Ultra Short Training At Race Pace

Actually, one area where I have some serious doubts about USRPT is about training for underwater kicks in a race, at least for someone who really goes out to 10-15 m on each wall. I'm a big believer that you should plan out your kicks as part of your race strategy. For example, in a 100 back I might have a goal to go 11 kicks off every wall (but fewer off the start so I won't get DQ's), while in the 200 back I might want to go 7 kicks for the first 100 and 6 on the 2nd 100 (though I've been toying with the idea of reversing this). I firmly believe you need to train to do something like this, and doing short repeats, even at race pace, simply does not come close to duplicating what it feels like to do that many kicks at the end of a race, much less do them well (my pie-in-the-sky goal would be to pull a Phelps-like blast-off on the last wall of the 200). So I worry that USRPT by itself will not fully stimulate the necessary physical adaptations. If one wants to do USRPT but include working on underwaters, one possibility that occurred to me is to do "shooter" style USRPT kick sets with increased rest. By "shooter" I mean that you go well beyond the 15m mark, maybe out to the far flags (i.e. roughly 20y or 20m out) on every lap of a 25 or 50, and maybe almost as far on 75s. You'd need to adjust USRPT intervals to give you more rest, but I think that's justified under Rushall's principles since his 20-sec rule seems to be based on the assumption that you are breathing while swimming at race pace, and obviously that's not the case when doing underwater kicking. Then again, perhaps there is no way to do "shooter" style repeats without building up lactic acid, which is anathema to the USRPT approach. In any event, I don't think USRPT really addresses this issue well. No, it doesn't. It doesn't simulate a race, and :20 is not nearly enough rest to work on UWs with that number of repeats (at least for me). This is clearly a weakness of Michael Andrew -- his UWs are not nearly as good as elite swimmers. Allen, I can't and don't do any USRPT 50s sets. There's no way I can repeat 100 pace 50s on short rest. I do occasionally do 20-30 x 25 @ 100 pace, but I use a :40 interval. Rushall has indicated that drop dead masters sprinters may need up to :30 rest. I also kick some of these, which I know Rushall dislikes. And even Rushall has admitted that you can't really do AFAP sprints very effectively on short rest. That's why he has Michael Andrew doing sprints on max rest before his USRPT sets. Personally, I think the best thing to do (at least for sprinters) is to combine USRPT and HIT training. Then you have actual race simulation training and can work on UWs, starts, turns etc.

Actually, one area where I have some serious doubts about USRPT is about training for underwater kicks in a race, at least for someone who really goes out to 10-15 m on each wall. I'm a big believer that you should plan out your kicks as part of your race strategy. For example, in a 100 back I might have a goal to go 11 kicks off every wall (but fewer off the start so I won't get DQ's), while in the 200 back I might want to go 7 kicks for the first 100 and 6 on the 2nd 100 (though I've been toying with the idea of reversing this). I firmly believe you need to train to do something like this, and doing short repeats, even at race pace, simply does not come close to duplicating what it feels like to do that many kicks at the end of a race, much less do them well (my pie-in-the-sky goal would be to pull a Phelps-like blast-off on the last wall of the 200). So I worry that USRPT by itself will not fully stimulate the necessary physical adaptations. If one wants to do USRPT but include working on underwaters, one possibility that occurred to me is to do "shooter" style USRPT kick sets with increased rest. By "shooter" I mean that you go well beyond the 15m mark, maybe out to the far flags (i.e. roughly 20y or 20m out) on every lap of a 25 or 50, and maybe almost as far on 75s. You'd need to adjust USRPT intervals to give you more rest, but I think that's justified under Rushall's principles since his 20-sec rule seems to be based on the assumption that you are breathing while swimming at race pace, and obviously that's not the case when doing underwater kicking. Then again, perhaps there is no way to do "shooter" style repeats without building up lactic acid, which is anathema to the USRPT approach. In any event, I don't think USRPT really addresses this issue well. No, it doesn't. It doesn't simulate a race, and :20 is not nearly enough rest to work on UWs with that number of repeats (at least for me). This is clearly a weakness of Michael Andrew -- his UWs are not nearly as good as elite swimmers. Allen, I can't and don't do any USRPT 50s sets. There's no way I can repeat 100 pace 50s on short rest. I do occasionally do 20-30 x 25 @ 100 pace, but I use a :40 interval. Rushall has indicated that drop dead masters sprinters may need up to :30 rest. I also kick some of these, which I know Rushall dislikes. And even Rushall has admitted that you can't really do AFAP sprints very effectively on short rest. That's why he has Michael Andrew doing sprints on max rest before his USRPT sets. Personally, I think the best thing to do (at least for sprinters) is to combine USRPT and HIT training. Then you have actual race simulation training and can work on UWs, starts, turns etc.