An arena coach explains how to write a training plan. Here are all the tips you need to devise a training session to make the most of your time.
In this article, I would like to explain how I see training. Not so much in terms of drills to be done, but how I actually organise training sessions for my competitive/masters swimmers and triathletes.
Why do I think this is so important? Firstly, because having a “schedule”, a kind of routine or guidelines for daily workouts, makes training easier and, secondly, it allows you to focus more easily on the kind of progression we are always talking about.
WARM-UP
The first part of training is the warm-up. This is an extremely important phase, because it is when you start to get all the muscles you will be using properly warmed-up and ready to use. I usually suggest a distance of between 300-500 m, swum anyway you want or, more often than not, alternating relaxed swimming with swimming focusing on your arm stroke. For example, freestyle with underwater recovery or single-arm freestyle. So, my athletes get to alternate things they enjoy (free swimming) with more carefully controlled elements.
TECHNIQUE AND LEG WORK
The second stage is generally working on technique. During this phase I assign both specific…
