If you’re a swimmer and you wonder how best to create and do your swim workouts… here’s a bit of an explanation, which is based on Swim Smooth principles.

Swim Smooth suggests a few type of workouts – Speed, Technique, Threshold and Endurance

I swim about 2,700-3,000m when I’m in my pool training sessions, but when I was starting out started off at 2,000m, then built up to 2,500m.

Here’s how I’d split the workouts.

Each workout consists of approximately:
Warm up – 15% / 500m
Build – 10% / 300m
Main set – 75% / 2,000m
Cool down – 5% / 200

So for a 3,000m session, it would be the above distances approximately.

(I know the % are out slightly, but you get the idea).

So for a 2,500m session, it would be:
Warm up – 15% / 400m
Build – 10% / 200m
Main set – 75% / 1,800m
Cool down – 5% / 100m

And for a 2,000m session, it would be:
Warm up – 15% / 300m
Build – 10% / 200m
Main set – 75% / 1,500m
Cool down – 5% / 100m

Depending on the goal of the workout, ie speed or endurance, you’d generally break the build main set down into chunks, and the Swim Smooth book gives ideas of what that can look like.

Swim Smooth: The Complete Coaching System for Swimmers and Triathletes https://amzn.eu/d/43Bs8hr

So it could be distances split down into lots of 100m efforts for speed work, or longer distances (3-400m) for threshold work, with limited rest.

Then I put the workouts into my Garmin Connect app and schedule them on my calendar based on when a race is or what I want my training to be.

Then my Garmin tells me what to do in the pool!

One thing I also like to do is endurance or time trials and CSS checks every now and again. (The speed, threshold and technique sessions feature smaller distances and more technique work).

Some examples of my endurance / time trial / CSS workouts are below:

Endurance / TT 2,900m
Warm up
500m steady
Build
3 x 100m – 50m steady / 50m effort
Set 1
750m time trial
Set 2
2 x 400m / 200m easy
Cool down
150m choice

Endurance / TT 3,000m
Warm up
5 x 100m – pull, swim, kick, swim, pull
Build
12 x 50m effort wi fins, 10s rest
Main set
1,600m time trial
Cool down
300m individual medley or FC/BC/BE/FC by 25s

Endurance / TT 2,800m
Warm up
500m easy
Set 1
5 x 200m, play with breathing
Ev 3 / 4 / 3/4 / 4/5 / 2/3
Set 2
1,000m time trial
Cool down
300m choice

Threshold 2,900m
Warm up
250m easy / 250m pull catch focus
Build
3 x 100m building each 25m faster for each 100m
Main set
2 x 3 x 300m
Paddies, Pull wi paddles, Swim
Cool down
6 x 50m stroke rate faster each time

CSS – 2,500m
Warm up
500m easy
Main set (effort)
400m effort
300m easy
200m effort
(Mark times and workout CSS)
Set 2
400m effort
300m easy
200m effort

(Or easy throughout)
Cool down
200m easy

CSS – 2,900m
Warm up
500m easy
Build
3 x 100m build by 25m
Set 1
2 x 400m effort / rest / 200m effort
Set 2
750m easy
Cool down
150m choice

Work out your CSS time by plugging the times into an online calculator or:

400m time – 200m time
2
= 100m CSS time