Welcome to Workouts off the beaten path!  These workout plans will be aerobic-based, focused on technique and swimming with maximum efficiency, include a variety of strokes, sculls, and drills, and will allow you to log yardage in creative ways.

Swimmers can expect the following:

•    Aerobic-based, year-round training, 5 practices per week (5 workouts posted each Friday or Saturday afternoon).
•    Attention to technique and swimming with maximum efficiency.
•    2500-3000 short course meters or yards per workout and taking about 1 hour to complete.
•    General weekly plan:  Mondays – distance freestyle and pacing focus; Tuesdays – stroke and/or IM focus; Wednesdays – middle distance freestyle and pacing focus; Thursdays – strokes and/or IM focus; Fridays – sprint freestyle and speed focus.

My background:  I am the head coach of Columbia-Willamette Swimming, a small age-group team located in Portland, Oregon.  We swim at Allstar Fitness (formerly the Metro YMCA) in downtown Portland.  I have coached since 1986 and competed in masters swimming on and off for the past 15 years.  Please view my resume and coaching philosophy for further background information.

I title my posts “Workouts off the beaten path” because I strive to design workouts that minimize boredom and maximize interest and focus.  As a former elite-level swimmer in the late 1970’s I swam plenty of meters and have no wish to re-live those workouts (11-13 practices per week, often 5-6000 meters per practice).

Four helpful documents for understanding my workout plans:  workout terminology by sjblack, sculls by sjblack, drills by sjblack, and pace chart explained by sjblack.  These will be updated as needed.  Please email me if you have questions and/or comments about the workouts (sjblack@letterboxes.org).

All the best for a great 2012!  I look forward to offering you new ways to log more yards in the pool.