Swimming workouts

Swim Workouts

 When: Coming off of break from running, or injury during season, or to add supplemental cross training. Also can be used for a recovery day.

How: using deep end of pool for pool running segments, must have belt around waist. Usually you can borrow a water belt from the pool and attach it around your waist. Freestyle swim segment is regular lap swimming. Get to pool during lap swim times.

Why: If you are injured its to try to keep you off your feet so you can heal up and get better. If you are coming off your break it is a supplement for your fitness as you being to ramp up your training. 

Evidence: I had a stress fracture in my sacrum in 2006 and was unable to run at all. I used the pool to stay in shape for 3 months. Spending all my normal hours of running in the pool I did all my normal workouts running in the pool. This included “long runs” of 90-100 minutes. I began running on ground again 12 weeks before Chicago marathon. I ran a 25k in 1:21 in Minnesota in September, and then ran my marathon PR of 2:23:48 at Chicago that year.

Elise Cranny our most recent Colorado female distance prodigy graduated last year. But before she did she broke a 20 plus year record in the 3200m on the track running 10:17 at the state track meet. She often times utilized the pool weekly as an aerobic supplement to her training.

 Former athlete McKenna Spillar severely sprained her ankle in August of 2012 as we began her senior year of cross country. Using the pool, some focused and specific rehab she was able to begin running again just 30 days before the state meet. She worked for 6 weeks in the pool and some biking before returning to running. She finished 7th in the state cross country championships to cap a remarkable comeback from the injury. 

Our very own Cayli Hume has been our most recent success story utilizing the pool. Running about 10-12 miles a week for the last couple years she has managed to stay hovering around the 20 minute 5k mark because she is so very good at working out well in the pool to hold her fitness. In addition she has the competitive fire and mental toughness to fight for those performances, most recently getting 69^th at the 2014 State Cross Country championships on a brutally difficult course to race on with only 10-12 miles per week. She deserves a ton of credit for her work in the pool under these circumstances. 

The pool works and we need to use it.

Here is a list of workouts you can do in the pool. It is segmented into levels based on the training you will be doing running.

15wu is 15 minutes of “warming up” in the pool just as you would for a land run. 

10-15 cd is 10 to 15 minutes of “cooldown”. It is vital that you gradually do the cool down following strenuous workouts. It helps in the recovery process both in the pool and on dry land. It is an essential and very important part of the training.

Pool run is when you will run in the pool with a waist belt on to keep you upright and vertical in the pool. Try not to “cycle” in the pool instead, try to “scissor kick” your legs while having a slight bend in the knee.  Use your arms as if running on dry land.

Freestyle Swim is when you will swim the freestyle stroke as you were taught in swim lessons. The pool at the ridge is 25 meters in length. If I say do 3 x 50 freestyle moderate, that means down and back is one 50m. The pace then is a moderate clip but not a hard effort. Most freestyle swimming is done by time, so you just need to swim for the length listed, rest on the wall and hit it again. Most are 5 min lengths of time a rest then keep swimming 5 more minutes’ freestyle at a moderate pace.

Level 1

Try to start with workout 1 and progress to workout five. Repeat this work for as long as the workout list says level 1.

Workout 1….10 wu, 15min pool run, 5 min freestyle swim steady 10cd

Workout 2….10wu, 15min pool run easy, 2x5min freestyle swim steady, (2min rest) 10 cd

Workout 3….10wu, 15min pool run easy, 3x5min freestyle swim (2min rest) 10 cd

Workout 4…10wu, 20 min pool run steady, 4x5min freestyle swim (2 min rest) 10cd

Workout 5….10wu, 20 min pool run steady, 5x5 min freestyle swim 2 min rest 10 cd

Level 2

Workout 1…10 wu,  pool run: 3x5min hard effort with 2 min rest, 2x5 min freestyle swim, 10 cd

Workout 2….10wu pool run: 4x5min hard effort with 2 min rest, 3 x5 min freestyle swim, 10 cd

Workout 3….10 wu, pool run: 1set of 3x3min hard w/ 1 min rest, 2x5 min freestyle swim, then 1 set of 2x5 min hard w/ 2 min rest, then 10 cd

Workout 4….10 wu, pool run: 8x2 min hard w/ 30 sec rest, 3x5 min freestyle swim,  1x10min hard pool run, then 10 cd.

Workout 5, 10wu, 8x2min hard w/ 30 seconds rest, 3x50m hard freestyle swim with 2 min rest, then 1x5min freestyle swim moderate, then 1x5 min pool run moderate, then 10 cooldown.