Steve Tarpinian's Olympic Tri Main Set 2Cvi

Swimming, October 10, 2024

Building your ability to sustain your threshold pace in a swim is an important capability for triathletes and open-water swimmers. These sessions further develop that ability by progressing your fitness by completing reps at a fast pace that you can sustain. This session will benefit triathletes of all distances, as well as other open-water swimmers.

For swimmers who are after a workout greater than 3,000m.

Read this article here for an explanation of Swim Intensity.

The inspiration for these workouts comes from an article by Steve Tarpinian in an old issue of Triathlete.

 

  • 800 WU;
  • 16x 25 Drills;
  • 12x
    • 50 Easy 20RI;
    • 100 Fast 30RI;
  • 300 CD (3,500)

For the Warm Up (WU) start with a 800m. During the warm-up feel free to stop and stretch as needed.  It doesn’t need to be a continuous swim.

Follow this with a set of drills. Completes sixteen, 25m reps of drills (four times through the four drills below). Take a pause of about ten seconds after each drill. It’s a chance to grab a drink, review the programme, and think about the next drill you will do. If you need 15-20 seconds or longer you are welcome to take it because the rest duration isn’t physiologically critical to the aim of this set. Having a quick break is neurologically critical though, so make sure you don’t just roll straight from one rep to the next.

There are two main sets.

The main set is made up of twelve reps. Each rep consists of two sub-reps of 50m and 100m respectively. Swim the 50m sub-rep at an easy effort and take a 20-second rest interval afterwards. Swim the 100m sub-rep as fast as you can and take a 30-second Rest Interval (RI) after it.

For the Cool Down (CD) swim 300m. Unlike the previous sets which have to be freestyle, the Cool Down (CD) (like the Warm Up (WU)) can be any stroke you wish to swim.  You can also stop and rest after any length.  I encourage you to stop and stretch during the cool-down.

If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.

I am the Head Coach & Director of Qwik Kiwi Coaching.

I specialise in assisting first-timers and recreational athletes to achieve their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729.

Share this post so your friends can benefit as well.

Originally Published: https://www.coachray.nz/2024/10/12/saturday-swim-session-steve-tarpinians-olympic-tri-main-set-2vi/ 

Back