Weekend Swim Workout: Race Week Swim Prep
Be sure to show up to the start line fresh, but sharp, by doing one of these shakeout sets a few days out from your event.
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With more and more races now taking place, it’s never been more important to get your race week swim prep dialed in. These workouts below will help you do just that—giving you just enough speed work to help sharpen you up and leave you feeling fit, fresh, and ready to hit the start line. There’s no need to hit a lot of mileage in race week—focusing on some shorter bursts of intensity is the best way to lead you into race day. You can do these shakeout sets at any point during race week.
Iron-Distance
5 minutes easy warm-up swim
6 x 50 with :10 rest (build each 50 to fast)
6 x 150 with :20 rest (steady at race effort)
400 with paddles (only use buoy if wetsuit-legal race)
100 cool-down
Total: ~2,000
Half Iron-Distance
5 minutes easy warm-up swim
6 x 50 with: 10 rest (build each 50 to fast)
6 x 100 with :20 rest
(descend 1-3, 4-6) 400 swim, sighting 2x each length
100 cool-down
Total: ~1,700 total
Olympic-Distance
5 minutes easy warm-up swim
6 x 50 with :10 rest (build each 50 to fast)
4 x 100 with :20 rest (25 fast/75 steady)
300 swim with no walls 100 cool-down
Total: ~1,400