Via SwimSwam contributor Chris O’Linger, an assistant coach at the University of the Incarnate Word.
The Gulf Coast Swim Team in Fort Myers, Florida has produced several competent distance swimmers, and still holds a reputation for doing so currently.
Don Henshaw, Sr. & Masters Head Coach at Gulf Coast Swim Team
Swimming Coach Don Henshaw likes to emphasize a smooth and efficient stroke with a powerful “palm-down” underwater catch. He has found much success in age group distance swimmers who display a quick stroke tempo and a purposeful 2-beat kick, although recently, he has fostered several swimmers who successfully implement a consistent 4 or 6-beat kick. He now preaches that each individual athlete experiment with various techniques early on in their careers, so that they can utilize the most promising method for optimal training and performance.
Don Henshaw conducts a top-notch–encouraging yet humbling–distance program, helping his athletes gain awareness of semantic points, including consistent pace work, tempo, and stroke count. Pace work is done with swimmers who compete in distances ranging from the 200 up to the 1650, and the sets are done constantly. Don finds it important for the athletes to be able to recognize and perform at pace on a daily basis.
Gulf Coast Swim Team pool (courtesy of GCST)
Concerning the distance team, Henshaw has found that a wide variety of training keeps the athletes motivated and well-rounded. Butterfly and IM training is thrown in on a regular basis, and the freestyle sets are evenly split between long repeats (200-1000’s) and shorter durational distances (50, 75, and 100’s). There is very little emphasis on recovery in Henshaw’s program. The underlying motive is that pushing the athletes past their point of comfortability daily, along with the incorporation of butterfly and IM training, will create tougher athletes at the end. In summation, the progressive and integrated program being run in Fort Myers has produced, and will continue to produce, several elite distance competitors. The success has been correlated with perfection of the basics.
Don Henshaw shares a main set on a Wednesday afternoon in Fort Myers:
1 x 1000 w/ paddles @ 12:00
12 x 100 swim @ 1:10
1 x 500 w/ paddles @ 6:30
10 x 100 swim @ 1:05
1 x 300 w/ paddles @ 4:30
8 x 100 swim @ 1:03
(4800 yards/~1 hour)
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Chris O’ Linger, assistant coach, Incarnate Word swimming & diving. (Image courtesy of UIW)
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O’Linger is an assistant coach for the Incarnate Word swimming and diving program. He swam collegiately at both the University of Florida and University of Tampa. He earned a degree in social psychology from Tampa. He is studying kinesiology.
Hello coaches I’m Chelsie and im a freshman for wyomissing. I swim for the Wyomissing swim team and I’m the only girl who swims the 500 free. The first time I swam it I got first with a time of 6:10.48 and then the second time I swam it I got a 6:14.55, and all I want to know is there any work out that I can do to drop that time. This would be my only opportunity to talk to because this would be the very first if I qualified for districts. Well, good talk hope you write me back.
Don, I hope this reaches you (cause this article is about a year old). My daughter has really become serious in swimming and has had tremendous swims her freshman year, making it to districts in the 200 free and the 100 free and relays. After a few clinics she was told she was most likely a distance swimmer. However her coach is a all swimmers swim the same practice and workouts type coach. And other than me being a Navy Diver I have no competition swim experience. She swam her first competitive mile swim (1500) at age 15 last week @ 22:14:10 (with no real distance coaching) and she really enjoyed it. What are tips/advice/workouts to suggest? -George a swim… Read more »
I have had the pleasure of spending many meet sessions with Don, his wife and his swimmers for decades. He is one of the sport’s good guys. Thanks for sharing.
Wow!! Question is, what kind of motivation, thought process, or true coaching really goes into these sets? I find it interesting that you say there is very little emphasis on recovery. Have you considered the recovery of the mind?? Have you ever considered that NOT every child is built the same (body and mind) and yet it sounds as if you coach the same!! How about the athlete who is not a distant swimmer? Or do those athlete not exist? Or do you just produce athletes because they think they have nowhere else to go and are programmed to do it your way or no way?
Sorry you didn’t understand or could not read the article. This is just a workout we did last week on a Wednesday afternoon with my fastest distance high school male swimmers. Could everyone do it? No. Could we do it every day? No. I also had an IM /Stroke group doing an entirely different workout suited for them. We have produced some very good stroke / IM swimmers over the years but I believe they all have to do some work of some type and be challenged. There is not a “one size fits all mentality” on my team, contrary to what you see in one set above. Thanks for the comment though!
not surprised… de-caf tastes just like the real thing.
of course, not every kid is built for distance, nor is every kid built for sprints. but the goal with certain sets is to push a swimmer beyond their perceived capabilities. is it done all the time… no!
there is nothing wrong with throwing out a challenge to swimmers and see what they will do. whether the set is like the ones submitted or a set of 10×100 @ 6:00 with a goal of 1-3% personal best time, tough sets build confidence – mentally, physically, emotionally. and if they dont succeed in a challenge set the first time, they can always improve the next time.
Dear Coach and Don Henshaw,
I prefer caffeinated and thank you. To your surprise, I do know how to read and understand and thank God for that everyday.
I simply had a few questions and thank Don for answering them.
I was under the impression that those sets were for distant swimmers. Thank you Don for making it clear that is was only for your fastest male athletes.
Not Surprised…Contact me anytime you would like to chat. I appreciate your comments and would be happy to answer any questions you would have on what we do.
looks like a pretty standard set. i’m sure its not an everyday or even an every week set. probably once or twice per month. not sure what the controversy is?
its a good bit of freestyle, but its not as though the intervals are outrageous. i gave a set to girls, aged 12-16 at the time… (this was after about 2000 yards of warm-up, skills work)
10×100 free @ 1:15. comfortable swim, concentrate technique, cycle count.
rest :30
10×100 free @ 1:10. fast swim, continue to work on technique, cycle count.
rest 1:00
10×100 free @ 1:05. best possible repeat. swimmers repeated :57-1:00 on all 10.
That was a set for our distance guys. The IM and stroke swimmers do not do that set. We do not do that type of work everyday. We do vary it up quite a bit.
I did that session LC this morning after seeing it. However I doubled some ( all ) of the times. 🙂
I like this set Don! I will definitely use a variation of this set within the next few weeks.