Ultra Short Training At Race Pace

I have been "kinda,sorta"trying these sets(kinda, sorta because I got ill and missed 10 days and so started easing back slower than I wished.)What I notice is missing is the burn from lactic acid build up I get from my usual HIT sets.I know Rushall thinks that is a good thing,but I have read several articles about the body's adaptation to lactic acid by improving buffering enzyme production etc. that would seem very useful for the 50-100 swimmer.Also the skill of holding ones stroke together when having muscle lactic acidosis("the burn") also seems to be useful.I know "train like you swim or you'll swim like you train"is important and that the Rushall method gives lots of race pace,but I am not sure how well it mimics the feeling of a race.This is really more of a question than a complaint,so what say Yáll? Seems to me that possibly there are several related adaptations, two of which Allen mentions: 1. Improving ability to buffer lactic acid, helping to avoid or lessen the magnitude of acidosis 2. Improving ability to "hold one's stroke together" when experiencing acidosis 3. Improving ability to recover from acidosis (e.g. between races) Rushall avoids lactic acid buildup like the plague but very possibly that doesn't mean that one doesn't get the first adaptation. One could argue that what Rushall is doing by maximizing the amount of race pace training is increasing the overall amount of LA production, which could even be the best way to achieve adaptation #1 even though blood LA levels are kept low, b/c production is still high. I don't know how much #2 is a physiological adaptation vs a psychological/learned one. Which doesn't mean it isn't important...! Adaptation #3 seems pretty important to me, at least for some people, and seems lacking in USRPT. All of this is well outside my area of expertise, other than as a lifelong competitive swimmer, so I'd welcome correction from those of you better versed in exercise physiology and the like. Based on my experiences in training I tend to agree with Allen that it is important to learn to deal with acidosis in and after a race and that USRPT (by itself, with nothing else added) doesn't IMO promise to be the best way to do that. At least for 100s and 200s, and maybe longer events too; I never experience significant acidosis in 50s.

I have been "kinda,sorta"trying these sets(kinda, sorta because I got ill and missed 10 days and so started easing back slower than I wished.)What I notice is missing is the burn from lactic acid build up I get from my usual HIT sets.I know Rushall thinks that is a good thing,but I have read several articles about the body's adaptation to lactic acid by improving buffering enzyme production etc. that would seem very useful for the 50-100 swimmer.Also the skill of holding ones stroke together when having muscle lactic acidosis("the burn") also seems to be useful.I know "train like you swim or you'll swim like you train"is important and that the Rushall method gives lots of race pace,but I am not sure how well it mimics the feeling of a race.This is really more of a question than a complaint,so what say Yáll? Seems to me that possibly there are several related adaptations, two of which Allen mentions: 1. Improving ability to buffer lactic acid, helping to avoid or lessen the magnitude of acidosis 2. Improving ability to "hold one's stroke together" when experiencing acidosis 3. Improving ability to recover from acidosis (e.g. between races) Rushall avoids lactic acid buildup like the plague but very possibly that doesn't mean that one doesn't get the first adaptation. One could argue that what Rushall is doing by maximizing the amount of race pace training is increasing the overall amount of LA production, which could even be the best way to achieve adaptation #1 even though blood LA levels are kept low, b/c production is still high. I don't know how much #2 is a physiological adaptation vs a psychological/learned one. Which doesn't mean it isn't important...! Adaptation #3 seems pretty important to me, at least for some people, and seems lacking in USRPT. All of this is well outside my area of expertise, other than as a lifelong competitive swimmer, so I'd welcome correction from those of you better versed in exercise physiology and the like. Based on my experiences in training I tend to agree with Allen that it is important to learn to deal with acidosis in and after a race and that USRPT (by itself, with nothing else added) doesn't IMO promise to be the best way to do that. At least for 100s and 200s, and maybe longer events too; I never experience significant acidosis in 50s.