Speeding up to the finish in open water swimming

Finishing hard in an open water swim is critical to race success. As we often see, races can be determined by mere tenths of seconds (remember last weekend’s world cup race in Cozumel). This week in San Diego is a stop on the ITU professional triathlon circuit and we’ve welcomed some of the pro’s at our workouts here at the Wind-n-Sea Masters in La Jolla. This is one of the workouts the team focused on to help condition the speed at the end of the main set. Give a try.

400 swim – 4 x 50 kick – 400 pull

Main Set

Bring interval down by :05 on each “block” of 200’s to fastest possibile interval – pacing is key to making it all the way down.

(e.g., 5 @ 2:30: 4 @ 2:25; 3 @ 2:20; 2 @ 2:15; 1 @ 2:10)

5 x 200

4 x 200

3 x 200

2 x 200

1 x 200

10 x 50 alligator eyes on first 25 – up and out – sprint back

Warm down 200

4700

Wind-n-Sea Masters  team is based in one of the mecca’s for open water swimming and a large number of it’s members are actively engaged in open water swimming all year round. The team features many top open water swimmers who have completed Catalina and English channel crossings. Additionally, many members are new to open water swimming and the program encourages fun and camaraderie in the open water.

The team trains at the Coggan Family Aquatic Center – a beautiful 50m complex that is less than a mile away from the La Jolla Cove – site of the La Jolla Rough Water Swim; the largest open water swim in the United States.  Wind-n-Sea Masters archives all their works for the open water swimming and triathlon communities.