One More Set for Masters

As the holidays draw near we are in the training mode for our Masters group with the intent of giving them something they can hang their hat on before the various obligations take hold turning the best intentions into dust.

We laugh at practices, noting how little we are doing and how much the rest of our lives intrude...but we seem to embrace the intrusions while taking a certain amount of personal pride in our training efforts.

Today is Saturday and we begin at 7:15 vs. the normal 5:45 during the work week. So, all of us, coaches included, are a little more rested, (or not depending upon Friday evening's activities! - such is the life of adults!!) ready for what the day portends.

Here is our set. The goal is to have some aerobic work wrapped around some ever increasing intensity with a touch of speed work. We believe the lactic levels were rising throughout the set.

After a 25 or so minute warm up of 1000 + or - yards we did the following:

5x100 negative split with about 20 seconds rest - first lap fly
4x50/1 all at 75% - in a perfect world all the times are the same

4x100 neg split as above with 20 seconds rest - 2nd lap back
4x50/1 all at 80%

3x100 neg split, 20 seconds rest - 3rd lap breast
4x50/1 all at 85%

2x100 the 2nd one a little faster than the first, again, about 20 seconds rest
4x50/1:10 the first 3 at 90%, number 4 at 95%

1x100 cruise

This set is 2300 yards. Afterwards we loosened down with about 400 yards of easy swimming. Several folks did less. Our belief is that Masters swimmers seem to do less loosening than the younger swimmers and this is not so good...but then, adults are off to the next thing in their day and are not thinking too much about the next workout or meet...so on balance, life is good!

If you give this one a try, let us know how it goes for you! If you have a favorite workout for the holidays please tell us and we can share it with the world via the www. See you in a week!