Practicing in open water at a race pace effort is a valuable experience going into your key events of the year. This workout includes longer threshold — or race pace — efforts with short bursts of high intensity speed that mimic the pace oscillations in a race.
If you have an opportunity to practice in open water, try this set with your swim mates and, each time you start a block, regroup and start as if you’re beginning a repeat in the pool. It’s best to wear a device that is tracking distance, pace or time.
If you and your swim partners are at similar abilities, this session should mimic a race atmosphere and will also help you get more comfortable swimming close to others in the open water.
To best execute this session, designate one person, preferably the fastest swimmer, to be the “timer”. Have the slower swimmers catch-up between repeats and start again OR have the faster swimmers reverse the direction back to the slower swimmers. This set can be done in any open body of water.
You can ratchet the time of the workout at your threshold or race pace up or down based on your experience level. You’ll want to strive for the highest attainable pace at a steady-state effort. I recommend the following time intervals:
Beginners: 20 min
Intermediates: 30 min
Advanced: 50 min
If you need to scale back the workout according to your current fitness, then please do so.
You can incorporate this session 1 to 2 times a week and when race day arrives, you’ll be more comfortable in open water and ready for anything! If you give this workout a try, let me know how it went. Get in touch with me on Facebook or Twitter.
Dave
Open Water Race Pace Session
Warm Up
10 min to a designated point or just stop in the water and let everyone rejoin. Practice sighting while you are warming up and include 5 x 20 sec segments of backstroke to stretch out your pecs and back.
1st Set
5 x 30 sec. Build to a fast effort.
Rest Interval (RI) 1 min aerobic pace
Regroup again
Main Set
If you are accustomed to swimming in a pool, in order to gauge your effort on these intervals in the open water I recommend pacing to simulate your 50 to 200 speed.
5 min at your threshold pace + 3 x 45 sec
Do the 45 sec very very hard!
Rest Interval (RI) 15 Sec
Cruise for 1 min at an aerobic pace
Stop and recollect the group
Repeat this set 3 times
Then go right into:
3.5 min at your threshold pace + 3 x 25 sec
Do the 25 sec very hard!
RI is 35 sec.
Regroup and repeat the set 2 times
Cool Down
4 min or swim back to shore
Total Time: 60 to 70 min
#WorkoutWednesday is powered by BioAstin, one of my top 5 recommended supplements. BioAstin Hawaiian Astaxanthin is a powerful antioxidant that supports cardiovascular health and muscle recovery… perfect for athletes who are training hard.
