SwimSwam wants to give you an inside look at what a normal day-in-the-life looks like for any given swimmer, and how that differs from team to team or city to city. We send our head of production, Coleman Hodges, to be a fly on the wall at practice, then relay what he discovered back to you over pancakes. Or at least breakfast.
Remember that world record that Katie Ledecky set last week in Indy? Well a week before that, SwimSwam was in Palo Alto for practice with Stanford. Here’s the breakdown.
On Thursday mornings, Katie Ledecky and True Sweetser get some good distance training in, while Simone Manuel and Lia Neal do 100 work. This practice is long course, and once it’s over, Neal and Manuel are done for the day. Ledecky and True double in the afternoon, and for Ledecky this practice was added in last semester as her 10th workout of the week. The main work for both groups was as follows:
Manuel/Neal 100 Practice
2x
4×100 @ 1:30 Desc by feel to Strong
Socks
12 1/2 fast kick, 25 ez, 25 fast turn, 25 ez, 12 1/2 fast finish (take socks off)
65 @ 2nd 50 tempo + 50 ez
50 @ (2nd 50 tempo + time) + 50 ez
35 @ 2nd 50 tempo + 0 breath last 12 1/2
200 ez
Ledecky/Sweetser Distance Practice
2x
3×300 @ 3:30
Rd 1: pull optional, desc to pink
Rd 2: 0 pull, desc to red
2×50
Rd 1: Tempo @ :40, ez @ 1:00
5 @ 1.35 (tempo), 1 ez
4 @ 1.30, 1 ez
3 @ 1.25, 1 ez
2 @ 1.20, 1 ez
1 @ 1.15, 1 ez
Rd 2: Tempo @ :45, Kick @ :55, ez @ 1:00
5 @ 1.20, 1 ez
4 kick, 1 ez,
3 @ 1.20, 1 ez
2 kick, 1 ez
1 @ 1.20, 1 ez
wpDiscuz
Best part of all this was True Sweeter at the end.
Close second: True Sweeter’s hair before he gets wet.
True Sweetser sure is a fun time! I bet all the girls at Stanford love him!
Cal next?
She just blew one of the best male distance swimmers in the country out of the water. The conversation at the end confirmed something that I’ve heard about true sweetser, that he does so much extra and like never takes a day off. That can’t be the best thing for you can it? Was this just a “bonus practice” that’s why it was just true and the female pros? Also I love Lia Neal and Simone’s strokes. Both just seem so efficient and powerful.
I’m sure True and Kostoff got a good plan.
Very nice work, Coleman. I liked all of the different camera angles — especially the underwater ones. Some very fast repeat times — impressive! Looks like everyone had fun. You seem to have captured the spirit of the practice!
Fun tidbit: toward the end of the video, if you look in the distance into the other pool, you can see our masters group working out!
Agreed 100%
At the risk of offending some people with my language, let me say that Ledecky is an animal in practice. Sweetser may be able to stay ahead in practice, but not by the margin one would expect given his better times in competition.
Some people really shine in practice (compared to meets).
Some people really bring it at meets (compared to practice).
Ledecky does both.
but i would even argue her practice times are better than her competition times.
its just so, shes soooooooo fast in practice that her competition times are “automatically” unreal lol
I see two possibilities: (1) She has reached a point of diminishing returns where improvement in practice yields less dramatic improvement in competition. (2) We have yet to see what she can do in competition.
I’ll also go out on a limb and say it’s more common in females. I swam for a club with whack-fast distance swimmers (three women under 8:30, a few men under 15 mins 1500m) and it was always the women who were torching their pace, while the men never, ever hit it….subsequently being beaten by the girls sometimes. It is a HUGE advantage for the women to train with the men. It’s a great thing for them, however it is certainly frustrating for the men, if they can’t put their mind back in order if they can’t fathom being beaten by someone daily who is just objectively much slower than them in meets. It can be demoralizing especially when they’re… Read more »
I’m so curious… what team did you swim for? Only 11 American men have ever been under 15 minutes, so no kidding that that’s a fast distance group!
https://swimswam.com/oh-the-inzanity/
Just gonna leave this LCM set Zane was super excited about here for comparison…..
Woof. Slower 300 interval and still can’t hit 3:03 like Ledecky
And Ledecky doesn’t seem all that impressed with herself either… doesn’t describe her practice as “Inzane,” just another day at the pool
She only knows katie so that is who she is comparing. Just like her WRs are only best times. Everyone does best times so her best times just happen to be WR
oof
poor true