Swimming Set of the Week - October 30, 2010

There's no better way to honor Fran Crippen this week than to swim one of his distance sets.

This is a set that Fran told us about when we were interviewing him for his DVD Go Swim Open Water with Fran Crippen.  Of course, Fran would most likely do 30 or 40 rounds instead of ten:)  You can hear more about Fran's legendary training ethic in this interview from the DVD.

The set is 3500 yards or meters.  It's really a broken 3500.  
Swim 10 times through the following:

300 at your aerobic pace.   This is a pace that you could sustain for 30 minutes or more.
Stop and get your time, but approximately 5 seconds later you push off and do a 50 free at a pace that is at your anaerobic threshold or slightly higher.
Pause for about 10 seconds after the 50 and then start another 300 at your aerobic pace.
Etc. X 10...or 20...or 30.

As an added bonus, here's a little set that was designed by Fran's long-time coach, Richard Shoulberg.  It makes a good training set for the 500 free.  Everything is swum slightly faster than threshold pace.
25 on :30
50 on :60
75 on 1:30
50 on :60
50 on :60
75 on 1:30
25 on :30
25 on :30
50 on :60
25 on :30
50 on :60
25 on :30
25 on :30

Total:  550