Happy Hump Day!
Urban Dictionary defines Hump Day as “The absolute BEST day of the week, the day of maximum hope that maybe, you might make it out of this week alive. A particularly good hump day can last you the rest of the week, and by Doomday morning (Monday) you survive by anticipating hump day. Nothing goes wrong on hump day”. For other’s it’s a reminder that you’re at the middle of the week and the reminder is a downhill ride.
Regardless how you look at it, we’ve put together a Hump Day Themed workout that’s sure to keep you engaged physically and mentally!
Workout Statistics:
- Distance: 3,000 yards
- Duration: 48 Minutes
- Focus: Aerobic Conditioning
Warmup
This is a basic warmup that consists of three 400-yard blocks: Free, Kick, IM. The free is a long 400 stretched out Easy. The 4 x 100s kick get the body warmed up, and the final component of the warmup is a series of 8 x 50s IM order. These can be done 2x Butterfly, 2x Backstroke, 2x Breaststroke, 2x Freestyle; or this can be done standard IM order: Fly-Bk-Br-Fr twice through.
Main Set: Hump Day Ladder
This ladder starts with a single 100 and builds off of that in 100 yard increments. The average pace of the individual set should speed up so that your highest intensity (Threshold) swim is the 400 in the middle. To keep with the workout’s theme, let’s call this “The Hump”! After that, it’s all downhill from there – just like your week after hump day 🙂
- 1 x 100 Free @ 1:40 (1:40)
- 1 x 200 Free @ 3:00 (1:30)
- 1 x 300 Free @ 4:00 (1:20)
- 1 x 400 Free @ 4:40 (1:10)
- 1 x 300 Free @ 4:00 (1:20)
- 1 x 200 Free @ 3:00 (1:30)
- 1 x 100 Free @ 1:40 (1:40)
In the parentheses of the main set you can see the average pace per set within the ladder. The pace drops from 1:40 on the first 100 to 1:10 pace on the 400. This is a pretty aggressive drop. 5 seconds per 100 would be adequate to get the benefit of this set. For example you could start at 1:40 on the first 100 and only drop to 1:25 if you dropped 5 seconds per set.
Why?
To maximize your time in the water, it’s really important to vary the energy systems you train. For example, to simplify this set – we could say the ‘hump’ middle is the hardest and most high intensity part, while the start and end are relatively easy. A variance on this set would be to do the opposite: hard, easy, hard. The goal to a successful training plan (in any sport) is to vary your muscle groups and energy systems just enough so that you do not plateau and can keep pushing yourself to improve every workout of the week.
Cool Down
It’s important to let your body recover and cool down after a physically fatiguing set like this one. 100-200 yards is the minimum recommended to flush out lactic acid that was built up during the main set. A cool down and post-swim recovery can easily take up to 30 minutes or more. Hot tub?
Be sure to download the MySwimPro app in the App Store for iPhone and Google Play Store for Android!
