One of the things I know is really important for me when it comes to swimming is having a set workout for when I get in the pool.

I have no idea how some people can just decide on a certain distance and swim until they reach it. Staring at the black line on the bottom of the pool for that long makes me want to blow my brains out.

I much prefer a workout that's broken down into sets, where each set has a goal.

Yesterday, I was on the way to the pool and realized I hadn't put together a workout yet. I hate not having a plan, so I whipped up a workout off the top of my head, and it actually ended up being a lot of fun.


Warm-up:
That's pretty self explanatory. I got in the water and took it nice and easy for these 500 yards. I always try to focus on good form in the warm up. I find that if I start a swim with poor form, it usually doesn't improve as I go.

Main Set:
5x50 on 1:00 - For these, I focused on speed by getting through the water efficiently. I worked on long strokes, keeping my gaze down, and breathing every three strokes. The time interval is adjustable based on your fitness. One minute intervals gives me anywhere from six to ten seconds of rest between 50's.

3x300 with 30 seconds rest between - The purpose of these 300's was to focus on maintaining good form after I was fatigued from some speedier intervals. I know in triathlons I'm going to get tired during the swim and I want to make sure I still maintain good form. I've learned you lose so much efficiency in the water if you start to let your form suffer so that's something I'm paying very close attention to in all of my pool workouts.

5x50 on 1:00 - Same as the first set. I like swimming shorter distances because I don't get as bored, so I threw another set of speedier intervals in at the end of the workout.

Cool-down:
There's nothing like a nice easy cool down after a good workout. I mixed freestyle and breast stroke during the cool-down because sometimes when I swim just freestyle, I end up pushing harder than I mean to. Breast stroke forces me to slow down and take it easy.

It took me right around 45 minutes to finish this workout and it was pretty much the perfect way to wrap up a busy day.

Swimmers out there, do you prefer to do your workouts broken into sets or do you pick a distance and just keep swimming until you reach it?