Week 2 – Final Weekend Preparation
Sunday 18 October 2026 | 60 minutes | 1,300–1,500m

Competition: MSM Scary Sprints – Saturday 31 October 2026
Squad: PC1, ages 10–12
Focus: 50m race speed, County-target stroke, starts, turns and finishes, with 15 minutes dedicated to butterfly development.

The Scary Sprints is now just under two weeks away. This session should develop confidence in swimming fast without compromising technique.

The key messages are:

• First 10m: explosive and streamlined.
• Fast into the wall, fast away.
• Maintain technique at race speed.
• Attack the second 25m.
• Finish through the wall, not towards it.

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1. WARM-UP – 300m (10 minutes)

200m continuous

• 50 Free
• 50 Back
• 50 Breast
• 50 Free

4 × 25 @ :45

1. Free – build
2. Back – build
3. Breast – build
4. Free – 15m sprint, easy finish

Emphasis: streamline, underwater kick, controlled breakout.

2. BUTTERFLY DEVELOPMENT – 300m (15 minutes)

Every PC1 session will include 15 minutes of butterfly kick, progression drills and whole-stroke swimming.

A. Dolphin Kick – 4 × 25 @ :50–1:00

1. Dolphin kick on back, arms streamlined.
2. Dolphin kick on front, arms streamlined.
3. Dolphin kick on side, change side at 12.5m.
4. Dolphin kick on front, build kick speed.

Focus: Movement begins at the chest, travels through the hips, with relaxed knees and ankles.

B. Fly Progressions – 4 × 25 @ 1:00

1. Body dolphin + single arm Fly.
2. Single arm Fly, alternate arms every three strokes.
3. 3 right arm / 3 left arm / 3 full strokes.
4. 3–3–3 progression into whole stroke.

Focus: Two kicks per arm cycle, low head position, relaxed recovery.

C. Full Fly – 4 × 25 @ 1:00–1:15

1. 12.5m Fly + 12.5m Free
2. 15m Fly + 10m Free
3. 20m Fly + 5m Free
4. 25m Fly – maintain rhythm throughout.

Swimmers already capable of swimming a legal 25m Fly should complete all four lengths as whole stroke.

Coach observation: Who can maintain two-beat kick timing and a horizontal body position without lifting the head excessively?

3. SPRINT PREPARATION – 8 × 25 (200m, 8 minutes)

8 × 25 @ :45–1:00

4 × 25 Freestyle

1. Build to 90%
2. Fast first 10m
3. Fast final 10m
4. Full 25m sprint

4 × 25 County-target stroke

1. Build to 90%
2. Fast breakout
3. Fast finish
4. Full 25m sprint

County-target stroke means the swimmer’s strongest realistic opportunity to achieve a County qualifying time.

Allow extra recovery where needed. The final 25m of each stroke should be genuinely fast.

4. MAIN SET – BROKEN 50s (200m, 15 minutes)

4 × 50m broken as 25 + 25

2 × Freestyle
2 × County-target stroke

Each repetition:

25m at race speed → 10 seconds rest → 25m at race speed.

Allow approximately 2–3 minutes between complete broken 50s, including recovery and coaching feedback.

Freestyle

• First 25: explosive start, maintain stroke length.
• Second 25: attack with the legs, maintain speed to the finish.

County stroke

• First 25: technically accurate race-speed swimming.
• Second 25: maintain rhythm under fatigue, aggressive finish.

Challenge: Can swimmers reproduce their first-length speed on the second length?

Record the two 25m times for each swimmer where practical.

The sum of the swimming times provides a useful broken-50 benchmark, although it is not directly comparable with a continuous 50m race.

For butterfly swimmers still developing endurance, use 15–20m of quality Fly followed by easy Free rather than forcing 25m of deteriorating technique.

5. STARTS, TURNS AND FINISHES – 300m (8 minutes)

6 × 50 @ 1:15–1:30

Each 50m:

25m technical skill + 25m easy recovery.

1. Dive, streamline, breakout.
2. Dive, breakout, accelerate to 15m.
3. Approach wall fast, turn, streamline.
4. Turn, underwater kick, breakout.
5. Sprint final 10m into finish.
6. Race choice – combine best skills.

Use supervised racing dives only where permitted and safe.

Coaching cue: No wasted metres.

6. SWIM-DOWN – 200m (4 minutes)

4 × 50 easy

• 50 Back
• 50 Free
• 50 Breast
• 50 Choice

Finish with a quick question:

“What is the one thing you will do better in your 50m race at Scary Sprints?”

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WHITEBOARD VERSION

PC1 – SCARY SPRINTS | WEEK 2

60 MIN | 1,500m

WU – 300
200 FC/BC/BR/FC
4 × 25 @ :45 build

FLY DEVELOPMENT – 300 | 15 MIN
4 × 25 Fly kick @ :50–1:00
4 × 25 Fly drills @ 1:00
4 × 25 Fly progression @ 1:00–1:15

SPRINT PREP – 200
8 × 25 @ :45–1:00
4 Free: Build / Fast 10m / Finish / MAX
4 County: Build / Breakout / Finish / MAX

MAIN – 200
4 × 50 BROKEN (25 + 10s + 25)
2 Free / 2 County stroke
2–3 min recovery between broken 50s

RACE SKILLS – 300
6 × 50 @ 1:15–1:30
25 Skill + 25 Easy
Starts / Breakouts / Turns / Finishes

S/D – 200
4 × 50 Easy Choice

TOTAL: 1,500m

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My recommendation for the final week

With Scary Sprints on 31 October, I would approach the remaining sessions as follows:

Session

Main focus

Butterfly 15 min

Sun 18 Oct

Broken 50s, County strokes

Kick + coordination

Wed 21 Oct

Backstroke and Breaststroke sprints

Kick + single-arm progressions

Fri 23 Oct

Fly and Free race speed

Whole-stroke Fly

Sat 24 Oct

50m race rehearsal

Kick + rhythm

Sun 25 Oct

Starts, turns, finishes

Technique and timing

Wed 28 Oct

Short, sharp sprint preparation

Controlled Fly

Fri 30 Oct

Light activation, confidence, recovery

Easy technical Fly

Sat 31 Oct

SCARY SPRINTS

Race day

One important coaching adjustment

I would not make every session a maximal sprint session.

For PC1 swimmers approaching County standard, the objective is to develop the ability to reproduce fast, technically accurate swimming, rather than simply accumulate hard efforts.

Your 15-minute butterfly commitment is particularly valuable. Across four sessions per week, that provides one hour of focused butterfly development. Over the next fortnight, this could make a considerable difference to swimmers who are still struggling to complete a legal, technically competent 50m Butterfly.

I would track three things in every butterfly block:

1. Kick: Can they maintain continuous, correctly timed dolphin kick?
2. Coordination: Can they demonstrate two kicks per complete arm cycle?
3. Whole stroke: How far can they swim legal Fly before technique deteriorates?

That gives you a straightforward measure of progress alongside race times.

The PC1 criteria emphasise County qualification potential and technically legal swimming across the medley events, so butterfly competence needs to remain a priority beyond Scary Sprints. 

MSM All Squads Criteria.pdf