25's For Top End Speed - Opt B

Swimming, February 20, 2025

To develop your top-end speed in this session short fast reps are used with a good amount of rest. This workout is perfect for Ironman and Olympic distance triathletes or people doing longer ocean swims.

For swimmers who are after a workout between 2,000 & 3,000m.


  • 400m WU;
  • 12x 50m Drill/Swim;
  • 12x 25m on ¼T+5sec;
  • 12x 25m Pull 10sec RI;
  • 12x 25m on ¼T+10sec;
  • 12x 25m FAST 20sec RI;
  • 200m CD (2,400m)
 

Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) covering 400m. During the warm-up feel free to stop and stretch as needed.  It doesn’t need to be a continuous swim.

Next up is a drill set of twelve repetitions of 50m Drill/Swim, where you do a drill for the first 25m of the repetition and then normal swimming for the next 25m swimming. Feel free to use fins whilst doing the drill/swim set.  Do the drills below three times through:

  1. Kick On Side (KOS) left side 
  2. Kick On Side (KOS) right side 
  3. 6/1/6 
  4. 6/3/6

I wrote an article about swimming drills previously. Click here to read and watch it.

The next set is made up of twelve reps of 25m. These repeats are done on one quarter of your T-Time plus five seconds. The faster you swim these reps the more rest you'll get. For more about T-Times have a read this article:

http://www.coachray.nz/2015/07/25/t-times-for-swimming/ 

The next up is a set of twelve reps using a Pull Buoy over 25m. Take a ten-second Rest Interval (RI) after each rep.

The next set is made up of twelve reps of 25m. These repeats are done on one-quarter of your T-Time plus ten seconds. As with the first set of 25's the faster you swim these reps the more rest you'll get.

The final set is made up of twelve reps of 25m. Swim these as fast as you can as you get a full 20 seconds Rest Interval (RI) after each rep.

For the Cool Down (CD) swim 200m. Unlike the previous sets which have to be freestyle, the cooldown (like the warm-up) 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 – Endurance Sports Consultant.

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. Make sure you sign up for my informative newsletter.

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Originally Published: https://www.coachray.nz/2017/10/28/saturday-swim-session-25s-top-end-speed/ 

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