Ultra Short Training At Race Pace

Or even a quantitative tool for timed training swims (25's 50's) by going on the beep and trying to touch before the next. You can most certainly use it for this. Just set it to the interval you want and as you duck down into the water to push off from the wall, push the single button on the top to start the interval. I use it like this all the time. I try to get complete my fifty to a foot touch before the beep (i.e. do flip turn and then stand up).

Thanks for the compliment Knelson. :) That's exactly how I have been using my tempo trainer for the past few months. It is perfect for interval sendoff. However, it does have its shortcomings. Not sure if the model Tom is talking about above is newer than mine, but mine cannot be set to anything smaller than a second. So, it can be set to 17 but not 17.25. For USRPT I use it like this: I mostly train for the 200 Free and my target time is 2:08. So, I try to do as many 50's as I can at my target pace of 34 seconds. I set it to beep at 17 second intervals. I set it for my 25 target time for two reasons. The first is because it lets me know at the turn if I am on track for my target time or not. The second reason is that it gives me my next sendoff. Rushall suggests an interval of not more than 20 seconds between 50's. I set it to beep every 17 seconds. If I come in at just under the beep (33 high), it will beep as I stand up. Now I just wait for it to beep one more time (17 seconds later), then count 'one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi" and press it once as I duck into the water to synchronize it again. I never have to look at a clock. I love my tempo trainer for this use and it is really the only way I use it. It would be great to be able to set it in increments smaller than a second, though. For instance 16.9 for a 50 time of 33.8. The next step down for me is 16 seconds which is impossible unless I do two or three and then call it quits. Hi Syd, Mine has 3 separate operations/functions available and I believe one of function works as you describe above. One function (No. 1) allows you to set the time to the hundredth of a second. There is a round version of the TT and a version with a protruding area in the upper left portion of the trainer. I have the latter version which allows you to replace the battery. You can cycle through the functions by holding the top button down on the TT.

Gridge engaged! Er, I mean... engridged? Something! Engridged indeed.

I've been doing this - pretty much in accordance with Rushall. The goal is to do the repeats to failure. That could be 10 or it could be 18. Once you are no longer hitting your goal time you don't "hang on" you stop. Sit out one round then go back. Once you've failed 3 times then you are totally done. The theory is to only swim at your race pace. Once you've exceeded that you are training yourself to swim slower than race pace and defeating the point of the set. I believe you use the first 5 to settle in then start to pay more attention. When I've "failed" the first one after is usually way fast. It feels really easy but I'm going faster than my goal pace. For fly my most recent goal was :17. I typically would be hitting 16s (sometimes 15s and once a 14) on the first couple. A few times I failed on number 7. Then sat on the interval for number 8. Number 9 would go back down to 15, but felt SUPER easy. Chart and keep track of your growth. If you fail 3 times after number 10 set the goal to be to do 11 the next day. Once you've done 20 (or 30) without failing THEN lower your goal time. As I understand it that is what Rushall intends.

Comments wanted please! * I went 16 x 25's on the :35 SCM, estimating i'd get about 20 seconds rest * Estimated 100 free: 1:02 so that is on average, 15.5 per 25 * Given the jets or whatever reason, even's are 1 second faster than odds, so I set 15 odds and 16 evens as goal times * I chose 16 reps because at 20 or more, I was thinking i'd let myself give up at #6. But with just 16 to start, i'd try really hard to hold form and speed to #8 and then hang on as long as possible. If I failed after that, I would still try to hang on for as many as possible. Going 20 or 30 just seems absolutely endless, and I am doing these on my own which is really hard for a racer. *Made it to #8, then really tried to stay mentally tough and hung on until #11, skipped #12, and did 4 more and made them. It wasn't easy or comfortable at all. I can see where having both mental toughness and the conditioning come into play. If you pushed me with a pinky finger, I would have absolutely collapsed. Questions: 1. Breathing? That was really hard. I missed #11 because I mentally lapsed and breathed too much! 2. Is my interval correct? If i'm a 1:02 100 freestyler, should I also be working towards 14/15's to go 1:00 and under? 3. Should I increase the reps? Perhaps a realistic way is to do 16 for a defined period of time (say, until Aug 30th) and thereafter always go 20 or more? 4. How do you accommodate strokes - can you do this for fly, back, and ***? Should I be giving myself more than 20 seconds rest? 5. The flip turn issue: starts are pretty straightforward. I can do those separately to fill in the gaps with 12.5 sprints, 4/6/8//10 strokes off the dive, etc. But what about turns? My trouble comes in swimming fast and then coming to the wall and collapsing. Doing turn work is ok, but it only works if i'm already pooped out coming into the wall AND going at race pace SO.....should I do every odd 25 with a turn (and just tumble over, not push off) then look at the clock, adding 1 second for that turn, so going 16/16's for now? Or would that mean i'm not really doing USRPT?

Good job Chowmi! 1. I just accept that I'm going to get winded in these sets. I end up breathing every stroke after a few reps, so I have to swim faster to compensate. 2. If I did this set today, I would be doing these on 40 seconds. 3. That's up to you. I generally try to increase my reps and decrease my intervals over time. 4. Yes. 5. I find that doing 50's at 200 pace forces me to work my turns pretty hard, but I'm no sprinter. I don't know how to train for super-fast turns, since I've never done one :-)

For me, three months was definetly not enough. As I have mentioned, it took me six months. I'm nine months on it now and more convinced then ever. Since you "love" the training go for it and keep reading Rushall's stuff and you will see a difference. www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../39322.asp Glenn Gruber, also 65 years old from Ventura County Masters, left Canada with a world record. In the 400 free, Gruber was able to post a 4:54.45 to lower his own mark of 4:55.10 from this past March. * Results not typical. But decidedly awesome.

Thanks That Guy! However, what they didn't say in Swimming World was that I was also the first one in history to set a record in the 850 meter freestyle! Yup, you read that right...I swam an extra 50!!! Just goes to show that training for the 400 doesn't make the 800 easy.

Comments wanted please! * I went 16 x 25's on the :35 SCM, estimating i'd get about 20 seconds rest * Estimated 100 free: 1:02 so that is on average, 15.5 per 25 * Given the jets or whatever reason, even's are 1 second faster than odds, so I set 15 odds and 16 evens as goal times * I chose 16 reps because at 20 or more, I was thinking i'd let myself give up at #6. But with just 16 to start, i'd try really hard to hold form and speed to #8 and then hang on as long as possible. If I failed after that, I would still try to hang on for as many as possible. Going 20 or 30 just seems absolutely endless, and I am doing these on my own which is really hard for a racer. *Made it to #8, then really tried to stay mentally tough and hung on until #11, skipped #12, and did 4 more and made them. It wasn't easy or comfortable at all. I can see where having both mental toughness and the conditioning come into play. If you pushed me with a pinky finger, I would have absolutely collapsed. Questions: 1. Breathing? That was really hard. I missed #11 because I mentally lapsed and breathed too much! 2. Is my interval correct? If i'm a 1:02 100 freestyler, should I also be working towards 14/15's to go 1:00 and under? 3. Should I increase the reps? Perhaps a realistic way is to do 16 for a defined period of time (say, until Aug 30th) and thereafter always go 20 or more? 4. How do you accommodate strokes - can you do this for fly, back, and ***? Should I be giving myself more than 20 seconds rest? 5. The flip turn issue: starts are pretty straightforward. I can do those separately to fill in the gaps with 12.5 sprints, 4/6/8//10 strokes off the dive, etc. But what about turns? My trouble comes in swimming fast and then coming to the wall and collapsing. Doing turn work is ok, but it only works if i'm already pooped out coming into the wall AND going at race pace SO.....should I do every odd 25 with a turn (and just tumble over, not push off) then look at the clock, adding 1 second for that turn, so going 16/16's for now? Or would that mean i'm not really doing USRPT? 1 - I try to breath like I would when racing the 100. So alot more than during an all out 50, but not every stroke - managed to a specific number (for me, every 4 strokes). Its easy to start out not breathing much and then crash, so I always remind myself to breathe every 4 during the first reps and during reps after sitting out. I also have to remind myself not to breathe more than that once I start getting tired! So pretty much every rep, I think about it. :) 2 - Personally, I just started at the pace where I was making enough, but not too many repetitions. Then Ive been lowering it and/or adding repetitions as I get faster. It sounds like you made enough of your goals times to try lowering it. You might sit out more, but the alternative is to increase reps and it doesnt sound like you are wanting to do that. 3 - When I have limited time I do a fixed number of swims, but I believe per Rushall you are supposed to keep going until either you fail 4 times total, fail 2 times in a row, or hit 30 reps. 4 - Yes. I do a free set, cool down, and then do a fly set (my training partner does ***). I use my free interval +5 seconds even though my fly goal time is only 1 second slower than my free goal time. 5 - You can try a turn USRPT set where you start mid-pool and do race pace turns. Do it a few times, figure out where you start/stop, your goal time and your interval and make it a set. Or I started doing 50s at 200 pace once a week and that works turns well though its not training the 100 speed. I wouldnt try to add flips at the end of your 25s. It seems better to do a complete race-pace turn including breakout, not just the flip.

Oh, I meant to say too, that Ive been trying to follow the :15 seconds rest for 25s and :20 seconds rest for 50s. I bumped up my 25s fly to :20 seconds rest and my 50s to :25 seconds rest. I have days when I fail a lot, but my understanding of the training is you dont want too much rest or you arent taxing and training the correct system. If I may interject, I believe many people make the mistake of "adjusting" USRPT. There are good reasons Rushall says to use :15 seconds for 25's and :20 seconds for 50's...he believes that if you get too much rest that the adaptations have to start anew. Yes, :15 seconds for 25's is sometimes hard as is :20 seconds rest for 50's, but even if you fail many times if you keep at it you will get better. It is not supposed to be easy. A few quality swims are much better than several meh swims. I started my 50's at :35 and within two months got down to :32. I am now doing :31's. My best is now 10 before first failure. I would NEVER have thought 6 months ago that I would be doing :31's ever. I now occasionally do the 50's with a :32 target time. They are easy! My suggestion is to change your target time rather than changing the rest time.