Glossary

Glossary: This will be an every growing list of abbreviations/vocabulary you’ll see in the workouts to help you decode how to complete them!

Stroke and Drill Related:
Free = Front crawl/Freestyle
Back = Backstroke
Breast = Breaststroke
Fly = Butterfly
FR = Front crawl/Freestyle
BA = Backstroke
BR = Breaststroke
FL = Butterfly
IM = Individual Medley (stringing all 4 strokes together in a single swim in the following order: Fly, Back, Breast, Free)
Reverse IM = IM but the strokes are swam in the reverse order: Free, Breast, Back, Fly
Pull = Using a pull buoy, and usually paddles (unless explicitly stated otherwise)
SL = Streamline
SLOB = Streamline on back
SKPS = Swim Kick Pull Swim (paired with a distance – divide that distance into 4 to correspond to to one of the activities spelled out. Ex. 800 SKPS = 200 Swim, 200 Kick, 200 Pull, 200 Swim)
DPS = Distance Per Stroke (see how few strokes you can take in a length – the goal is to minimize this number, illustrating a good balance of power and efficiency)
B/E = Breathe Every (paired with a number – the number of strokes between each breath)
UW = Underwater
Resistance = using a tool that adds additional resistance to your swimming. This may include items like parachutes, hip fins, tights/resistance pants, etc.
Bungee Cord = an apparatus that gets secured against a block (or other stationary object on deck), and strapped around a swimmer’s waist, connecting the block and swimmer with a bungee cord. Similar to resistance training, this forces the swimmer to fight the bungee’s resistance, which increases the further down the pool they swim.

Time Related:
PB = Personal Best (your best time in a race)
PR = Personal Record (used interchangeably with PB)
Build = Indicates you should be increasing your speed within each iteration in a set (ex. 4 x 50s Build Free – each 50 should start easy/moderate freestyle, but end fast)
Descend = Indicates you should be increasing your speed through the duration of a set (ex. 4 x 50s Descend Free – the first 50 should start easy/moderate freestyle; the next 50 should be faster than the first, the 3rd 50 should be faster than the second, and the 4th 50 should be the fastest)
Ascend = Indicates you should be decreasing your speed through the duration of a set (ex. 4 x 50s Ascend Free – the first 50 should start fast freestyle; the next 50 should be a little slower than the first, the 3rd 50 should be slower than the second, and the 4th 50 should be the slowest)
R: = Indicates a set amount of rest between distances in a set (Ex. 4 x 50s R:15 – after each 50, regardless of how fast or slow you completed it in, take 15 seconds rest, and then proceed with the next.)
@ = Indicates an interval within which you need to swim the distance, and take your rest before proceeding with the next distance. (Ex. 4 x 50s @1:00 – each 50 of the four starts a minute after the previous one, regardless of how fast or slow you finished it. If you finish faster, you get more rest!)
P or Pace = “P” is representative of our personal 100 pace that gets baselined every once and a while (like the main set from the 2023/10/11 practice) that we are going to use to individualize intervals for freestyle training. “P” is often accompanied by a “+” and a number to indicate how many seconds are being added to our base pace to determine the actual interval we will be swimming.
Interval = What’s an interval? Rather than just taking rest between distances, intervals hold you accountable to the speed you need to maintain within the swim. The amount of rest you get is determined on your speed. Example: If the set is 5x100s Free R:20, it doesn’t matter if I do the 100s in 1:20, 1:40, or 3:00 – I’m still entitled to 20 seconds of rest. However, if the set is 5x100s Free on a 2:00 interval (notated as @2:00), my rest is calculated by subtracting my time (let’s say 1:40) from the interval (2:00), giving me 20 seconds rest. If I go slower (say 1:50), I will only get 10 seconds rest. On the other hand, if I go faster (say 1:10!), I will get lots of rest to compensate for my effort.