Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a former national level swimmer based out of Victoria, BC. In feeding his passion for swimming, he has developed YourSwimBook, a powerful log book and goal setting guide made specifically for swimmers. Sign up for the YourSwimBook newsletter (free) and get weekly motivational tips by clicking here.
This afternoon’s set is courtesy of Jim Halliburton, head coach of the swimming program at Saint Louis University.
According to his official bio from the university:
As a swimmer, Halliburton was a member of the United States National Team from 1978 to 1982 and was team captain in his final season with the squad. A former American record holder, he was twice ranked No. 1 in the world in the 100-meter butterfly. At Indiana University, Halliburton was a seven-time Big Ten champion and broke Mark Spitz’s Big Ten record in the 100 fly. He was also a four-time NCAA All-American. Halliburton continues to compete in the pool, most recently turning in 11 record-breaking gold-medal performances at the St. Louis Senior Olympics in 2009.
And here is Jim’s set, which reminds me a lot of the “beep test” that high school PE teachers drop on students:
This is my favorite set. I use this set once a year. During our winter training “hell week” for my masters team, club team and college team.
The set is do as many 100’s (usually freestyle) as you can make on the 2:01 interval. We usually start with the clock on the 30 and you need to swim a 1:30 or faster on number 1. The 1st swimmer always needs to be in by the 60. The second swimmer in each lane starts on the 35 and needs to get in by the 5, the 3rd swimmer starts on the 40 and needs to get in by the 10 each time, etc.
The second 100 starts on the 31 and again in by the 60 (so you need to go a 1:29 or better
The third 100 starts on the 32 and in by the 60.
You go as far as you can. If you go down to a minute then you have done 30 X 100’s, which would take 1 hour. I usually make sure that I have about 1 hour and 10 to 20 minutes left in practice before I start the set. I once made it down to starting on the 13 thus swimming a 47. About the last 5 – 7 100’s are very hard.
If you miss – I usually have the swimmer do a 50 warm down and then cheer for the swimmers still making the 100’s. However, you could have them put fins on and keep going or have them do 75s, etc.
What I love about this set, is that it teaches you how to swim a little faster on each 100. (kick a little harder, or have better turns, or stream line off the wall farther, or turn over faster, or have longer more powerful strokes etc)
The first several are very easy. You get more rest on each 100 because you are going faster on each one, but you need more rest because you are going faster.
This is a great team bonding set as people cheer for each other. Also, no one wants to be the first one out so they try very hard and others try to win by lasting the longest or beat there friends so everyone gives a great effort. I have a lot make it farther than the year before so it is easy to compare.
Got a workout you’d like to share with the swimming community? Send one in to Olivier at [email protected]
hallibuton was 4th in the 100 fly 1980 olympic trials with a time with a time of 54.98, at this olympic trials i believe all the swimmers knew that we were boycotting the olympics and he did not go his best time at this meet, the world record at the time was 54.15 so it is very conceivable he was ranked number 1 in the world at some point in 79 and early 1980, (seasonal world rankings), he was never a world record holder, he still would have been able to swim at the 80 olympics even though he was 4th because fina did not institute a two swimmer per country rule until after the 80 olympics,
in contrast the… Read more »
This states that coach Jim Halliburton was no. 1 in the world twice in the 100 meter butterfly. I can not find this in my online searching. Anyone able to provide a link to where I could see that?
isthattrue? – I don’t know if a complete enough record exists to go back and prove it with documentation, but remember that ‘ranked no. 1 in the world twice’ means that two times, he had a result that moved him to #1 in the world rankings for that season, not necessarily that he won two World Championships or Olympic gold medals.