Winter Training Sets: Ohio State Goes 100s SCY Suited Off Blocks, 24x100s Free LCM

Winter training can be some of the toughest times of training during the year. There are no classes for student-athletes so they could be considered just athletes. We’ve decided to ask some athletes (and some coaches) from our most recent Top 10 NCAA Team Power Rankings what their favorite/best set was during this time of training. We tried to get a mix of athletes from different specialties to not get all “sprint” sets or not all “butterfly” sets.

We kick off this series with the Ohio State Buckeyes who were #10 on the men’s side and #8 on the women’s side in our most recent ranks.

Amy Fulmer

Fulmer’s SCY lifetime best times:

• 50 free: 21.71
• 100 free: 47.36
• 200 free: 1:43.46
• 100 back: 53.40

Fulmer told SwimSwam her favorite set was 4x (100 @6:00 + 75 @6:00). Everything was best average, suited, and off the blocks.

Fulmer’s times for each round:

• Round 1: 100 (free), 48.3 , 75 (free) 35 mid
• Round 2: 100 (free), 48.9, 75 (back) 38 high-39 mid
• Round 3: 100 (free), 48.8, 75 (free) 35 mid
• Round 4: 100 (free), 48.5, 75 (back) 38 high- 39mid

She said the goal of the set was to “Race the people around you and not hold back on the earlier efforts. We combined zones 1 (men’s sprint), 2 (women’s sprint), and 3 (middle distance). I mainly race KitKat (in reference to sprint free and flyer KitKat Zenick) during the set.” Fulmer said that Zennick was “also holding 48s during the set which was really fun!”

Charlie Clark

Clark’s SCY lifetime bests:

• 500 free: 4:13.77
• 1650 free: 14:35.38

Set 1: SCM Power & Active Rest

2 rounds of the whole set

3×400 on GMX7 pulley, one light, one medium, one high resistance. Round 1 had no gear and round 2 added fins and paddles

12x (100 + 50) @ 2:10
3 holding 1500 pace
2 holding 800 pace
1 holding 400 pace

Clark held on each one:

Round 1
3@1500 pace: 58.5, 58.0, 58.0
2@800 pace: 57.0, 56.8
1@400 pace: 55.0
3@1500 pace: 58.0, 57.5, 57.0
2@800 pace: 56.5, 56.0
1@400 pace: 54.5

Round 2
3@1500 pace: 58.5, 58.0, 57.5
2@800 pace: 56.7, 56.5
1@400 pace: 54.5
3@1500 pace: 58.0, 57.5, 57.5
2@800 pace: 56.0, 55.0
1@400 pace: 53.5

Clark spoke of this set saying “alternating 1200 piece on the GMX7 with 1800 piece of active rest helps develop power on the pulley, then efficiently transfer it to a powerful stroke on the active rest/pace. I love working with the GMX7’s and adding in pace work makes for a great set. We do something similar to this every Monday and Wednesday afternoon, usually with a 45 minute kick set first.

Set 2: SCY – Add up 1650

1×75 @ :50
300 @ 3:00
2×75 @ :50
300 @ 3:00
3×75 @ :50
300 @ 3:00
4×75 @ :50

Clark went:

37.0
2:40
37.5, 37.0
2:38
37.0, 37.2, 37.2
2:35
37.3, 37.2, 37.0, 36.5

Clark said he liked this set because this breaks up the mile with “longer 300s mixed in forces you to keep a long stroke instead of shorting up and sprinting like if it was 22x75s or 11×150’s.” Usually, the team does this set along with a broken 500 or a broken 200.

Set 3: SCY- Threshold

1x 275@ 3:00
3×300 @ 3:00
2x 275@ 3:00
2×300 @ 3:00
3x 275@ 3:00
1×300 @ 3:00

Clark held:

2:40
2:43, 2:44, 2:42
2:36, 2:37
2:42, 2:40
2:35, 2:36, 2:35
2:36

Clark liked this set because it is a “3,450 yard set on overall pretty tight intervals. Holding best average on the 300s and cruising the 275s. Meant to kept heart rate elevated for around 35-40 minutes. I like doing longer pieces like this that keep you moving.”

Felicia Pasadyn

Pasadyn’s SCY lifetime bests are:

• 200 free: 1:45.31
• 200 back: 1:52.56
• 200 fly: 1:54.51
• 200 IM: 1:55.88
• 400 IM: 4:08.25

Set 1: 400 IM work

6x

100 fly dive @2:00
100 back push @2:00
100 breast push @2:00
200 free dive @2:00
150 easy 4:00

Pasadyn held 57-58s on the 100 fly, 1:00 on the back, 1:09 on the breast, and 1:52s on the free.

She liked this set because it “makes the 400 IM seem not too bad – if you can do this, you can do a 400 IM for SURE! I appreciate 400 IM quality work, and the 200 free from a push at the end of each round was a fun, motivating way to try to improve as the set went on. I also like to work on 400 IM details without having to do straight 400 IMs.”

Set 2: Aerobic ALL FREE work

1000 @ 11:40
10 x 100s @ 1:05
:40 sec
800 @ 9:40
8 x 100s @ 1:05
:40 sec
400 @ 5:00
4 x 100s @ 1:05

Pasadyn held around 1:02 base for the 1000, 800, and 400. The first round of 100s she held 1:00, the second round around :59, and the last round she went for it and held 56-57.

She likes this set because “physically, in a set like this, you get into a groove and your kick count, stroke count, and breathing pattern becomes predictable. However, mentally this is a tough one. It’s a fight not to go on autopilot or count yourself out before it begins, but work like this is where I like to pick one detail to focus on each chunk. For the 1000, it was 3 kicks off each wall, for the first set of 100s, it was a quick breath, for the 800, it was an early front catch, so on and so forth.”

Set 3: 4 IM work

All best average!
8 x 100s bk @ 1:30
8 x 100s breast @ 1:40
12 x 100s free @ 1:20

She held 1:01 for the back (1 second under her 400 IM pace), 1:11 for the breast (2 seconds under her 400 IM pace), and 55 for the freestyle (1 second under her 400 IM pace).

She likes this set because “this type of set is easy if you complete best average at 80% effort. Yet, working the set around 95% for the entirety of the workout makes days like this incredibly challenging! My personal goal was to work 400 IM details throughout the set, and I wanted to pick it up the last 6 x 100s free to work on bringing my races home. I struggled the most with breaststroke, since that is my “4th best” stroke, but I knew this was the type of work that would benefit me for the 100 breast leg of the IM!”

Set 4:  24x100s LCM (all free)

2x

3 @ 1:20
2 @ 1:15
1 @ 1:10
1 @ 1:20
2 @ 1:15
3 @ 1:10

She held 1:08-1:09 for the 100s on 1:20, 1:06-1:07 for the 100s on 1:15, and 1:04-1:06 for the 100s on 1:10.

I like this set because although it is only 2400m, it helps build a great aerobic base. It was a Friday morning and I remember I also enjoyed it because you could push it as much as you wanted. Long course work means starting with a strong pull focus and ending with the legs!