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Workout Wednesday: One hour endurance drop/build swim set

Swimmer

This quick, one-hour swim workout from coach Mark Newton offers year-round benefits, so it’s perfect for triathletes in the middle of their heaviest training load, gearing up for a late fall race, or just looking to maintain fitness. You have the choice of building each repeat by 100 or 200 m or dropping each by 100 or 200 m.

You’ll be almost non-stop swimming in this session, making it great preparation for long course races but also just improving overall fitness in the water. There’s an additional challenge with every third 50 m performed as a drill, stroke count, or different stroke depending on your current training stage. The challenge breaks down the monotony that prevents us from swimming longer repeats and delivers more endurance work with some key efforts during competition phase.

Though it looks like a complicated session, remember the test is to perform it, not memorize it. The priority is consistent swimming for one hour. The workout is outlined separately for those in the base training phase and those in specific training.

This workout also uses a five-point rate of perceived exertion scale.

RPE 1 — easy effort, aerobic system/recovery, slower than full distance pace

RPE 2 — moderate, aerobic/ aerobic threshold, full distance pace

RPE 3 — moderately hard, lactate threshold, half to full distance pace

RPE 4 — hard, anaerobic threshold, sprint to Olympic distance pace

RPE 5 — very hard, VO2 max/anaerobic system, faster than sprint distance pace

Base training

Drop set

12 minutes, 1 minute rest interval — third 50 drill, RPE 2

10 minutes, 1 minute rest interval — third 50 stroke count, RPE 2

5 minutes, 1 minute rest interval — third 50 surge, RPE 3

Build set

5 minutes, 1 minute rest interval — third 50 choice, RPE 2

10 minutes, 1 minute rest interval — third 50 tempo, RPE 3

12 minutes, 1 minute rest interval — third 50 surge, RPE 3

Specific training

Drop set

12 minutes, 1 minute rest interval — third 50 choice, RPE 3

10 minutes, 1 minute rest interval — third 50 surge/sprint, RPE 3

5 minutes, 1 minute rest interval — third 50 tempo, RPE 4

Build set

5 minutes, 1 minute rest interval — third 50 choice, RPE 2

10 minutes, 1 minute rest interval — third 50 stroke count, RPE 2

12 minutes, 1 minute rest interval — third 50 tempo, RPE 4