SPECIAL SETS
KATIE LEDECKY:
RUN-UP TO
With this month’s Olympic Swimming Trials now upon us, Swimming World takes a back-to-the-future approach to revisit some training done by superstar Katie Ledecky prior to the 2016 U.S. team qualifying meet. BY MICHAEL J. STOTT
A
lready an Olympic champion in the 800 meter free at the 2012 Games in London, Katie Ledecky, under the able hand of her Nation’s Capital coach Bruce Gemmell, had already amassed a bucketload of medals in the years leading up to the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials. She had garnered seven individual (four world records) and two relay gold medals from the 2013 and 2015 World Championships as well as four individual (two world records) and one relay gold from the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships. To fully appreciate Ledecky’s dominance, consider this: She owns the top seven times ever in the 400 meter freestyle and 21 of the top 26. Her 3:56.46 is 2.30 seconds faster than Ariane Titmus in eighth. She has the top 24 times ever swum in the 800 free, with her 8:04.79 swum in Rio being 9.31 seconds faster than second-place Rebecca Adlington, the 2008 Olympic champion. In the 1500 free, Ledecky has the top 11 times, a mere 18.40 seconds faster than her nearest competitor, Denmark’s Lotte Friis. The 200 free? Ledecky’s 1:53.75 is third best ever behind Federica Pellegrini’s leading supersuit time of 1:52.98. THE ROAD TO OMAHA But back to the future, circa 2016. Ledecky began the year with a bang. At the arena Pro Swim Series in Austin, she reset her 800 meter freestyle world record (8:07.39), going 8:06.68. In addition, she posted world-leading times in the 200 and 400 and a U.S. top time in the 100. Following are some representative sets on which Gemmell & Ledecky partnered after Austin to prepare the world’s best female swimmer for a successful Olympic Trials experience at the age of 19. “The focus was clearly on the 400 meter free, with expected spillover to the 200 and 800. Any attempts to prepare for the 1500 or 100 were back-burnered in the lead-up to Omaha and Rio,” says Gemmell. Coach and swimmer wanted to make sure she had enough speed for what was expected to be a very competitive 200 race. They were also determined to maintain an endurance focus to achieve their 800 goals and to endure a rigorous seven days of competition. “On the eighth day, she rested,” he says. 42
JUNE 2021
SWIMMINGWORLD.COM
[PHOTO PROVIDED BY BRUCE GEMMELL]
RIO 2016 >> Coach Bruce Gemmell and Katie Ledecky at the 2016 Rio Olympics
MOLDING OF A CHAMPION (All done in the period of March-May 2016, unless otherwise noted) Set 1 Threshold/Colors (Mon and Thu) 10 x 300 @ 3:20 (SCY) 1-4 descend (2:52.6, 2:49.0, 2:46.0, 2:43.6) 5-10 hold best average (2:44.3, 2:43.0, 2:43.0, 2:43.0, 2:42.2, 2:43.4) Converted Long Course estimate: average 3:06.4) Set 2 Threshold/Short Colors 150 and down (Thu) 40 +/- 5 minutes in length Sample Set (3 rounds): 1 x 300 @ 3:00 negative-split 3 x 150 @ 1:45 Pink 1:23.1 (using 56.0 T-30 base) 3 x 100 @ 1:15 Red 53.6 (using 56.0 T-30 base) 6 x 25 @ :20 Fast Feet 1:00 rest between rounds 3,600-yard set/44 minutes/7,600 total practice Set 3 Active Rest (Tue and some Fri) Long Course: Desc avg. time x “round” 1 x 100 @ 1:20 + 100 ez @ 1:30 1:01.9 2 x 100 @ 1:20 + 100 ez @ 1:30 1:01.5/1:01.1 3 x 100 @ 1:20 + 100 ez @ 1:30 1:00.8/1:01.2/1:00.9 4 x 100 @ 1:20 + 100 ez @ 1:30 1:00.4/1:00.3/1:00.2/59.4 3 x 100 @ 1:20 + 100 ez @ 1:30 59.1/59.3/58.8 2 x 100 @ 1:20 + 100 ez @ 1:30 58.3/58.6 1 x 100 @ 1:20 + 100 ez @ 1:30 57.3 Set 4 Broken Swims (Wed and maybe Sat) 4 rounds: 4 x 100 @ 1:20 Long Course (descend x round) 300 ez @ 5:40 Slowest 100 of all 4 rounds: 1:00.9 Average on last round of 4 x 100: 58.2 Last 100: 57.3
