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Ray Looze Guides PM Blue Set for Indiana Breaststroke Group | PRACTICE + PANCAKES

On Monday afternoon, Indiana head coach Ray Looze gets together his legendary IU breaststroke group. On this particular Monday, Ray had them working through a blue practice, with the target heart rate being 170-180 for the fast efforts. The active-rest practice was simple but a grind – see below for main set:

6x

4x (100 BLUE/100 Swim Out) @ 3:00

By Round, Blue =

  1. Kick
  2. Pull
  3. Combo (25 Kick-25 Pull-50 Swim)
  4. Fly
  5. Pull
  6. Back End 200 Pace

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MarkB
1 year ago

I know different coaches have different ideas about Urbancekโ€™s pace color sets. But this is about as far from what he termed a Blue Set as Iโ€™ve ever seen. He expected certain paces off a T 30 or similar Time Trial (as short as a 400) with Blue 100โ€™s getting 20-30 seconds rest. And he always had the sets as swim only. Kicking, pulling, etc. were done separately.

NornIron Swim
1 year ago

What’s the general consensus on the pulling on the lane line into the turn? It was a strict NO with us. Some of those guys were grabbing from about the flags.

I also don’t get the point of the flip turns. Yes it’s faster but how does it help?

NornIron Swim
Reply to  Coleman Hodges
1 year ago

I heard him say that Coleman but I don’t understand why that would matter. You’re not in that position when you go into a turn. It’s training a different skill rather than something they would use in a race.
Does it not also give unrealistic time expectations given how much faster it is? I’m not being critical I just don’t see the benefit.

NornIron Swim
Reply to  Coleman Hodges
1 year ago

Fair.
I found it interesting and different / unusual.
I appreciate the time taken to reply. ๐Ÿ‘

IU Swammer
Reply to  NornIron Swim
1 year ago

Not part of the explanation given, but it also means they aren’t practicing bad/slow turns. Ray likes to isolate technique when he can, so during a blue set, the focus is on the swimming portion, and he’ll give each swimmer one technique issue to focus on. Setting up and execuing a good open turn on top of that is hard, so you skip it by doing a flip turn.

He was always trying to fix my kick and body line, and trying to do that while also getting the stroke length right for a good turn in the middle of a blue set was just too much to be productive.

Last edited 1 year ago by IU Swammer
James Beam
Reply to  Coleman Hodges
1 year ago

More importantly, where did you have breakfast?!!

James Beam
Reply to  Coleman Hodges
1 year ago

sweet!!! can’t wait!

John jay
Reply to  Coleman Hodges
1 year ago

flipping creates good libe off wall, 2nd it also for hypoxic no breathing on grab turns, 3rd.. slow bad breast and fly turns in practice create bad habits on long sets..

chazoozle
1 year ago

why that dude pulling on lane line in breaststroke kick?

IU Swammer
Reply to  chazoozle
1 year ago

If I remember correctly (and I’m stretching my memory back to 2010), Ray said IU swimmers were doing that on kick sets when he got there, and he didn’t want to piss everyone off by making them change, so he let it go, and it’s just how it’s done, now. Since it’s consistent within the program, it doesn’t really matter.

chazoozle
Reply to  IU Swammer
1 year ago

hmm just seems pointless. i would be so pissed if the person next to me was pulling on the lines

About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on โ€ฆ

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