Swim faster for longer

Supercharge your swimming with this HIIT session, designed by endurance coach Steve Whittle.

When you’re preparing for any endurance event, the majority of your training will be based around steady state aerobic exercise, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the benefits of high intensity interval work (or HIIT, as it’s also known). This type of training can significantly improve your fitness by increasing your lactic acid threshold, improving your body’s efficiency at delivering oxygen to your muscles and also boosting your top speed.

Assuming you’re swimming four times a week, I’d suggest using at least one of these sessions to do interval work, using the example below as a starting point.

Swimming speed session

Warm up:

100m at RPE 2 (rate of perceived exertion on a scale of 1-7+ where 1-2 is very easy and 7+ is very hard)

Workout:

100m at RPE 6

30 seconds rest

Repeat X4

Cool down:

100m at RPE 2

Steve Whittle is an endurance and nutrition coach with over a decade’s experience. For more information, contact him at stevewhittlecoach.com or via Twitter @coach_whittle