Ultra Short Training At Race Pace

I hear you on this and feel the same way. I just can't seem to get my head around the idea that I stop a set half way through. 30 x 50 on 50 seconds should be just that. Stopping on the 12th repeat not only robs be of a sense of achievement that comes from completing a long set, but also robs me of that wonderful high I get from sore muscles and overall exhaustion that I can savor when I relax in the hot tub. I have been dabbling with USRPT sets recently but setting myself target times that I can make so I get to complete the whole set. Recently I realized that this was probably defeating the whole point of the exercise. So yesterday I got in and gave myself the target time that I want to achieve this season and found that it was no walk in the park. it took a huge effort not to fail by the sixth repeat. It was so exhausting that even though I hadn't failed I stopped anyway in anticipation of failure. For sure I would have failed on the seventh repeat. I decided that was enough for the day and that I would take stock in the hot tub and strategize for tomorrow. So that is where I am at the moment. I am off to the pool now but am scared of the exhaustion I felt yesterday and am already thinking a set of 10 x 100's on 1:45 sounds like a good idea for a main set. Or maybe I should be trying yesterdays set again and trying to get to the seventh repeat before failure. I don't know. I will see how I feel when I get there. People seem to be getting hung up on the failure part. Instead of thinking of the failure, think of the wonderful feeling of success you will have when you push to get that number 7 at your target time!! If you hit your target time on 6 x 50, that means you went race pace for 300 yards. I don't know what your 100 time is, but I'm pretty sure if you did that set of 10 x 100 on 1:45 ( as stated above) that none of them were swum at the pace you have done in a race. You say you were exhausted when you stopped the set...GOOD! You should be. Aren't you exhausted when you finish a race? If not, you should be! That's why it's called race pace training. Anybody can do 10 x 100 on the 1:45 or the 1:50 or 2:00, I say, so what. What does that prove and what does that train you to do? It trains you to go 100 on the 1:45. I've done over 2,000 50s at race pace since September. My body knows what :31 per 50 feels like. I don't even need a clock anymore. When you get in a race and dive in, all you have to do is what you do everyday with race pace training! You don't have to try harder, you just have to recreate the feeling of what you do everyday and the excitment of a race and the racing suit and the competition will take care of the rest. Now I just thought of this, but that is why Rushall says don't do USRPT 2 days a week and regular training on the other days - because with USRPT you are getting used to the pace you need in a race. If you then do a set of 10 x 100 on the 1:45, now you are training your body to go a different pace. Now your body is confused. That's why he says "mixed training gives mixed results" . I was exhausted too when I started this training. And even now after 6 months of only USRPT 5 times a week I don't always do two USRPT sets a day. But you know what? Even if I only do one set, it is more race pace training than most other competitors are doing!

I hear you on this and feel the same way. I just can't seem to get my head around the idea that I stop a set half way through. 30 x 50 on 50 seconds should be just that. Stopping on the 12th repeat not only robs be of a sense of achievement that comes from completing a long set, but also robs me of that wonderful high I get from sore muscles and overall exhaustion that I can savor when I relax in the hot tub. I have been dabbling with USRPT sets recently but setting myself target times that I can make so I get to complete the whole set. Recently I realized that this was probably defeating the whole point of the exercise. So yesterday I got in and gave myself the target time that I want to achieve this season and found that it was no walk in the park. it took a huge effort not to fail by the sixth repeat. It was so exhausting that even though I hadn't failed I stopped anyway in anticipation of failure. For sure I would have failed on the seventh repeat. I decided that was enough for the day and that I would take stock in the hot tub and strategize for tomorrow. So that is where I am at the moment. I am off to the pool now but am scared of the exhaustion I felt yesterday and am already thinking a set of 10 x 100's on 1:45 sounds like a good idea for a main set. Or maybe I should be trying yesterdays set again and trying to get to the seventh repeat before failure. I don't know. I will see how I feel when I get there. People seem to be getting hung up on the failure part. Instead of thinking of the failure, think of the wonderful feeling of success you will have when you push to get that number 7 at your target time!! If you hit your target time on 6 x 50, that means you went race pace for 300 yards. I don't know what your 100 time is, but I'm pretty sure if you did that set of 10 x 100 on 1:45 ( as stated above) that none of them were swum at the pace you have done in a race. You say you were exhausted when you stopped the set...GOOD! You should be. Aren't you exhausted when you finish a race? If not, you should be! That's why it's called race pace training. Anybody can do 10 x 100 on the 1:45 or the 1:50 or 2:00, I say, so what. What does that prove and what does that train you to do? It trains you to go 100 on the 1:45. I've done over 2,000 50s at race pace since September. My body knows what :31 per 50 feels like. I don't even need a clock anymore. When you get in a race and dive in, all you have to do is what you do everyday with race pace training! You don't have to try harder, you just have to recreate the feeling of what you do everyday and the excitment of a race and the racing suit and the competition will take care of the rest. Now I just thought of this, but that is why Rushall says don't do USRPT 2 days a week and regular training on the other days - because with USRPT you are getting used to the pace you need in a race. If you then do a set of 10 x 100 on the 1:45, now you are training your body to go a different pace. Now your body is confused. That's why he says "mixed training gives mixed results" . I was exhausted too when I started this training. And even now after 6 months of only USRPT 5 times a week I don't always do two USRPT sets a day. But you know what? Even if I only do one set, it is more race pace training than most other competitors are doing!