Hi, my name is Lindsay and I am a fitness addict (cue support group response). There is nothing more difficult for an avid runner or lifter than to take a day off, but sometimes it is necessary. We live in a fitness community that emphasizes pushing yourself harder, running faster, lifting heavier, and finishing workouts as quick as possible (I’m looking at you CrossFit). Sometimes though, this isn’t the smartest decision for our body – I learned this the hard way last year.
Last year I was in the middle of training for my third half marathon, the Disneyland Half Marathon. I was running my best times on my 14 mile runs, training at my Crossfit gym four days a week, and logging over 40 miles a week in running. Guess what happened? Two words: stress fractures. It was my worst nightmare. Not only could I not run the Disneyland Half Marathon, I was prohibited from any physical activity except for swimming laps – without pushing off the wall. I learned an invaluable lesson from this experience that I hope none of you ever have to learn the same way – rest days and non-impact workouts are critical to sustaining a healthy and fit lifestyle. You need to take care of your body. The scariest part is that I didn’t even know the damage I was doing at the time.
During my eight month sentence to the pool (yes, eight whole months of nothing but swimming, not even stationary biking), I found new ways to challenge myself physically. I also found some amazing tools to help the pool time pass quickly and make my workouts fun. Now, I share these findings with you. I hope you choose to select a day as a rest day and I hope you learn to incorporate some non-impact swimming days into your workout routine – not only is it critical to maintaining health, but it is physically challenging like no other workout. I try and incorporate at least one swim workout a week to maintain a good balance and work on my tan simultaneously. So here for your reading pleasure and with pool weather just around the corner, here are my favorite swimming workouts and the equipment I learned to love.
The Workouts:
2400 Meter Workout
- 200 Meter Swim (pick any stroke you choose – Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, or Butterfly)
- 200 Meter Pull Drill
- 200 Meter Kick Drill
- 200 Meter Swim (any stroke) 3 Rounds of 150 Meter Swim with 20 seconds rest in between each round (swimming at FULL EFFORT any stroke you choose)
- 3 Rounds of 150 Meter Pull Drill with 20 seconds rest in between each round (again, FULL EFFORT)
- 5 Rounds of 100 Meter Swim with 15 seconds rest in between each round (FULL EFFORT, rotating 50 Meters of Freestyle and 50 Meters of Non-Freestyle stroke of your choice)
- 200 Meter Swim Cool-Down (NOT FULL EFFORT, any stroke)
3000 Meter Workout
- 500 Meter Swim Warm-up (pick any stroke you choose – Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, or Butterfly)
- 10 Rounds of 50 Meter Freestyle Swim
- 500 Meter Freestyle Kick (using kickboard)
- 5 Rounds of 200 Meter Freestyle (begin new round every 3 minutes)
- 16 Rounds of 25 Meter Swim (begin a 25 Meter segment every 30 seconds) (rotate stroke every 25 Meters in the following order – Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Freestyle)
- 100 Meter Easy Swim Cool-down (any stroke)
3600 Meter Workout
- 200 Meter Swim (pick any stroke you choose – Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, or Butterfly)
- 200 Meter Pull Drill
- 200 Meter Kick Drill
- 200 Meter Swim (any stroke) 6 Rounds of 150 Meter Swim with 20 seconds rest in between each round (swimming at FULL EFFORT any stroke you choose)
- 100 Meter Pull Drill (aim for a 2 minute per 100 Meter pace)
- 200 Meter Pull Drill (aim for a 2 minute per 100 Meter pace)
- 300 Meter Pull Drill (aim for a 2 minute per 100 Meter pace)
- 400 Meter Pull Drill (aim for a 2 minute per 100 Meter pace)
- 300 Meter Swim (any stroke) (aim for a 2 minute, 10 second per 100 Meter pace)
- 200 Meter Swim (any stroke) (aim for a 2 minute, 10 second per 100 Meter pace)
- 100 Meter Swim (any stroke) (aim for a 2 minute, 10 second per 100 Meter pace)
- 300 Meter Cool Down (rotating 100 Meters of Freestyle and 50 Meters of Non-Freestyle stroke of your choice)
4200 Meter Workout
- 200 Meter Swim (pick any stroke you choose – Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, or Butterfly)
- 200 Meter Pull Drill
- 200 Meter Individual Medley (50 Meters Butterfly, 50 Meters Backstroke, 50 Meters Breaststroke, 50 Meters Freestyle)
- 200 Meter Kick Drill
- 200 Meter Swim (any stroke)
- 6 Rounds of 150 Meter Swim with 20 seconds rest in between each round (swimming at FULL EFFORT any stroke you choose)
- 100 Meter Pull Drill (aim for a two minute per 100 Meter pace)
- 200 Meter Pull Drill (aim for a 1 minute, 30 second per 100 Meter pace)
- 300 Meter Pull Drill (aim for a 1 minute, 30 second per 100 Meter pace)
- 400 Meter Pull Drill (aim for a 1 minute, 30 second per 100 Meter pace)
- 400 Meter Swim (any stroke) (aim for a 1 minute, 35 second per 100 Meter pace)
- 300 Meter Swim (any stroke) (aim for a 1 minute, 35 second per 100 Meter pace)
- 200 Meter Swim (any stroke) (aim for a 1 minute, 35 second per 100 Meter pace) 100 Meter Swim (any stroke) (aim for a 1 minute, 35 second per 100 Meter pace)
- 300 Meter Cool Down (rotating 100 Meters of Freestyle and 50 Meters of Non-Freestyle stroke of your choice)
After you complete your workout, be sure to cool down and stretch outside of the pool. It is also fun to throw in some planks at the end to engage your core and make the most of the time you’ve spent in the pool.
The Equipment
