Practice + Pancakes: Ledecky, Manuel, Neal, Sweetser AM Workout (Video)

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