05/10/05 CCB Masters Phelps Workout Again

There's been some discussion about this workout on the goswim.tv discussion board, so I thought I would give the workout to my Masters swimmers again this morning. It is deceptively hard, and will make you work hard, especially if you have great lanemates to keep you digging a little deeper. The main event of this practice is the 500 yards that you do while descending the pyramid. Everything else should be treated as a long warmup toward those 500 fast yards.WARMUP: 400400 your choice on your ownWARMUP SET: 300Twice through:50 kick with a pull buoy50 pull with a pull buoy50 swimMAIN SET: 1150You can do this in any stroke, or as IM on the 100s and 200s. Or...you could do you best stroke on the 100s and 200s and another stroke on the 50s and 150s. Whatever strokes you use on the way UP the pyramid, repeat them on the way down, so that you can compare your times. On the way UP the pyramid, you should swim EZ and relaxed. On the way DOWN, you should swim FAST. Times on the way DOWN should be faster than on the way UP. Take roughly 30 seconds rest between swims. This will feel like a lot on the way UP; like nothing on the way DOWN. After the first 200, you can take a 50-yard EZ recovery swim before heading back down the ladder.1 X 501 X 1001 X 1501 X 20050 EZ recovery1 X 2001 X 1501 X 1001 X 50100 EZ recoveryPULL SET: 300With a pull buoy, pull 300 free, bumping up your normal breathing pattern by 1, e.g., if you normally breathe every 3 strokes, breathe every 4 on this set. Breaststrokers can alternate 25 free pull and 25 whole-stroke breast with the pull buoy.FIN SET: 400Our fastest lane had time for the full 400. Next group of lanes had time for the first 200. Some lanes did not do this at all and went straight into warmdown.With fins: 200 Single-Arm IM200 2L/2R IM, except freestyle is regular freestyleWARMDOWN: 100Total Yardage: 2650 approx.