Ultra Short Training At Race Pace

Truth be told, Dr. Rushall has not shown overwhelming interest in the short sprints, despite Michael Andrew’s success. Rather, he wants to show that swimming can prosper without the chronic exhaustion that comes of miles of wall tag and sadistic sets of lactate tolerance. But aren’t we just begging the question here? What is race pace anyway when you are training to go faster than your fastest? Is it date pace, which is achievable. Or is it goal pace, which may never be achievable in the absence of meet-day excitement? As I recall, Rushall wanted the 4 x (6 x 12.5) done full-bore, with maximum effort toward peak velocity. He did not mention failure, likely because the swimmers he had in mind would not fail (what is a 12.5, anyway, for a top sprinter, five strokes?). For us mortals, I’m sure he would advise sitting one out when we've lost our punch (which drop-dead sprinters can pinpoint in a heartbeat). He said more recently that a 50 should be viewed as a series of skill segments, each of which must be done perfectly. He advised USRPT sets for each segment—not all on the same day, of course. (He dislikes broken 50s because they do not provide serial repetition of each segment). If I were coaching 50s again, I would begin with stroke-only sets. That seems fundamental. Then, when the sprint stroke solidified, I would add the “skill” segments, one at a time, to include the start, streamline, submarine, pull out, break out, etc.

Truth be told, Dr. Rushall has not shown overwhelming interest in the short sprints, despite Michael Andrew’s success. Rather, he wants to show that swimming can prosper without the chronic exhaustion that comes of miles of wall tag and sadistic sets of lactate tolerance. But aren’t we just begging the question here? What is race pace anyway when you are training to go faster than your fastest? Is it date pace, which is achievable. Or is it goal pace, which may never be achievable in the absence of meet-day excitement? As I recall, Rushall wanted the 4 x (6 x 12.5) done full-bore, with maximum effort toward peak velocity. He did not mention failure, likely because the swimmers he had in mind would not fail (what is a 12.5, anyway, for a top sprinter, five strokes?). For us mortals, I’m sure he would advise sitting one out when we've lost our punch (which drop-dead sprinters can pinpoint in a heartbeat). He said more recently that a 50 should be viewed as a series of skill segments, each of which must be done perfectly. He advised USRPT sets for each segment—not all on the same day, of course. (He dislikes broken 50s because they do not provide serial repetition of each segment). If I were coaching 50s again, I would begin with stroke-only sets. That seems fundamental. Then, when the sprint stroke solidified, I would add the “skill” segments, one at a time, to include the start, streamline, submarine, pull out, break out, etc.