Swim Coach
As a coach, I started writing my workouts as a complete workout on a sheet of paper. I found throughout the years that my swimmers would like certain parts of the workout, but dislike others. This led me to develop a system of laminated cards that I could piece together to make a workout for the day. I kept the sets they liked and threw away the ones they disliked.
I would suggest that you cut these cards out, laminate them, and keep them in a file box. You might also make a large binder with plastic sheets that have inserts to fit the cards. This is an easy way to flip through them to build a workout, and you can also take a sheet to the pool and put it directly on a clipboard.
Organizing them simply by drill, sprint, and distance gives me the ability to build workouts in any order and with as many cards as the time period can handle. I have dividers in my box for each section and one at the back that says “Used This Season”. I also ask all of my athletes to write down their favorite set and keep them under a separate section.
This system makes it very easy to build your own file as you go. I have included blank cards at the end of each section for you to copy and create your own. If you have some great sets that you would like to share with the swimming community, e-mail them to me with your name and I will include them in future updates of Swim Coach.
