I have yet to see a USMS team with more than a few swimmers who compete on a regular basis.
If I had to guess, I'd say there are 5 swimmers from my current team who compete regularly (at least 1 SCY, LCM, and SCM meet per year), out of over 100 swimmers.
Sure there are many more who support just team meets or something like that. Several years ago, the question was posed, "what % of masters swimmers do at least 1 meet per year?" I believe the answer was in the range of 60-70%.
My coach has also incorporated some aspects of USRPT into our workouts, typically on Tuesdays, which are speed days.
While I'm sure they are helpful, I struggle to see how swimming fast 25s at 100 race pace will help a longer open water swim (which is what more of my team actually does).
Our group has about 90 swimmers out of which 6 compete regularly. It's about the same as your group from the looks of it.
I think the USRPT idea can be adapted to open water. For example you can do 100's or 200's at your goal open water pace, trying to entrench the pace that you require to do your goal time. It will be different because you don't have walls, but you can account for that. If you keep making the set, you're not trying hard enough ;-).
One interesting thing I noticed was that I was sore after doing these sets, more like a weight workout. Though I was doing a lot fewer yards, I was working until failure and then trying to push past that.
I think the USRPT idea can be adapted to open water. For example you can do 100's or 200's at your goal open water pace, trying to entrench the pace that you require to do your goal time. It will be different because you don't have walls, but you can account for that. If you keep making the set, you're not trying hard enough ;-).
That sounds like it may work, however I don't think our coach has ever assigned sets like that, at least when I've been at workout. He doesn't really like it if we deviate from the assigned set too much (other than perhaps a stroke substitution).
That said, 100s, or even 200s, at a 5k pace would hardly get me winded.
We have done sets like that, maybe 10 x 100 @ 500 pace, or 5 x 200 @ 1000 pace. But since I've never swum either of those events in a meet (in recent memory at least), I just guess on what my race pace would be.
That sounds like it may work, however I don't think our coach has ever assigned sets like that, at least when I've been at workout. He doesn't really like it if we deviate from the assigned set too much (other than perhaps a stroke substitution).
That said, 100s, or even 200s, at a 5k pace would hardly get me winded.
We have done sets like that, maybe 10 x 100 @ 500 pace, or 5 x 200 @ 1000 pace. But since I've never swum either of those events in a meet (in recent memory at least), I just guess on what my race pace would be.
I don't do the open water events, as I've resigned myself to being a drop dead sprinter. So take the advice you are getting from me as purely theoretical, as in "if I could swim more than 100 yards fast, I would do this ... in theory."
Pushing yourself through a challenge set of 25's at your best 100 pace or 50's at your best 200 pace provides time beyond your 5k race pace where you can adjust your stroke for efficiency. With the constant feedback on number of strokes per lap, elapsed time and heart rate, you can assess your efficiency on each repeat and see what drops off first and why. By improving the maximum speed at which you can swim, the added benefit might very well be an improvement in relative endurance. You can go all day at 70%, but if 70% is now faster, you go faster.
Just a guess and your mileage may vary, but it might prove interesting. If it doesn't work, you can always do something else.
I have researched this; read the bulletins, watched the dvds, and USRPT makes enormous sense to me. I have been cautioned as I am 71 and have only been swimming for three years, but I don't think that will matter. I am moving from sprinting to longer distances and this seems perfect. Thank you for all the comments.
