Week 8

You are on the last week of the second four-week block, and the training remains focused on your base and endurance phase. This week, you should be rested and ready to up the mileage after last week’s active-recovery phase.

Monday: OFF

Tuesday: Swim 30 minutes

200m warm-up, choice stroke
4 x 50m kick freestyle (as 25m easy, 25m big kick, with 15 seconds rest after each 50)
5 x 75m freestyle (as 25m breathing every third stroke, 25m breathing every fifth stroke 5, 25m breathing every third stroke, with 30 seconds rest after each 75)
6 x 25m freestyle (blast first 15m, easy to the end, with 20 seconds rest after each 25)
100 easy cool-down, choice of stroke Total: 1000m

Wednesday: Run/walk 30 minutes

5 minute warm-up walking
3 x (30 seconds jog, 30 seconds faster than jog pace, 2-minute recovery walk)
3 x (3-minute jog, 1-minute walk)
5-minute cool-down walk

Faster than jog pace should raise your heart rate quite a bit. Remember to stay relaxed and maintain form and technique while increasing your intensity.

Thursday: Bike 40 minutes

15-minute warm-up spin
4 x (30 seconds left leg spinning, 30 seconds both, 30 seconds right, 30 seconds both)
3-minute recovery
3 x (30 seconds fast-cadence spinning, 30 seconds recovery spin)
10-minute cool-down spin

Single-leg work: As the interval increases in length and your leg becomes fatigued, remember to maintain foot rotation and consistency throughout the entire pedal stroke.

Friday: Swim 30 minutes

200m warm up, choice
4 x 25m freestyle (DPS, with 15 seconds rest)
4 x 100m (as 75m freestyle/25m double-arm backstroke, with 30 seconds rest after each 100)
6 x 25m freestyle (15m blast, easy to end, with 15 seconds rest after each 25)
200m cool-down, choice stroke
Total: 1050m

Double-arm backstroke: Both arms pull and recover at the same time. This aids in loosening up and relaxing the shoulders.

Saturday: Run/walk 40 minutes

10-minute warm-up walking
2 x (3-minute jog, 2-minute walk)
2 x (30 seconds jog, 45 seconds faster than jog pace, 2:15-minute recovery walk)
10-minute cool-down walk

Sunday: Bike 60 minutes

15-minute warm-up spin
4 x (30 seconds left leg, 30 seconds both, 30 seconds right leg, 30 seconds both)
3-minute recovery spin
6 x (45 seconds standing, 2:15-minute recovery spin)
10-minute cool-down spin

When standing: Make sure that you aren’t leaning on your handlebars. When you lean your weight onto your arms, you lose quite a bit of leg force. You should concentrate on driving your foot down the center of your pedal with one leg while pulling up with the other. As well, try not to rock your hips back and forth on the bike.

TOTAL TRAINING TIME: 4 hours
As you can see, you have brought up the mileage and maintained intensity. This week you will have clocked the most miles yet, so it is very important to keep focused, rest up and eat properly. Starting next week, I will be incorporating a bit of heart-rate work and adding in some flipper- and pull-buoy-work in the pool. If your local pool doesn’t have the equipment, look at investing in some. If not, simply do the sets without these training devices.

Remember that if you would like to add a few minutes to the end of a workout, proceed with caution, and if you feel that it is too much load, go back to last week’s training. If you are fairly serious about your goals and specific training regime, and have many unanswered questions or concerns, consider consulting a coach to add some personal touches to reflect your own individual strengths, needs and overall well-rounded development.