All The 50s!

This is a set we’ve done in our Squads a few times recently. It is a good threshold type session – it will have you working hard, but the pace is (just about) sustainable. We are using 50s as our rep distance in this session, but it could be done with 75s or 100s.

The Session

Warm Up

2 x 100m easy (30s)

A short warm up to get a feel for the water. If you have time, you could increase this – or use a warm up of your choice.

Main Set

This set is based on 12 x 50m. In this session, we are doing 12 x 50m three times through. You could do it once, twice, three times, four times etc. So scale this session to suit you and your time available.

The 12 x 50m are broken up into blocks of 4 x 50m

All of the 50s should be at 7/10 type effort – strong effort, but controlled – and ideally, you swim them all at the same pace throughout the set.

Take a short break (15-30s) after each block of 4 x 50m. As your fitness develops, you may remove these short rest breaks.

Take additional rest (30-45s) after each 12 x 50m

The Set

4 x 50m (20s rest)
4 x 50m (15s rest)
4 x 50m (10s rest)

Cool Down

8 x 25m long and smooth (15s)

Once you have done this session once or twice, you may feel more confident to push the pace a little higher.

My advice?

Go for it!