This tough 100 race pace set from Richard Quick teaches swimmers how to sustain speed when rest disappears and fatigue hits hard.
If you want a brutally honest test of your 100 freestyle speed, and how well you can keep technique and pace together when the lactate train hits you, this set will give you all you can handle and more.
This twist on a classic 100 freestyle race pace set, written by the late Richard Quick (6-time Olympic coach, 12-time NCAA champion coach) strips the event down to its foundation: speed early and swimming through lactate later.
As rest decreases, the challenge is holding race-pace mechanics under accelerating fatigue, similar to that final lap of a flat-out 100.
The Set
10×50 fast – target time: 100 race pace
- 4 @ 1:30
- 1 @ 1:20
- 1 @ 1:10
- 1 @ 1:00
- 1 @ :50
- 1 @ :40
- 1 @ :30
Why This Set Rips
The set will look familiar for many coaches/swimmers—the first four 50s are very similar to another classic race pace set that predicts 100 freestyle performance, the 4×50 free fast on ~2:00 special.
That set is correlated strongly with 100 free results (Terzi et al., 2021), with swimmers demonstrating:
- Faster velocities
- Increased lactate
- Higher stroke rate
…than during a straight 100 for time. Quick’s twist extends the set while rest steadily disappears. The early reps will have you at race speed. The later reps force you to defend it as fatigue mounts, stroke coordination changes to “survive,” and technique becomes harder to maintain.
In other words, it creates the same difficulty and lactate wall that we experience late in the 100 freestyle as we charge down the home stretch to the finish.
Set Notes:
- This is a high-stress set. It’s not long, but metabolically brutal. Use sparingly.
- Recover hard, too. Plan generous recovery after the set and additional rest post-workout.
- The set was designed for elite swimmers in a yards pool, with progressively shorter turnarounds toward the end. Adjust intervals as needed to match your ability.
- The first four reps should preserve roughly a 1:4 work-to-rest ratio to ensure true race-pace speed.
Happy sprinting!
THE 50 FREESTYLE BLUEPRINT
Stop Leaving PBs on the Blocks. Learn How Elite Sprinters Dominate the 50 Freestyle.
Most swimmers struggle with the 50 free and don’t know why. The problem isn’t talent–it’s the things no one has told them about sprinting. The start mechanics. The right way to train. The dryland. The sprint-specific technique that’s completely different from “regular” freestyle. Fix those, and PB’s start to fall.
WHAT’S INSIDE
- How to build an explosive start
- Sprint freestyle technique (not distance freestyle)
- Sprint-specific dryland
- 20 proven sets to get you started
- Energy systems, resisted sprinting, overspeed, and much more
- BONUS 54-page guide on mastering the 100 freestyle
AS SEEN IN
220+ pages. Evidence based. Pure speed. Let’s go. Instant access.
