How They Train: A Look At the Work By St. Catherine’s Annie Voss
Annie Voss swam at an all-girls high school in Brown Deer, Wis., and for the storied Schroeder YMCA program. Wanting to continue her single-gender education, she followed her sister, Mary Jane, to St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minn.
Now in her fourth year, Annie has been a five-time CSCAA All-American (three first team, two honorable mention), seven-time MIAC selection and four-time school record holder (200, 400, 800 free relays and 200 back). For the Wildcats, she also swims the 200 (2:05.86) and 400 IM (4:27.79).
Her coach, Justin Zook, says, “Annie is an incredibly fun-loving and personable student-athlete who has prided herself on her work ethic and willingness to push outside of her comfort zone. She leads through her voice and her example in and out of the pool. She is one of the most rewarding people with whom I have ever worked.
“She took ownership over her swimming pretty quickly after her first season. Her personality comes out through the sport: She has a witty sense of humor and is not afraid to joke with our coaching staff. She has earned respect, is honest in her conversation and a team leader who connects with the entire roster. She rarely sits during meets and regularly asks how others are performing so she can understand their goals.
“Annie is a student-athlete who needs to have a connection to her teammates and coaching staff in order to perform at her highest level. She is incredibly level-headed and takes direction very well,” says Zook. “Annie digests information quickly and listens well. Her motivation has changed slightly as she has experienced more personal and team success. She has a unique ability to execute race plans without requiring someone with whom to race or train.
“Freshman year, Annie had to learn how to fit into our training system. We rarely use percentages in our training and rely more on seconds off of a certain pace or color pace chart. Many swimmers have a hard time adjusting initially as it is very different from getting to choose what 80 percent feels like. That said, her effort in workout has never wavered,” notes Zook.
“In practice, she hits pace on a regular basis during the season, but really starts shining after the holiday break and heading into our championship meet season. She is task-oriented and takes positives from workouts even on the hard days and translates them into quality meet performances.”
A “CAN-DO” ATTITUDE
In many ways, Voss is a poster child for proponents of college swimming, proving the CSCAA selling point: “If you want to swim in college, there is a place for you.”
“I learned how special Annie was her first year as a MIAC finalist in the 400 IM,” says her coach, Justin Zook. “She had an amazing prelim swim and dropped almost 12 seconds from her previous best.
“It was one of the first times she really embraced the pain of this event. I remember going over her race plan for finals, and she indicated, ‘This is going to hurt a lot, but I know I can do it.’ She had some confidence issues coming out of high school, and we had worked through a lot of them. That race told me that she believed she deserved to be competing at the championship level.
“Another turning point came when she was trying for a suited mid-season NCAA qualifying time in the 400 free relay. As anchor behind three All-Americans, Annie was incredibly nervous.
“When she split 51.9, she believed she belonged at an elite conference level and could perform on a national stage.” (At 2022 NCAAs, Voss again anchored St. Kate’s eighth-place 400 free relay.)
SAMPLE SETS
#IM
4x:
• 300 @ 5:00 (200 IM + 100 specialty)
• 4 x 100 @ 2:00
R1: Fly with fins
R2: Back
R3: Breast
R4: Choice
Descend to 100%
• 100 @ 4:00 (active recovery)
Coach Zook: “This set was done late last September. It was one of the first sets in which Annie really started racing NCAA IM qualifiers Jordyn Wentzel (second, 200 IM in 2022) and Hannah Svendsen. We do a bit more fly swimming early in the season. On her backstroke round, she descended from 1:08 to 1:02 when her best time was just 59.6. At workout end, I made them go a 200 IM for time. Annie went 2:12, which was only a couple seconds off her best time.”
3x:
• 1 x 100 @ 1:30 (from blocks – fly)
• 3 x 100 @ 1:40 (back – breast – free)
• 1 x 100 @ 1:20 (specialty)
• 1 x 300 @ 800 (kick – swim – active recovery)
Coach Zook: “The above set was done in October/early November when our mid-distance kids were doing some broken 500s. Added up, Annie went 4:28-4:30 on the IMs, and I started thinking we could get a 400 IM cut. This also made Annie believe she could do it since Hannah Svendsen had earned a ‘B’ cut the year before, going 4:26-4:28 on the same set. Those two were great training partners. They both swam the 200 and 400 IM as well as the 200 fly and 200 back, allowing these types of sets to really work well for both of them.
Early Season 2022
#IM
3x:
• 2 x 200 @ 3:00 (#1 100 IM, 100 free; #2 free, negative-split)
• 1x {2 x 100 @ 2:00 (R1 fly, R2 back, R3 breast)
#1 is negative-split/wall focus, #2 is 200 pace (1:05, 1:02, 1:14)
{2 x 75 @ 1:40 (R1 back, R2 breast, R3 free)
200 pace (:46, :53, :43)
{2 x 50 @ 1:05 (R1 breast, R2 free, R3 fly)
Faster than 200 pace
• 100 @ 400 (active recovery)
#IM
1x:
• 1 x 100 @ 2:00 (fly 200 pace – 2 x 50, rest :10)
• 1 x 50 @ 1:00 (back 200 pace – :30)
• 1 x 50 @ 1:00 (breast 200 pace – :35)
• 1 x 50 @ 2:00 (specialty 200 pace – :30)
• 1 x fins
150 @ 3:00 (100 kick 90%, rest :10, 50 sprint free)
• 4:00 kick
2:00 rest
1x:
• 1 x 100 @ 2:00 (back 200 pace – 2 x 50, rest :10)
• 1 x 50 @ 1:10 (fly 200 pace)
• 1 x 50 @ 1:10 (breast 200 pace)
• 1 x 50 @ 2:00 (specialty 200 pace)
• 1 x fins
150 @ 3:00 (100 kick 95%, rest :15, 50 sprint free)
• 4:00 kick
2:00 rest
1x:
• 1 x 100 @ 2:00 (breast 200 pace – 2 x 50, rest :10)
• 1 x 50 @ 1:20 (fly 200 pace)
• 1 x 50 @ 1:20 (back 200 pace)
• 1 x 50 @ 2:00 (specialty 200 pace)
• 1 x fins
150 @ 3:00 (100 kick 100%, rest :15, 50 sprint free)
• 4:00 kick
2:00 rest
1x:
• 1 x 100 @ 2:00 (free 200 pace – 2 x 50, rest :10)
• 1 x 50 @ 1:30 (fly 200 pace)
• 1 x 50 @ 1:30 (back 200 pace)
• 1 x 50 @ 2:00 (specialty 200 pace)
• 1 x fins
150 kick “ludicrous speed” (This is a Spaceballs reference!)
275 active recovery
200 IM “ludicrous speed” (Annie went 2:12 on this at the end of the workout)
300 active recovery
#MidDistance
2x (Jordyn Wentzel/Annie Voss):
• 1 x 125 @ 2:15 (choice, scull, drill, scull, drill, swim)
• 1 x 125 @ 2:15 (choice, scull, build, drill, build, swim)
• 1 x 100 @ 2:00 (IM, “plaid speed,” which is another Spaceballs reference!)
Wentzel 1:03.0, Voss 1:05s
Coach Zook: “‘Plaid speed’ is based off of Jon Urbanchek’s color chart, but we created our own colors/labels.”
• 1 x 100 @ 1:40 (IM, “plaid speed”)
• 1 x 100 @ 1:20 (IM, “plaid speed”)
• 1 x 100 @ 2:00 (finger paddles, distance per stroke, breast)
2:00 rest
2x:
• 1 x 125 @ 2:15 (choice, scull, drill, scull, drill, swim)
• 1 x 125 @ 2:15 (choice, scull, build, drill, build, swim)
• 1 x 100 @ 2:00 (50 fly, 50 back)
(200 pace+2 seconds is goal)
• 1 x 100 @ 1:40 (50 back, 50 breast)
(200 pace+3 seconds is goal)
• 1 x 100 @ 1:20 (free 500 pace or better)
• 1 x 100 @ 2:00 (finger paddles, distance per stroke, breast)
2:00 rest
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