133m sprint

Kick set

4 x 66.7m kick (1-2 easy, 3 moderate, 4 hard) (266.7m)

Cool down

266.7m easy

Total: 3000m

Threshold / CSS-based session

Warm up

200m FC, 200m BA, 200m FC

4 x 100m FC off 2:00 build (1:30, 1:25, 1:20, 1:15)

Main set

5 x 100m FC off 1:35 (~15s rest)

3 x 200m FC off 3:10 (~30s rest)

4 x 100m FC off 1:35

2 x 200m FC off 3:10

4 x 100m BA off 1:45 (~15s rest)

Cool down

200m alt FC/BA

Total distance: 3400m

Regular Monday morning set – felt the effects of not enough sleep and starting too fast.

Warm up

600m as 3 lengths FC, 1 length BA

Main set

8 x 400m FC of 6:15 (5:33.15, 5:33.32, 5:25.69, 5:32.51, 5:37.93, 5:42.17, 5:44.52, 5:44.97)

Cool down

200m easy FC

Total distance: 4000m

Sprints + open water race pace

Warm up

400m FC + BA every 4^th length

3 x 33.3m build FL, BA, BS + 20s rest

3 x 33.3m build FC + 20s rest

Main set

3 rounds of:

• 4 x 100mm FC off 1:30 at 3km race pace
• 1 minute rest
• 66.7m FC max effort off 2:00
• 2 x 33.3m FC sprint off 1:00
• 66.7m easy

3 x 66.7m FC max effort off 2:00

66.7m easy

4 x 33.3m FC or FL sprint off 1:00

Cool down

200m easy

Total distance: 3000m

Extended threshold set – this was hard – 3600m in an hour.

Warm up

400m mixed strokes

3 x 66.7m FC build off 1:15

Main set

6 x 100m FC off 1:35

5 x 200m FC off 3:10

4 x 100m FC off 1:35

3 x 200m FC off 3:00 (hold pace)

2 x 100m FC off 1:30 (hold pace)

Cool down

200m easy

Total distance: 3600m

Regular Monday morning set

Warm up

533m (16 lengths) mixed FC / BA

Main set

1 x 10 lengths FC (333.3m) off 6:15

7 x 400m FC off 6:15 (5:28, 5:26, 5:26, 5:28, 5:20, 5:40, 5:31)

Cool down

133m easy

Total distance: 3800m

Early morning club session in the rain with Teddington Masters

Warm up

24 lengths as 2L FC, 1L IM order drill (864m)

Main set

4 rounds of (6L FC off 3:30 and 4×1 IM off 2:45) – (1440m)

2 lengths scull (72m)

3 rounds of (6L FC off 3:30 and 4×1 IM off 2:45) – (1080m)

2 lengths scull (72m)

2 lengths easy (72m)

8 x 1L FC alternating 1L sprint, 1L easy (288m)

Cool down

6L FC (216m)

Total distance: 4104m

Sneaky lunchtime swim with Teddington Masters

Warm up

500m as 75m FC, 25m BA x 5

4 x 25m IM order kick, 3 x 50m FC build, 100m FC steady, 100m IM, 50m FC sprint

4 x 25m IM order drill, 3 x 50m build as 25m FL/25m BA, 2 x 100m FC off 1:45, 50m FC sprint

4 x 25m IM order, 3 x 50m build as 25m BS/25m FC, 100m FC steady, 100m IM, 50m FC sprint

50m easy

4 x 25m FL sprint

Cool down

100m easy

Total distance: 2250m

Club swim with Teddington Masters

Warm up

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

Set 1

8 x 50m FC off 45s, 50m easy, 6 x 50m FC of 40s, 50m easy, 4 x 50m FC off 40s, 50m easy, 2 x 50m FC off 35s, 50m easy, 50m FC max effort, 50m easy. (Total distance: 1300m)

Set 2

400m FC with every 4^th length IM order

4 x 25m FL sprint (off last swimmer)

300m FC with every 3^rd length IM order

4 x 25m BA sprint (off last swimmer)

200m FC with every 2^nd length IM order

4 x 25m BS sprint (off last swimmer)

100m IM

100m easy

4 x 25m FC sprint

Cool down

250m easy

Total distance: 4050m

FC change of pace set

Warm up

400m mixed FC / BA

6 x 33m build off 45s

6 x 33m as 1 length FL sprint, 1 length easy off 45s

Main set

Four rounds of (4 x 100m FC off 1:30, 1 x 100m FC off 1:15) – straight through

2 minutes rest

6 x 33.3m sprints off 1:00 – choice of stroke

Cool down

200m easy

Total distance 3200m

Extended threshold / CSS based set

Warm up

400m mixed FC / BA

3 x 67m as 1 length FL drill, 1 length FL

Main set

6 x 100m FC off 1:35

5 x 200m FC off 3:10

4 x 100m FC off 1:35

3 x 200m FC off 3:00 with sprint finish on last one

67m easy

4 x 100m BA off 1:45

Cool down

200m FC steady, stroke focus, breathe to least comfortable side

133m easy

Total distance: 4000m

(Very) slight variation on a theme

Warm up

200m FC, 200m BA, 200m FC

Main set

6 x 400m FC off 6:15. Change lane leader after each one and swim at their pace.

Cool down

200m easy

Total distance: 3200m

Relaxed Teddington Masters Club swim followed by coffee

Warm up

24 lengths alternating 1 length FC, 1 length medley order drill (864m)

Main set

2 x 12 lengths FC build off 7:00 plus 2 lengths easy (936m)

4 x 6 lengths as 1 length FC, 1 length IM order off 3:30 plus 2 lengths easy (936m)

8 x 3 lengths as 3 lengths FC, 3 lengths FL, BA, BS plus 2 lengths easy (936m)

8 x 1 lengths sprint mixed strokes (288m)

Cool down

2 lengths easy (72m)

Total distance: 4032m

Water too hot for this Teddington Masters club session but ploughed through it anyway.

Warm up

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

Main set

4 x 50m FC off 45s, 50m easy, 4 x 25m FL (+20s), 4 x 50m FC off 45s, 50m easy, 4 x 25m FL

4 x 100m off 2:00 as FC, BA, FC, IM

50m easy

8 x 50m FC with 1 to 4 off 45s, 5 & 6 off 40s and 7 & 8 off 35s.

50m easy

400m FC steady

3 x 100m FC off 1:40 as 75m steady 25m sprint

4 x 25m FL

400m FC steady

Cool down

150m easy

Total distance: 3950m

FC change of pace set

Warm up

400m mixed FC / BA

6 x 33m as half length easy, half length sprint off 45s

12 x 33m as 1 length easy, 1 length sprint off 45s

Main set

4 x 100m FC off 1:35

1 x 100m FC off 1:15

4 x 100m FC off 1:30

1 x 100m FC off 1:15

4 x 100m FC off 1:25

1 x 100m FC off 1:15

1 x 100m FC off 1:20

2 minutes rest

6 x 67m FC off 1:30 as 1 easy, 1 sprint

Cool down

200m easy

Second swim of the day!

Warm up

12 lengths easy FC (432m)

Main set

2 x (4 x 2 lengths FC off 1:00 followed by 2 lengths easy) (720m)

1 x (4 x 2 lengths FC off 55s followed by 2 lengths easy) (360m)

4 x 1 length sprints IM order / 4 x 1 IM / 4 x 1 length sprints IM order (432m)

3 x (3 x 2 lengths FC off 1:00 followed by 2 lengths easy) (864m)

1 x (3 x 2 lengths FC off 55s) (216m)

Cool down

2 lengths easy (72m)

Total distance: 3096m

Wasn’t sure how this one would go after 7.8k in Brighton at the weekend, but swimming felt good.

Warm up

600m mix FC / BA

Main set

8 x 400m FC off 6:15 descending 5:40 to 5:20

Cool down

200m easy FC / BA

Total distance: 4000m

Teddington masters club session (part only, as racing on Saturday)

Warm up

200m FC, 200m BA, 200m FC, 100m BA, 50m FC (total 750m)

Main set

4 x (4 x 50m FC off 45s) with 50m easy after each set of 4

4 x 25m FL drill

4 x 100m FC off 1:30

100m easy

100m FC max effort

50m easy

3 x 50m FC, easy with paddles and stroke focus

100m FC max effort

Cool down

250m easy

Total distance: 3000m

Sprints + open water race pace

Warm up

2 x (133m FC / 100m BA / 67m BS / 33m FL + 15s rest)

4 x 33m FC as ½ length easy, ½ length sprint

Main set

• 3 x 200m FC off 3:00 at 3km race pace
• Sprints (see below)
• 3 x 133m FC off 2:00 at 3km race pace
• Sprints
• 3 x 67m FC off 1:00 at 3km race pace
• Sprints

Sprints (repeat this block for each set of sprints listed above)

• 1 minute rest
• 100m max effort off 3:00
• 66m max effort off 2:00
• 33m max effort off 1:00
• 66.7m easy

Cool down

200m easy

Total distance: 3000m

Took this one easy too – at about CSS + 5s per 100 for this straightforward threshold set

Warm up

200m FC / 33.3m kick / 133m BA / 33m kick / 67m FC / 33m kick (500m)

3 x 67m FC build off 1:15

3 x 33m FL sprints off 45s

Main set

6 x 100m FC off 1:35

5 x 200m FC off 3:10

4 x 100m FC off 1:35

Cool down

200m easy

Total distance: 3000m

Slightly shortened version of regular Monday set, swam slowly due to amount of races

Warm up

600m mixed FC / BA

Main

6 x 400m off 6:15 – swim times between 5:35 and 5:55

Cool down

200m easy

Total distance: 3200m