100 Pool Swimming Workouts with 2500 - 4500 Distances
Created for all lap and distance swimmers looking to improve technique and endurance.
Written by Daniela Klaz, Wild Waters LLC © 2024 First Edition
Daniela, owner of Wild Waters, been teaching swim lessons, creating training plans, and writing workouts for swimmers and non-swimmers for almost 20 years for all skill levels and ages. This workout book is meant to be an inspirational and motivational training tool, to be combined with “dryland” activities, such as strengthening and cardiovascular exercises. Please refer to the distances in the training table to see the progression in daily and weekly yardage. This training plan is intended for use by swimmers who have a foundation of being able to swim ~2500 (yards or meters, this workout book is agnostic). Some swimmers complete the workouts in one practice per day, while others break the workout into two swims, especially for the longer endurance days where there may not be enough pool time to complete the distance in one session. If you haven’t worked up to 2500 in one session, consider adapting the workouts to fit your needs with fewer repetitions, or cut down the number of sets.
Why is this a digital download?
Please note that this workout book will be delivered digitally as a PDF file. It totals 116 pages. The first sections after the introduction include a 22-week training schedule, pace chart, glossary, and drill lists for each stroke. With so many swimmers able to load workouts on their watches, have their waterproof phones close by, or able to hand-write their workouts, Wild Waters chose to deliver this book digitally to both be more sustainable and affordable.
What is the training plan structure?
This book is structured with rest and recovery built in: the cycle consists of Focus & Technique, Endurance/Bulk, Speed, and Recovery. Most swimmers rotate through this cycle by week, with the entire cycle covering one month. For instance, a swimmer will focus on Focus & Technique workouts week 1, endurance/bulk workouts week 2, speed week 3, and then recover on week 4. Ultimately, each swimmer will have a method that works for them, and these workouts can be used in or out of order - whatever floats your kickboard.
Why 100 workouts for 22 weeks?
The intention behind supplying 100 workouts, ending with a Focus & Technique week, is because the weeks coincide with the start of open water swimming season for most of the United States. If a swimmer begins these workouts in early January, they will complete the workouts in early June, ready for open water distance swims. A secondary goal of this workout book is also to provide a training foundation for a swimmer aiming to swim a 5k - 10k event after the 100 workouts are complete.
Is it only freestyle?
Some of the workouts have non-freestyle sets and drills included. If that’s not your preference, you can switch the set to one or more strokes that you prefer. For instance, some swimmers choose not to do butterfly, and can modify IM sets by doing freestyle instead of butterfly, while other swimmers switch the entire IM for a freestyle set. Although it’s up to each individual, the author of this workout book do encourage switching strokes to use varying muscle groups and break up the monotony of single-stroke workouts.