Back in late 2014, I came in contact with Tim Floyd of Magnolia Masters based in The Woodlands, Texas. Tim was putting together an early season swim-focus camp in January of 2015 and had invited me to join them. I decided to go down and join the camp and have been periodically returning to The Woodlands to do various training blocks over the years. I returned to the January camps in 2016 and 2017; in 2018 I was not there in January, but I was there for three weeks leading into Ironman Texas; in 2019 I had planned to return in January, but a respiratory infection in late December had me pull out of the camp.
This year I was able to go down for week two of the January camp. While I was happy to be able to attend the camp for a week, I think training camps are much more effective in two week chunks. Typically, it takes several days to start finding a rhythm and once you do, the benefits and upside start to reveal themselves. I have always had my best training sessions in week two of these swim camps and I could clearly see the athletes that had been there for the full duration were reaping maximum benefits in the closing week.
One benefit I do have is understanding the structures of the camp ‘week’ as it relates to energy distribution and intensity (specifically when the days will be harder and easier). I believe this made it a little easier for me to show up midcamp and fall in step with the other athletes.
The standard weekly set up for the camps is as follows (generally):
Monday: Morning and midday sessions; aerobic steady state volume.
Tuesday: Morning and midday sessions; higher intensity with hold pace work, typically done with shorter reps, though that can vary.
Wednesday: No planned sessions though athletes sometimes still swim if they choose.
Thursday: Morning and midday sessions; generally easier day.
Friday: Morning and midday sessions; higher intensity and the most challenging day of the week, in my opinion.
Saturday: Morning session; somewhat ad hoc, probably based on how everyone looks. Can be higher aerobic steady state sort of day or a little more moderated if needed.
Sunday: Off from scheduled session, but mid-camp this day is often used for filming, instructional work, etc. in the pool.
What about bike and run? This really depends on the individual athlete. Often times, there are athletes attending the camps that are also doing a solid amount of cycling and running because of early season racing. This has never been the case for me so what I have typically done is moderated the intensity and volume of BR work, with the exception of Wednesday’s and Sunday’s, but even then, it’s usually still not too hard. I also tend to only swim on Tuesday’s and Friday’s so that I can go ‘all in’ on those crucial days without the stress of having to check another box that day. I’ve found that to be a happy medium for me and have maintained that template over the years.
Every single swim session, regardless of main set, begins with the same warm up variation of swim (with fins), kick (with fins), and pull (paddles optional), followed by a descend swim set either 8 x 50 1-4 2x, 4 x 75 1-4, or 4 x 100 1-4. The SKP is anywhere between about 1000-1500 total plus the 3-400 of descending. Then there is typically a lead up set with some sort of technique component (often with gear, more on that later). Then comes the main set itself. As you can see, we spend a long time prepping for the key work and this is something I have always really appreciated. With increasing fatigue, and increasing fitness, the benefits of being fully warmed up and switched on become more and more appreciated.
Additionally, much of what we do all week is built towards Friday. While the other days might be plenty challenging, it is the collective performance of those days that sets Friday up to be the “push.” While both Tuesday and Friday have hold pace work, the reps on Tuesday are usually shorter and serve as somewhat of a lead up to what might be achieved 72 hours later.
Here are the sessions from my week with the camp (some of it written in shorthand as this is from my training log).
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Monday Session one
6/3/3 SKP
4 x 100 1-4 on 1:30 in 75,70,65,61
Two rounds
6 x 50 ks, sk on 1:05
200 pull
Main Set
4 x 150 on 2:15 @ 1:46-43
4 x 150 rotating kick
4 x 150 pull on 2:15
4 x 150 1-4 on 2:15 @ 1:50,43,38,35
150 easy
Afternoon session
4/3/3 SKP
8 x 50 1-4 2x on :50
Main Set
Three rounds of
300 paddles/fins build by 100's
4 x 125 on 1:50
first round descend 1-4
second round steady swim
last round descend 1-4 pull
200 c/d
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Tuesday Session One
5/4/4/SKP
4 x 75 down to 46
3 x 100 gear
4 x 25 mits 100 easy
Main set 40 x 50 on :55 starting at 32, then long time circa 31 then final 25% or so at 30
Tuesday Afternoon
1200 up
4 x 100 1-4 on 1:30 down to 61
8 x 25 paddles Sox on :35
100 easy
8 x 50 on 55 down to 29 on last 5 or so
8 x 25 mits
100 easy
200 for time in 2:04
200 c/d
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Thursday Morning
4/4/4
4 x 100 on 1:30 down to 61+
1200 ks fins
12 x 75 pull
12 x 25 swim fast/easy
Thursday Afternoon
Similar session but with
800, 8x 50, 12 x 25 swim main set
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Friday Morning
1200 up
8 x 50 1-4 to 29 both times
16 x 25 brick/swim
12 x 100 on 1:30 target 64; about 5 at 63
100 easy
4 x 50 mits
12 x 100 again; about 6-7 at 63 this time
2-300 easy
Friday Afternoon
4/3/3 SKP
8 x 50 1-4 down to 28+
6 x 75 as 25 brick/50mits
Main Set 15 x 100 target 1:03 with NOME light target on :24 rest so 1:27 send off essentially. Just barely hanging on at that end, but pretty good through 12 or so. Odd send off possible with use of NOME led light.
200 easy
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Saturday Morning
Workout got deleted from TP, but it was a little over 4K with a moderate main set of
8 x 100 on 1:25
8 x 75 on 1:05
8 x 50 on :45
8 x 25 on :20
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In the end, it was 36,000 yards across the five days of work. As I mentioned above, I think there would have been a lot of upside to a second week, but that’s all that was in the cards this time.
This year we got to use some different technique tools from AquaVolo, Laguna Fin Co, and Fike Swim (Gear from all of them, pictured in gallery below).
Fike Swim makes the BRICK; the opposite of a flotation device. It’s a kick board that does not provide buoyancy, forcing the swimmer to engage their core in order to maintain good position. The best way I can describe it is that it sort of combines the feeling of doing a plank while kicking, as opposed to simply resting your upper body while kicking.
Laguna Fin Company provided us with some unique fins that are extremely flexible and don’t cup the heel like a traditional fin. Essentially, it gives you more of an awareness of your foot’s action as opposed to feeling like the knee and hip are the only drivers. They also have much softer and malleable feel and don’t have the traditional rigidness of a swim fin.
Aquavolo provided us with hand paddles, drag socks and mits. The hand paddles are unique because they extend outwards from the palm, but not high and low, so the fingers remain free. This forces you to engage the catch more from the palm and it also doesn’t leave your hands feeling off when you remove them. Often times, an easy 100 or two is needed to “find your hands” again after using standard paddles. The drag socks create resistance/drag at the feet forcing more engagement up top. The mits are something I have been using for a while now and are easily one of my favorite tools. It is a mesh glove that acts as somewhat of a resistance tool as well an alternative to doing the fist drill. With the gloves on, you lose some of the sense of your hand, but without making a fist that often times feels awkward and creates unwanted tension (at least for me). I have found that mits really help me find that extra bit of speed after using them in some lead up sets. My feel for the water always seems to improve after a few reps.
The final piece of equipment we got to try was a prototype from NOME. This involves a cord that runs along the bottom of the pool that has an LED light you can set to a specific pace. Three red blinks and then you start. If you notice the Friday set above, I was able to do an odd send off of 1:27 because you can set the pace and the rest to very specific numbers. I thought this was a fantastic training tool and I look forward to seeing it come out with even more capabilities; my understanding is that it will be able to accommodate multiple swimmers at once and be programmable from an App on your phone.
Finally, just before leaving town, Tim and I sat down to record a podcast together. We talk about training, racing, past camps, my background in sport and variety of other topics. You can find that podcast HERE.
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I’m now home in Boulder getting back into the swing of things here. These swim camps take a lot of time and energy to produce and I want to thank Tim for always making them happen. I’d also like to give a big shout out to all the athletes (this year and beyond) for showing up and working hard and making the atmosphere for success possible.
Happy Training,
Justin
The Mits in action.
AV Hand Paddles. Notice the fingers free at the top.
Laguna Fins in action.
Checking the clock.
Gotta love their quote at the top: “This is not a flotation device.”
Sadly, I did not get to see Max this trip.
The Nome setting the pace.
