The Kitchen Sink Set

Here’s a workout I sometimes do if I show up to the pool without a plan. It consists of 10 sets, each totaling, respectively: 1000, 900, 800, 700, 600, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100. You make up each set as you go along. Usually, I’ll do the first 1000 as warm-up, and tack on 5×100 cool-down at the end, for an even 6,000 yards/meters.

I call it the Kitchen Sink Set. Here’s one version I did this past weekend (SCY):

• 1000 w/u: 300 swim, 200 kick, 300 pull, 2×100 IM
• 3×300 pull, moderate
• 4×200 IM, threshold
• 14×50: 2x {fly, fly/back, back, back/breast, breast, breast/free, free}
• 6×100 kick, descend 1-3
• 100 loosen, 400 Free AFAP (as fast as possible)
• 4×100: 50 drill / 50 swim, choice of stroke
• 6×50 fly, smooth
• 200 IM, broken @ the 50’s, 10 seconds rest - AFAP
• 4×25 sprint under-water SDK (streamline dolphin kick) on back

I like this workout for a couple reasons. The structure of descending distances keeps you motivated to push through to the end (important when training solo). It has a little bit of everything - aerobic, threshold, lactate, mix of strokes, drilling, kicking, pulling, SDK’s. And it’s different every time. If you have a training partner, you can divide creative responsibilities to make it even more interesting.