Pro Workout Series: Erika Ackerlund's Sneaky Seven

“This set doesn’t necessarily look super hard but...” Erika Ackerlund warns. The US short course triathlete and national team member says this swimming workout is one of her regular swims when she is getting ready to race. “When you just look at it, it’s not a time you’re going to struggle to make—that’s the idea. It’s about getting as much time practicing race pace and not being so tired you can’t hold really good form,” she explains. The swimming workout might not be the hardest on paper but don’t underestimate this sneaky swim workout.

Ackerlund races on the World Triathlon circuit across the globe and the swim is crucial for setting up a successful race. Given the racing dynamics of the bike and run that follow, being at the front of the swim is coveted territory. Athletes typically dive in from a pontoon and then the fight is on for front pack positions. “It can be brutal out there, “Ackerlund says bluntly, so getting comfortable at race pace is absolutely essential—and that’s what this set is all about.

The main set is multiple rounds of 3 x 100 meters at race pace with 50 meters of recovery. “The 100s are kind of close together but you should get enough rest that you’re refreshed going into the second round and so fourth,” Ackerlund says. “It’s amassing time at that pace without bringing the rest down so far that you’re out of breath and struggling to finish the set.” A few years ago, Ackerlund says most of her race pace swim workouts looked different, especially on paper. "I had come from doing a lot of sets where it was much more ́how short of rest can you hold ́ type of sets. So, [the first time] I looked at this I thought it wasn’t going to be that hard. But, even though no section jumps out as being really hard to do, you should be getting fairly fatigued come the end of the set,” she says.

When it comes to setting a target time for the 100 m splits, Ackerlund says she tries to be “realistic” and advises the same. “I don’t necessarily use my all-time best 1500 meter pace but something where you are a bit controlled,” she suggests. “The reasoning is so you still have a bit of energy for form. At the end of the day, if you’re not swimming with good technique, you’re just going to go slower.” If you don’t have 1500 m time to work from, use a challenging pace suited for long distance. Remember, this isn’t about hitting 100 m best times or going all out on each repeat.

Ackerlund also advises giving the warm up attention. “Use all the pick-ups in the warm up to get ready for the set, do not go all out. It’s about getting yourself ready to go hard,” she says.

As a fun addition, there are dives included in the warm up. “For our races we do a lot of diving into the race so just to have a little bit of a mental idea of what it’s like to dive in and go hard, the set has diving into the hard 25s,” Ackerlund says. “It’s just to get the movement pattern down so it’s not foreign. I actually don’t go off the blocks. I just go off the side of the pool because I feel that’s more similar to how we do it in races—we’re usually not far off the water.”

300 easy free
300 as 25 kick, 25 back, 25 free
4x50 drill
4x100 from a dive as 25 breakout/75 smooth and relaxed, rest as needed to get back on deck
4x100 aerobic descend @1:50
100 easy

7x
3x 100 at 1500 effort@1:30
50 easy@2:00

250 easy cool down

Total: 4400 m

300 easy free
300 as 25 kick, 25 back, 25 free
4x50 drill
4x100 from a dive as 25 breakout/75 smooth and relaxed, rest as needed to get back on
deck
4x100 aerobic descend @2:00
100 easy

5x
3x 100 at 1500 effortwith 15sec rest
50 easy@2:10

150 easy cool down

Total: 3600 m

200 easy (50 free, 50 back)
4x25 drill

2x100 from a dive as 25 breakout/75 smooth and relaxed, rest as needed to get back on deck
4x100 aerobic descend @2:15
100 easy

4x
3x 100 at 1500 effortwith 20sec rest
50 easy@2:15

200 easy cool down

Total: 2600 m

200 easy (50 free, 50 back)
4x25 drill
2x50 from a dive as 25 breakout/25 smooth and relaxed, rest as needed to get back on deck
3x100 aerobic descend, 25 seconds rest
100 easy

2x
3x 100 at 1500 effortwith 25sec rest
50 easy, full rest

100 easy cool down

Total: 1600 m