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Fitness 2 Masters Swim Training

Improve your speed and fitness with PACE

Are you looking for a training plan and coaching to guide your pool-based training? PACE© Swim Training’s Fitness 2 Masters program will help you structure your pool time to achieve your fitness, technical, or racing goals. Our training plans will reinforce and improve your stroke mechanics as they build your conditioning and speed for race day.

Take advantage of a 14-day free trial membership at the introductory PACE Essentials membership level at the end of the sign up process. You can upgrade to a higher membership level at the end of the trial period if you choose.

To get signed up for a program, you’ll do the following four steps:

  1. Determine your skill level to ensure you start at the right level of volume and intensity
  2. Select a plan for the type of training you want to do — technique and base development, endurance building, or speed/peak training
  3. Provide us these details and information about your goals and races
  4. Select a coaching membership payment plan that matches the level of coaching that you need.

If you need to train specifically for an upcoming triathlon or open water swim race, you’ll want to review our Triathlon and Open Water Swim training plans instead of these plans.

Step 1:  Determine Your Skill Level

We’ve identified three broad skill levels of swimmers that will take part in our programs. The level that’s correct for you depends on the frequency of your swimming, your stroke technique, and your conditioning. As you continue with PACE, your skill level can and will change. The three skill levels are:

  • Level 1 (Beginner/Fitness Swimmer): You are new to swimming and looking to add swimming a fitness activity in their current wellness plan. You might be just completing swim classes or lessons to build an efficient freestyle stroke
  • Level 2 (Frequent Swimmer/Pre-Competitive): You swim consistently 3 days a week for at least 45 minutes per session. You swam growing up, but swimming wasn’t your #1 sport. You have a fairly well developed strokes, can swim for 20+ minutes without stopping, and are comfortable doing 45-60 minute pool training sessions. You are thinking that you might elevate your game and train and compete with a Masters program or do a triathlon or open water swim race.
  • Level 3 (Competitive/Masters): You grew up swimming club, throughout high school, or in college. Swimming is one of the main ways that you stay in shape. You might have swum with a Masters team in the past, but it would be preferable to train on your own now based on work, family, and other personal commitments.

Step 2:  Pick Your Training Plan

Now that you know your skill level, you’ll pick the type of training plan that matches your current training focus. We expect that you will periodically change your plan type as your training focus changes. Our training plans are focused on freestyle for the time being, but we will add four stroke programs in the future. Our three plan types are:

  • PACE Technique: You’ll want to select this type of plan if you are interested in improving your stroke efficiency and in building your aerobic base and aerobic speed. These plans will be heavier on the technique drills and focused swimming to help you break old patterns and set up better ones. These plans will also include lots of swimming at aerobic intensity to condition your body to hold the new stroke patterns. These plans are the perfect starting point for Level 1 swimmers. They are also great off-season training plans for Masters swimmers and triathletes.
  • PACE Endurance: You’ll select this plan if you are moving into the build phase of a pool-based racing season. While practices will continue to reinforce good stroke mechanics, you’ll now be doing high intensity swims to condition you for the rigors of the racing season. Now you’ll be working on holding your mechanics as the physical demands of the sets increase. You won’t want to do these plans for longer than 2-3 months in a row.
  • PACE Speed: You’ll select this plan if you are moving into the peak or race-prep portion of a Masters training season. The other two training plan types will also improve your speed. Here you’ll do very high intensity sets to get you used ready to fast swims off the blocks in a Masters competition. You won’t want to do these plans for longer than 4-6 weeks in a row.

Now that you know your skill level and the type of you want to start with, tell us about yourself.

Step 3:  Give Us These Details, Your Goals, and Your Racing Schedule

Click the Start button below to complete our informational intake process. After you complete the survey, continue on to Step 4 to select a coaching membership plan and provide payment information.


Step 4:  Pick Your Membership Plan

The core content and community elements of PACE© Swim Training will be hosted within a Circle Community app.  You membership registration, access to resources, and billing will be handled within your Circle membership profile.  Click each section below to find out what’s contained in each membership plan as well as a button to send you to Circle to finish your registration.

PACE Essentials $35/Month with FREE 14-DAY TRIAL

The PACE Essentials membership level is targeted toward those swimmers who are looking for purposeful practice plans and basic support in the form of drill video clips and basic self-service support files.  The practices will be designed around the stroke drills and focal points that are most fundamental to improving efficiency.

We offer our new clients a FREE 14-DAY TRIAL MEMBERSHIP at this level to try out some practices, see what resources are available, and determine if the program is a good fit.  At the end of the trial period, you can determine if you want to continue at the PACE Essentials Level or upgrade to the PACE Select or PACE Premium levels (see below).

The list of services for PACE Essentials includes:

  • Articles relevant to three different skills levels:  Learn-to-Swim (newbies), Building Proficiency (intermediate), and Advanced Skills (advanced).  Like a post or add a comment if the topic resonated with you or if you have a question about it
  • The Did You Swim Today? space allows you to post about your swims — where you did it, what you did, what you learned and achieved, who you swam with, etc.  You can also read about other members’ swims, pick up a tip, or cheer on their progress
  • Announcements about new features of the PACE Swim Training community
  • Three practices per week sent to you through Training Peaks to structure your pool time
  • Setting individualized pacing zones, stroke counts, and tempos in your Training Peaks profile based on the results of your monthly test sets
  • 1 DM per month in the Circle App with a Chicago Blue Dolphins coach to answer questions
Sign Up for PACE Essentials
PACE Select $105/Month

The PACE Select membership level is targeted toward those swimmers who are looking for a more customized training program and access to the Circle community for more support and collaboration with other athletes.  The list of services for PACE Select members includes all the services in PACE Essentials membership plan PLUS:

  • One textual analysis with screen shots of a swimming video clip every quarter (3 months).  Swimmer must provide the video to the coach.
  • Access to the Circle “Ask the Coach” community board for questions
  • 2 DMs per month through the Circle App with a Chicago Blue Dolphins coach
  • 5% discount on all CBD classes and private/semi-private lessons at the Swim Studio
Sign Up for PACE Select
PACE Premium $225/Month

The PACE Premium membership level is targeted toward those swimmers who have a specific racing goal that they are looking to achieve and want to have a tailored and active coaching experience to ensure their success.  The list of services for PACE Premium includes all the services in PACE Select membership plan PLUS:

  • Initial phone or video call to set up the practice plan, define goals and key race dates, and other milestones
  • Three or more practices per week sent to you through Training Peaks with weekly adjustments based on swimmer feedback to maximize training effects
  • Coach will conduct a weekly review of practice feedback and Training Peaks data
  • One textual and voiceover analysis of a video clip per month.  Swimmer must provide the video to the coach.
  • Customized set of stroke drills and focal points for the practices based on the results of the video analysis
  • Up to 30 minutes of phone or video calls per month (calls are either 15 or 30 minutes in length)
  • 4 DMs per month through the Circle App with a Chicago Blue Dolphins coach
  • 10% discount on all CBD classes and private/semi-private lessons at the Swim Studio
Sign Up for PACE Premium
PACE Program Add-Ons

In addition to the membership level, there are supplemental services that you can purchase on an ad-hoc basis if you feel it will help improve your PACE experience.  Contact the CBD office at (773) 342-7250 to schedule or register for these services.

Service Description Cost
Calibration Clinic Coach-led group clinic at an outside facility including a 60-minute practice to run the time trial test set and 30-minute session to capture video clips for each swimmer for video analysis.  Note:  This will run on a schedule set by the CBD coaching staff $90.00
15-Minute Coach Phone or Video Call A 15-minute appointment scheduled with a coach over the phone or a video call to get answers to any questions or to resolve training issues $35.00
How Billing Works
When you sign up for the PACE© Swim Training program, we will charge you for the first month on the date of your registration.  If you opted to do the 14-day free trial, you will be notified 3 days before the end of the period to provide a credit card if you’d like to continue.  You will then be charged for the first month at the conclusion of the trial period.

Each month on the anniversary of your first charge, we will charge you for another month of membership.  If you would like you cancel your membership or change your membership plan, you can do so on the Billing tab within your Circle Community membership profile.  For help in doing so, you can review this article on “Managing Your Membership Subscriptions.”

Any Additional Questions?

If you have any questions about PACE or want help with your registration, call our office at (773) 342-7250 or fill out a contact form and we’ll reach out to you.

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