A Monster Race Pace Set for Improving Your 100 Freestyle

Ready to take your 100 freestyle to new heights? Here is a monster race pace set to give you the confidence to drop a nasty 100 free in competition.

Kicking the butt of your personal best time in the 100 freestyle requires a blend of speed and endurance.

Unlike the drop-dead speed of 50 events, which is pure power and speed, the 100 events require the endurance to close out the race without your technique and stroke falling apart like a cheap tech suit.

The swim workout below is designed specifically to help swimmers build the endurance and speed to drop a smoldering 100 freestyle in competition.

It includes:

• Lots of aerobic work as active recovery between high-grade efforts.
• “No bubbles” kicking to increase kick endurance
• Choice of drill to help you improve a technical aspect of your stroke
• And lots of 50s and 25s at or under your target race pace

We also added a “pro” variation of the set that is… nasty.

Alrighty, let’s dive into this workout and power up our 100 freestyle.

100 Freestyle Speed Endurance Set

Before we hop in for the workout, do some quick math on target pace. Take your goal 100m freestyle; for example, 52 seconds flat, and break it down to use in the main set:

• 52 seconds = 26 seconds per 50
• 52 seconds = 13 seconds per 25

Keep those two numbers—the 50 and 25 pace times—in your back pocket for the main set.

The gear you’ll need for this swim workout:

• Swim parachute – Swim parachutes, also known as drag chutes, are awesome to help swimmers build strength and for increased muscle activation during the tail end of warm-up. In this workout, we’ll use it in the pre-set to fully prime a strong catch and powerful body position.
• Kickboard – Don’t leave home without it! We’re going to be using a classic, old-school tombstone, high-density EVA foam kickboard as part of the warm-up and also during the main set as a blend of leg conditioning and active recovery.
• Can-do attitude – This set isn’t meant to break your soul, but it’s challenging, so bring a healthy can-do attitude along with you to the pool and let’s make some progress on building a faster 100 freestyle.

Warm-Up

800 swim/kick by 100, build the last 25 of each 100

Pre-Set

8×25 freestyle with medium parachute, desc 1-4 (x2) – 50s

100 swim choice to loosen up

Main Set

30×50 as ten rounds of:

• 50 kick strong on a board, no bubbles. Keep your feet from breaking the surface of the water; promotes a more fluid and balanced kick.
• 50 choice freestyle drill. I like using Long Dog drill or Closed-fist freestyle. Regardless of which freestyle drills you use, focus on swimming smoothly with excellent body position and a strong catch.
• 50 freestyle swim at 100m pace (Goal: 26 seconds)

Use an interval that gives you approximately 20-30 seconds of rest per 50.

200 easy to recover and rest

Next, we will do the same set all over again, but decrease the distance by half to promote more speed.

30×25 as ten rounds of:

• 25 kick strong on a board, no bubbles.
• 25 freestyle drill smooth
• 25 freestyle swim faster than 100m pace. If 100m pace is 13 seconds, aim to swim 12.5’s or 12 flats.

Use an interval that gives you 20-30 seconds per 25.

Warm-Down

9×50 swim smooth with perfect technique – 30s rest per 50

Set Totals:

• T: 4,000m
• Total Race pace distance: 750m

100m Speed Endurance Set – Pro Variation

Want to level up the set even further and crank out a ton more yardage at, near, or under target 100 freestyle pace?

Okie dokie!

It is the same format as the main set above, but this time, we will use a descending distance format that decreases the number of 50s each round paired with 6x25s faster than the target race pace on a descending interval.

We’ll add 100 easy between rounds to also keep the intensity and speed up during the 25s.

And yes, that last round of 6x25s does not tickle.

Warm-Up

800 swim/kick by 100, build the last 25 of each 100

Pre-Set

8×25 freestyle with medium parachute, desc 1-4 (x2) – 50s

100 swim choice to loosen up

Main Set

• 15×50 as 5x [kick/drill/swim at target 100m pace] @ 60 seconds
• 6×25 free faster than target race pace @ 60 seconds
• 100 easy
• 12×50 as 4x [kick/drill/swim at target 100m pace] @ 60 seconds
• 6×25 free faster than target race pace @ 50 seconds
• 100 easy
• 9×50 as 3x [kick/drill/swim at target 100m pace] @ 60 seconds
• 6×25 free faster than target race pace @ 40 seconds
• 100 easy
• 6×50 as 2x [kick/drill/swim at target 100m pace] @ 60 seconds
• 6×25 free faster than target race pace @ 30 seconds
• 100 easy
• 3×50 as 1x [kick/drill/swim at target 100m pace] @ 60 seconds
• 6×25 free faster than target race pace @ 20 seconds

Warm-Down

10×50 swim smooth and easy. Freestyle/backstroke by 25 – 30s rest after each rep.

Set totals:

• Total distance: 5,000m
• Total Race pace distance = 1,500m
• 100 freestyle race pace = destroyed

The Final Lap

Swimming a faster 100 freestyle on race day requires a strong blend of conditioning, strength, high-performance mindset, and the confidence to know you can hit your target race pace to hit your goals.

This set will help you get really familiar with what your target race pace will feel like, giving you the advantage of being able to “feel” your way to a perfect 100 freestyle in competition.

Give the set a shot, try different variations of it, decrease the number of 50s as you get closer to competition, and unlock some race pace awesomeness in the pool.

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