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In today’s Coach’s Intel Chris Ip from LSU shares a set designed to keep your swimmers on their toes.
Ip is no stranger to NCAA swimming; before joining LSU in 2012 he was the head coach at Clemson, where he produced 16 All-Americans during his ten year tenure there. Ip also has experience on the international stage, having attended the Commonwealth Games and FINA Worlds as coach for the Jamaican National Team in 1994.
Here is his set:
Introducing the “Black Hole” set.
Random set of sendoff for 10 x 100’s. Swimmers will know the intervals. Once an interval is used it will not come up again. All 10 intervals will be used. Punch the set onto your display board, your random intervals will pop up in an order unknown to the swimmers!
Sprinters hate this because they like to be in control of their performances and outcomes. During the beginning of the set they know they must swim faster than a 1:07 interval until that interval comes off the display board.
Goal: Make set unpredictable like a race. Swimmers must adapt, be flexible, be positive and mentally sharp.
Here is an example with 3 different groups within the LSU Sprinthead’s (some did prime stroke):
Mid-Sprinters: 3 sec increment off of 1:07
Sprinters: 4 sec increment off of 1:07
Drop dead sprinters: 5 second increment off of 1:07 so they had time to complain!!
Swimmers see their interval so they can memorize:
MD: 1:07/1:10/1:13/1:16/1:19/1:22/1:25/1:28/1:31/1:34
SPT: 1:07/1:11/1:15/1:19/1:23/1:27/1:31/1:35/1:39/1:43
DD: 1:07/1:12/1:17/1:22/1:27/1:32/1:37/1:42/1:47/1:52
This was the order used during the set that the swimmers didn’t see:
|
Mid-Sprint |
Sprinter |
Drop dead sprinter |
|
1:25 |
1:31 |
1:37 |
|
1:13 |
1:15 |
1:17 |
|
1:34 |
1:43 |
1:52 |
|
1:07 |
1:07 |
1:07 |
|
1:31 |
1:39 |
1:47 |
|
1:28 |
1:35 |
1:42 |
|
1:10 |
1:11 |
1:12 |
|
1:19 |
1:23 |
1:27 |
|
1:16 |
1:19 |
1:22 |
|
1:22 |
1:27 |
1:32 |
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looks like to dumbest set i have ever seen… what is the purpose other then smashing them up
what paces will they achieve that will be race specific?
Does a random set like this really help the swimmers to be faster? Are there any studies that show swimmers get faster as a result of a set like this? One would think that decades of swimming training would be backed up by some scientific research.
Whether or not one believes this is a good workout- who the hell are you two to make nasty comments? Please, share some of your workouts (and provide scientific research, Allen).
Coach Ip,
Thanks for sharing. Screw these guys.
As I remember we did this long course back at ircc. Miss the good old days
I like it!!! Perfect interval for a swimmer who should be holding 1:05s in my mind.
Coach Ip,
Are the 10×100’s just swim and make the interval?! Are the 100’s Fast? Stroke or Free?! Is the set to be done in LCM or SCY intervals?
Sounds like a fun set.
I imagine you would put the fastest time of the 10 as something you would want your swimmers to hold…that way they are required to go at least that fast to be sure they can get the next interval in time. That’s how i would look at it. So I would be sure that doesnt get used until at least halfway through the set.