Ultra Short Training At Race Pace

Hi Rich, Nice to hear from you! As you would understand, I was very pleased with my performances at the SCM meet. The 400 is really the only race I am training for so swimming the time I did was very enjoyable. It was nice that one of the Rose Bowl swimmers, Drew Skelly was next to me. He is 47 and we talked before the race and his goal was the same as mine, we both wanted to go under 5:00. I always try to swim my own race, but both Drew and I could trust each other and we knew we could work off of each other to both our advantage. I think the USRP training is ideal for 400 and above. I honestly don't know how you (generic you) could use actual race pace to train for the 100. Maybe I would have to work into it, but it is hard for me to envision going 27s per 50 for a set of 20 x 50. To answer your specific questions: I have from January 1 to December 31 to break the record. However I have targeted several meets that are SCM around the country and in Canada that I will attend. The first one is the Olympic Club 1500 SCM meet on January 24 in the Bay area. I plan to swim the 1500 as a 400 split to see if I can get the record then. If I do, great, if not there is an SCM meet I think in Oregon in Feb etc. In any event I plan to continue the USRPT training indefinitely. I am not doing any 12.5 bursts, so am not working on pure speed. Again, my only focus is the 400 free. It is actually kind of liberating to not worry about the 50, 100, 200 and 800! However, I must add that my time in the 50 at the SCM meet was my fastest since the rubber suits. I use a digital clock. Thank goodness. When I come in and lift my head to the clock I must see 32. Sometimes it changes right away, sometimes it is a solid 32 - heck, sometimes I see a 31, but not very often. That also means that sometimes I see a 33.1 and that is a failure. I do not train with a partner or with the team anymore. Like you, I do not find it difficult to train on my own. I know many people feel that they cannot train alone, but it has never been a concern of mine. If I were in Denver however, I would love to train with you. So far I have to say that this training is working for me and I enjoy it. I remember you telling me sometime ago that you would occasionally workout with a team and you could never understand them doing mindless sets of 100s on the 1:30 or whatever. I totally agree with that! Your focus and training for years has been race pace and it certainly has worked very very well for you!!! Give my best to Peri. Glenn

Hi Rich, Nice to hear from you! As you would understand, I was very pleased with my performances at the SCM meet. The 400 is really the only race I am training for so swimming the time I did was very enjoyable. It was nice that one of the Rose Bowl swimmers, Drew Skelly was next to me. He is 47 and we talked before the race and his goal was the same as mine, we both wanted to go under 5:00. I always try to swim my own race, but both Drew and I could trust each other and we knew we could work off of each other to both our advantage. I think the USRP training is ideal for 400 and above. I honestly don't know how you (generic you) could use actual race pace to train for the 100. Maybe I would have to work into it, but it is hard for me to envision going 27s per 50 for a set of 20 x 50. To answer your specific questions: I have from January 1 to December 31 to break the record. However I have targeted several meets that are SCM around the country and in Canada that I will attend. The first one is the Olympic Club 1500 SCM meet on January 24 in the Bay area. I plan to swim the 1500 as a 400 split to see if I can get the record then. If I do, great, if not there is an SCM meet I think in Oregon in Feb etc. In any event I plan to continue the USRPT training indefinitely. I am not doing any 12.5 bursts, so am not working on pure speed. Again, my only focus is the 400 free. It is actually kind of liberating to not worry about the 50, 100, 200 and 800! However, I must add that my time in the 50 at the SCM meet was my fastest since the rubber suits. I use a digital clock. Thank goodness. When I come in and lift my head to the clock I must see 32. Sometimes it changes right away, sometimes it is a solid 32 - heck, sometimes I see a 31, but not very often. That also means that sometimes I see a 33.1 and that is a failure. I do not train with a partner or with the team anymore. Like you, I do not find it difficult to train on my own. I know many people feel that they cannot train alone, but it has never been a concern of mine. If I were in Denver however, I would love to train with you. So far I have to say that this training is working for me and I enjoy it. I remember you telling me sometime ago that you would occasionally workout with a team and you could never understand them doing mindless sets of 100s on the 1:30 or whatever. I totally agree with that! Your focus and training for years has been race pace and it certainly has worked very very well for you!!! Give my best to Peri. Glenn