3000 meter swim workouts

Well, it appears the secret to getting faster in the pool is to: 1) Only go once a week; 2) Make sure you pack on 10 pounds over Christmas (adds 10mm of neoprene like substance to your stomach); 3) Follow my custom 3000 meter swim plans.

I've been doing these swim workouts for the last couple of months, and oddly enough, I seem to be at my fastest ever on the swim. (set PB on 500m last night @ 8:23) The following workouts are cobbled together based on workouts and fragments of masters workouts I did a few years ago in Ottawa.

I offer them up to the world now, with the disclaimer that there is no real rhyme or reason to them, other than I find them fun and challenging. Print them out and put them in a zip-lock baggy to bring with you to the pool.

Happy Swimming.

Set 1 - the "You will sleep well tonight set"

400	400 Easy
500	100 Pull Buoy
600	100 Kick
700	100 Pull Buoy
800	100 Kick
900	100 Pull Buoy
1000	100 Easy
1100	4 x 25 on 00:30
1200	100 Easy
1400	4 x 50 on 01:00
1500	100 Easy
1800	4 x 75 on 01:30
1900	100 Easy
2300	4 x 100 on 02:00
2400	100 Easy
2800	4 x 100 IM on 02:15
3000	200 Cool Down

Set 2 - Practice your cool Front-to-Back and Back-to-Front flip turns

400	400 Warm Up
800	2 x (100 Pull, 100 Kick)
1000	200 Easy
1500	5 x 100 (25 Fr , 50 Br, 25 Fr - hard)
1600	100 Easy
2100	5 x 100 (25 Fr, 50 Back, 25 Fr - hard)
2200	100 Easy
2700	5 x 100 (25 Easy, 50 Med, 25 Hard)
3000	300 Cool Down

Set 3 - The Time Trial Series - Measure your performance improvements

500	500 TT
1100	3 x (100 Pull, 100 Kick)
1200	100 Easy
1700	500 TT
2300	3 x (100 Pull, 100 Kick)
2400	100 Easy
2800	4 x 100 (25 Easy, 50 Med, 25 Hard)
3000	200 Easy

Set 4 - You will love to hate the sprints at the end. Go all out

400	400 Warm up
500	100 Pull
600	100 Swim
750	150 (50 Fr, 50 Back, 50 Breast)
850	100 Kick
950	100 Pull
1050	100 Swim
1200	150 (50 Fr, 50 Back, 50 Breast)
1300	100 Kick
1350	50 Easy
1750	4 x 100 (50 Fr, 50 Back) on 02:15
2150	4 x 100 (50 Back, 50 Breast) on 02:15
2550	4 x 100 IM
2600	50 Easy
2800	8 x 25 Sprints on 0:30
3000	200 Cool Down

Set 5 - Le grand mélange - the ultimate tough guy workout

400	400 Warm up
850	3 x (100 Pull, 50 Kick)
1250	2 x 200 Free (Medium Pace
1550	3 x 100 IM
1650	100 Easy
2050	4 x 100 (Fr, Bk, Fr, Bk)
2100	50 Easy
2500	4 x 100 (25 Easy, 50 Med, 25 Hard)
2600	100 Easy
2800	8 x 25 sprints on 0:30
3000	200 Cool Down