Jim,
You may be misinterpreting the way Popov trained. While he may have perfected his stroke through slow swimming, his coach, Touretski, believed in race pace training. I have a long article by him describing how Popov had to accomplish 100 race pace 100 freestyles in the year prior to the Olympics. Now, this certainly isn't Ultra Short, but is most definitely race pace.
One part of his training I've tried to copy was simulating an upcoming competition during consecutive practices about 3 weeks out. If I had 3 races on one day I'd swim those events in order in one hour. One on the top of the hour, one on 30 minutes and the last on the top. Full dress rehearsal. Fast suit, cap, cheering teammates, etc. Thus, for an upcoming 3 day nationals I'd devote 3 consecutive practice days to this protocol.
I believe that Bowman used this approach for Phelps prior to 2008 Olympics and I know Todd Schmitz did this for Missy to prepare her for her short turnarounds.
Jim,
You may be misinterpreting the way Popov trained. While he may have perfected his stroke through slow swimming, his coach, Touretski, believed in race pace training. I have a long article by him describing how Popov had to accomplish 100 race pace 100 freestyles in the year prior to the Olympics. Now, this certainly isn't Ultra Short, but is most definitely race pace.
One part of his training I've tried to copy was simulating an upcoming competition during consecutive practices about 3 weeks out. If I had 3 races on one day I'd swim those events in order in one hour. One on the top of the hour, one on 30 minutes and the last on the top. Full dress rehearsal. Fast suit, cap, cheering teammates, etc. Thus, for an upcoming 3 day nationals I'd devote 3 consecutive practice days to this protocol.
I believe that Bowman used this approach for Phelps prior to 2008 Olympics and I know Todd Schmitz did this for Missy to prepare her for her short turnarounds.
