Ruby5 Lake Wanaka Swim Training Session 29

Swimming, December 19, 2025

Build the endurance, confidence, and open-water skills to conquer your 5 km Ruby Island challenge. Are you ready to take on the iconic Ruby5 Swim in beautiful Lake Wanaka? 🏊‍♀️🏊‍♂️ Whether it’s your first 5 km open-water swim or you’re looking to improve your performance from previous years, the Ruby5 Lake Wanaka Swim Training Plan is designed to get you to the start line feeling confident, prepared, and ready to enjoy every stroke. 🌊

For swimmers who are after a workout between 1,000 & 2,000 metres.

Read this article here for an explanation of Swim Intensity.

Session 29

  • 400 WU;
  • 6x 50 Drill 15RI;
  • 10x 200 20RI;
  • 200 CD (2,900)

Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) covering of 400m. During the warm-up feel free to stop and stretch as needed.  It doesn’t need to be a continuous swim.

Next up is a drill set. There are six, 50m Drill repetitions. Feel free to use fins whilst doing this set.  Do the drills below once through:

  1. Kick On Side (KOS) left side 
  2. Kick On Side (KOS) right side 
  3. 6/1/6 
  4. 6/3/6
  5. Popov
  6. Broken Arrow

The first main set is made up of ten, 100m reps. Take a twenty-second Rest Interval (RI) after each rep.

Complete the workout with a 200m Cool Down (CD). Feel free to pause and stretch when needed and/or include stretching as part of each break until the distance is covered.

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