How to kickstart your training with medley sets

Swimming training can be monotonous and unstimulating, particularly at certain times of year. To make your training drills more dynamic focus on medley sets, a combination of aerobic work and race-paced training.

The following medley sets are a combination of aerobic work and race-paced drills, which will make your training much more varied compared to simply swimming freestyle.

A common strategy, particularly during the first period of training, is to incorporate some medley sets in the training sessions. Of course, not everybody will be happy, but this kind of variation can certainly shake things up and make a training session less boring.

The medley sets we’re proposing here are a combination of aerobic work and race-paced drills, which will certainly make these training sessions different from just swimming freestyle.

Incorporate this kind of training in your swimming plan at least once a week and you will, perhaps, be more motivated even during apparently more boring sessions.

Set 1 – Aerobic (intensity 2 out of 5)

3×50 #25 freestyle + 25 butterfly with 10 sec. recovery
3×100 #50 freestyle + 50 backstroke with 15 sec. recovery

3×200 #100 freestyle + 100 breaststroke with 20 sec. recovery
3×400 #200 freestyle + 200 medley (changing stroke every 50) with 30 sec. recovery

Set 2 – Intense aerobic (intensity 3 out of 5)

1x 100 freestyle with 10 sec. rest

4 x 25 medley (butterfly – backstroke – breaststroke – freestyle) @ 30 sec.

2 x 100 freestyle with 10 sec. rest

4 x 25 medley (butterfly – backstroke – breaststroke – freestyle) @ 30 sec.

3x 100 freestyle with 10 sec. rest

4 x 25 medley (butterfly – backstroke – breaststroke – freestyle) @ 30 sec.

4x 100 freestyle with 10 sec. rest

4 x 25 medley (butterfly – backstroke – breaststroke – freestyle) @ 30 sec.

5x 100 freestyle with 10 sec. rest

4 x 25 medley (butterfly – backstroke – breaststroke – freestyle) @ 30 sec.

200 easy

Set 3 – race pace (intensity 4 out of 5)

4 sets (one for each stroke) X:

4×25 fast with fins @ 30 sec. (+15 sec. at end of 4th rep)

3×50 at 200 pace @ 60 sec.

2×25 hard @ 30 sec.

100 easy at end of each set