Ultra Short Training At Race Pace

10-20 sec rest is acceptable, according to the method, so yes, I believe you stated the "training plan" correctly.

what do you do if you cant hit "race pace" in practice? because i am a short wookie (ie short legs and lots of fur), i have a very hard time getting close to fast speeds in short distances. steve p.s. pwb, if i ever train for the 400im (i think i need a new knee 1st) i want you to try this training method and swim beside me!

I think the Rushall article mentioned 1:1 or even 1:2 work/rest ratios in the context of describing current practice (which would in fact be a 1:00/100 pace on a 2:00 interval), but you're right... that's not the kind of practice that he is advocating... which would be closer to 2:1 (or greater) for most sets; according to this paragraph: Ideally, a rest period between each work period should be 20 seconds (Beidaris, Botonis,& Platanou, 2010) in any presentation of ultra-short training. At most 30 seconds mightbe tolerated (Zuniga et al., 2008) although work quality of less-than-maximal intensitymight have to be accommodated (as happens with 1,500 m swimming). Longer restperiods change the energy demands of succeeding repetitions making them unspecific forracing. So, If you were doing 1:00/100 then your interval could be 1:30 according to him, a 2:1 work:rest ratio... and that :30 rest is at the high end of rest per rep. If your target time is 1:10 per 100 (as in the chart in his longer study) then the 1:30 interval gives you only :20 rest between 100s. So if I want to improve my 50s, I swim 12.5s at 50 race pace? If I want to train hundreds I do 25s at 100 meter pace? Also I make the time, to include 10 seconds of rest between each one? Sound about right?

I recall that when Kieren Perkins was so successful swimming the 1500 in the 1990s, one of his key training sets was 20x100 meters on 2:00 at target race pace. And this would NOT qualify as UST: way too much rest. Figure Perkins was holding :58-:59 on these. When you go one slower you sit out the next send off, then resume. At the end you total up the number of the 30 you were able to hold at pace. This is the part I think some people forget about. The expectation isn't to be able to make all the repetitions at your goal time. If you can do that right out of the gate you need to revise your goal pace.

Hmmmm ok as an example, I'm really interested in training my 100 Free. I swim 25s on 100 Race pace, going on 25 seconds? Is this fast? What's a good example of a workout trying to get me 100 Free under a minute?

Or destroy a 500 for that matter

coachsci.sdsu.edu/.../ultra40a.pdf There is a method, which is referred to as the Rushall method which Michael Andrew uses. Was wondering if you had any critique about this. If this sort of training is a good idea and what are the problems. Would this also be good for longer events? Like the 400 IM? Thanks! Over the years in certain seasons, I've trained in that way & had great results. Also Dan O Thompson who wrote the cliff notes is a friend of mine and a former world record holder in the 50 FL when he was 40 - 44 & maybe 45 - 49. I've seen him at a few meets this past year. Ultra short might work for longer events. Michael Andrew has had very impressive results. He's just 14 and recently went 23.47 in the 50 LCM Free which was his 1st NR in the 13/14 age group. look up time progressions AGE / 50 FR / 100 FR / 200 FR / 500 FR 14 / 20.62 13 / 20.87 / 46.06 / 1:44.07 12 / 21.85 / 47.95 / 1:48.51 / 4:57.04 11 / 22.93 / 50.79 / 1:56.27 / 5:21.51 10 / 24.46 / 54.10 / 2:00.63 / 5:41.66 09 / 26.11 / 57.71 / 2:05.40 / 5:52.91 LCM Age / 50 FR / 100 FR / 200 FR / 400 FR / 1500 FR / 100 BK / 200BK / 100 BR / 200 BR / 50 FL / 100 FL / 200 IM / 400 IM 14 / 23.47 / 52.98 / 2:01.89 / 4:31.49 / xx:xx:xx / 59.88 / 2:11.84 / 1:06.13 / 2:32.49 / 25.39 / 56.36 / 2:07.85 / 4:43.12 13 / 24.09 / 54.27 / 2:05.28 / 4:28.08 / 18:08.63 / 1:00.87 / 2:17.22 / 1:07.15 / 2:36.87 / 25.50 / 56.73 / 2:17.49 / 4:58.56 12 / 25.09 / 56.06 / 2:14.18 / 5:47.36 / 20:09.63 / 1:05.57 / 2:29.53 / 1:09.95 / 2:41.82 / 26.22 / 1:03.13 / 2:18.38 / 11 / 26.77 / 1:02.79 / 2:22.92 / 5:03.09 / 21:57.00 / 1:09.15 / x:xx:xx / 1:20.67 / x:xx:xx / 29.25 / 1:17.46 / 2:25.23 / 10 / 27.76 / 1:04.17 / 2:22.92 / 5:20.84 / xx:xx:xx / 1:11.51 / x:xx:xx / 1:23.91 / x:xx:xx / 31.07 / 1:18.69 / 2:47.17 / I'm curious to see how his progress. He does have incredible speed. He is a huge 14 year old 6'4" / 178. His 200's aren't as good as his 100's His 100's aren't as good as his 50's. He's better SCY than LCM There's many boys equal speed in their 50's, who are much faster in their 100's & 200's. (they're older) My concerns are: Will he burn out from years of intense coaching by his dad? Is he is an early bloomer? Will his progression slow down when he stops growing? By training Ultra Short, will he ever build the necessary base to bring home his LCM 100's & 200s? Time will tell, Times will tell.

I'm going to try this with our squad tonight, but I'm concerned about applying it directly to masters swimmers... I wonder if we should increase the rest slightly, or break it, for example 4 sets of 8x25 with an extra rest? Or just accept that we'll all be missing the odd 25 here and there...?

If you want your final race time to be around, let's say, 59 sec, then each 25 repeat within your race pace training set needs to be completed in 14.75 sec.; that's when your hand needs to hit the wall. Then you can add 10-20 sec rest after each repeat, but Rushall is a big proponent of rest not exceeding exertion. So, in your case, you'd do the 14.75 sec fast 25 and then rest at wall or float for another 10-14 sec. This would make for a slightly odd interval (leave at the 24.75, for example) for clock watching, unless you have a pretty darn precise digital clock. You may have to do them more like on the :25 - that would make it 14.75 exertion and about 10.25 sec rest. The idea would be to do as many repeats hitting the wall at 14.75 as possible before failure - knowing you WILL and SHOULD fail. This may be a little trial and error in the beginning; like trying 30 repeats on the aforementioned interval and seeing how far you can get. If you can complete all 30, then you need to speed up the exertion/repeat interval. Keep track of how you do so you can document improvements and make adjustments. Make sense?

If you want your final race time to be around, let's say, 59 sec, then each 25 repeat within your race pace training set needs to be completed in 14.75 sec. I think it makes more sense to use the second 50 of your goal 100 pace (as suggested by Rich Abrahams) rather than simply halving the total time. You are doing these repeats from a push, not a dive, after all. So, if your goal is a 59 second 100 you'd probably want to split it 28.5, 30.5 so personally I'd just try to hold 15 seconds on a 25 second interval. Obviously we're not talking about a huge difference, but every little counts on something like a 25.