Swimming Games Part Three: Relay Mashups

As a coach, I write my workouts in advance, looking at the week as a whole. By looking at my week and reviewing my group's focus sets, sometimes I can swap out a set for a relay. Occasionally, I can even make the relay the main set. This can be useful as well as fun. Take a set of 10 x 50’s off the blocks fast average on 2:00 rest so your swimmers are going one heat at a time. Mix it up and create a monster relay. Make the teams smaller, as small as three and as large as needed, though much more than six and your swimmers will be getting more rest than the original set intended. To get your 10 50’s you can run one giant relay with repeats - somewhat challenging to keep track of, but very fun - or several smaller relays. I like to break them up. For example, on relay number one each swimmer races four 50’s. The second relay they each race three 50’s, the third relay they each race two 50’s and the final relay is a standard relay where each swimmer races one 50. Another variant of this set is a ladder relay. With each repeat, the distance raced by each swimmer increases. A fun one is a ladder 200 IM relay. The first relay each swimmer races a 50 fly, the second relay they each race a 50 fly and a 50 back consecutively. The third repeat each swimmer races a 150, 50 fly, 50 back, 50 breast. And on the fourth repeat, each swimmer races a 200 IM. Teamwork is a skill learned through practice and exposure. Relays are innately fun, and can be used as a training tool as well. Think outside the box, challenge yourself to examine a workout, and make a set a fun challenge.