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!
Michael Andrew turned 15 last weekend. He moved to the next age group with 10 of 14 SCY records and 6 of 14 LCM records in the 13-14 age group. Most impressively his 13-14 100 SCY fly record is faster than the 15-16 record. Truly amazing.
Curious about the successes and/or disappointments of those who used USRPT this season and competed in the SCY Masters Nationals.
I'm probably not one to base any judgement on due to the fact I have never swum competitively in my life until a couple of years ago and have had essentially no coaching. Having said that, I did do a lot of USRPT in the months leading up to SCY Nationals. I swam personal bests in every event I swam (disclaimer: I've done this in essentially every meet of my life since I started swimming competitively in December 2011).
I got under 25 seconds for the first time in a 50 (a rolling start in a relay) and went a sub 19 minute 1650. So I was able to swim my fastest times for everything from a 50 up to a 1650. I think this was in large part due to the USRPT training I did.
Glenn, When did you fully commit to this training program?
Starting last September I was fully comitted (to USRPT that is...). By February/March of this year I felt I had turned the corner and felt I was there with the training and that it was making a difference.
Looking back I feel that the first two months of doing USRPT I wasn't actually doing it correctly. I was taking breaks after 10 repeats and not understanding the "failure" aspect of the set. I began to read and re-read Rushall's papers and e-mailed him a few times to get clarification. Once I got on the program, away I went.
I think USRPT will work to some degree if you do it once or twice a week, but the message that sends to your body is you are not totally convinced that this training method works. The mental aspect of swimming is huge in my opinion. I totally believe in the USRPT concepts and totally reject the "traditional" training methods which include kicking sets and drills and repeat 300's and 500's etc. I have a sample size of one, me. No researcher would draw conclusions from a sample size of one.
That said, I have never, in 35 years of Masters swimming, much of it with very average results, felt so committed to a training plan and believe so much that it works.
Thank you mmlr38 and Glenn for your input. I plan on doing usrpt on M, W, F when I have my own lane and the team workout the other days. I know this is a hedge but it's a start. I'll post my results after the lcm nationals. The 200 results look promising especially at 64.
Thank you mmlr38 and Glenn for your input. I plan on doing usrpt on M, W, F when I have my own lane and the team workout the other days. I know this is a hedge but it's a start. I'll post my results after the lcm nationals. The 200 results look promising especially at 64.
Yes, it is a start. That is good. You've got 13 weeks until LCM Nats. That may be enough time for USRPT to make a difference for you. My suggestion however, would be to focus on one event for your training. Other events will benefit, but training your body to go at one race pace time I think is a very good thing in the beginning.
Curious about the successes and/or disappointments of those who used USRPT this season and competed in the SCY Masters Nationals.
There are many ways to compare results. I'll compare this year's Nationals results with last year's Nationals results where I swam the same events. Also I'll compare my times this year with the last time I swam the same event at Nationals.
I have been training exclusively for the 400/500 and continue to do so. The race pace sets I do, 5 days a week, are all based on race pace for the 400/500.
First I'll compare this year with last year at Nationals:
2013 (age 63) 50 free - 24.49 100 free - 55.00 200 - 2:05.97
2014 (age 64) 50 free - 24.59 100 free - 55.44 200 - 2:02.26
The 50 free time of 24.49 in '13 was a lead-off relay split. The regular 50 free at Nationals was 24.67. This year's regular 50 free was 24.59. So I'd call that essentially the same.
The 100 free at Nationals this year was 55.44 vs. 55.00 last year. However I swam a 54.99 this year in February.
The big difference was in the 200 free. Last year I placed 4th in 2:05.97. This year with a much bigger field, I placed third with a much faster 2:02.26. In 2012 and 2011 my best time in the 200 free was 2:05 and 2:06. In 2010 with the rubber suit, I went 2:02.22 at Nationals. So clearly I was much faster this year.
The 500 is a little harder to compare. This year I swam it in 5:35.17 and split it well. I did not swim it last year at Nationals, but I did swim it in a meet in mid-March of last year and went 5:56.86. The last time I swam it at Nationals was in 2011 when I went 5:44.40. When I swam it in 2010 with the rubber suit at Nationals I went 5:32.61 at age 60.
I swam the 1000 only once this year and it was at Nationals and the time was 11:50.87. The last time I swam it was four years ago in 2010 at Nationals, again, in the rubber suit, and I went 11:41.19.
For me there is no question that for what I am training for USRPT has made a big difference.
Curious about the successes and/or disappointments of those who used USRPT this season and competed in the SCY Masters Nationals.
I've been following this thread since January and was debating chiming in, but since you asked...
For 2013 nats I followed an 8 month training plan that I developed based on how I trained growing up. I coach our masters team and stay and swim on my own after. I trained 4x a week for 4 months and 5x a week for 4 months with a solid mix of endurance, IM, stroke and sprint training and a 2 week taper. I had a great meet with 5 masters bests, including my times from before having kids. I was 36.
This year I was not able to make it to California, so I focused on our state meet in 2 of the events I did in 2013 and started 4x a week training in January, basically 3 months out. I did usrpt in fly or *** for 2 or 3 of those practices, HIT for one and a free set one day (when I would get a chance to swim with the team while the other coach led practice.) The main thing I did was only swim fly and *** at 100 race pace or faster for those 3 months, following the 25's USRPT training I took from this thread. No IM sets, no stroke drills or easy swimming and nothing longer than a 50 in either stroke on HIT days.
Results:
2013 100 *** 1:14.33 100 fly 1:07.28
2014 100 *** 1:14.94 100 fly 1:08.13
* The 100 fly in 2014 was only 10 minutes after my 50 free, which was a best since college for me as well. But I definitely felt the piano drop on my back in the last 10 yards of the fly! :)
Overall, I loved the training. It was much easier to do on my own than trying to slug through a distance set, and I usually left more exhausted doing USRPT than on days when I trained free sets with the team. I also think I was just getting the swing of it at 3 months, and would like to do it longer and see what happens. I didn't think I would get that close to my 2013 times after the way I trained that year, so I was really happy with the times and think the "dabbling in USRPT" that I did was fully responsible for a good State meet this year.
