Ultra Short Training At Race Pace

Important to note,and not consistent with standard USRPT,he recommends 3-4 minutes between 15M sprints from a dive and 4-5 min between 25 sprints.

I'm with you, Martin.

I am most definitely not a USRPT zealot but I think there is a lot to be said with race pace training. Rushall's sets are really hard and a set of Race Pace 50s I think simulates the 200 better than any other set. The other key Rushall method we have employed on our race pace work is the rest interval. His 20 second rest on Race Pace 50s is really hard and if you really set a challenging goal time it hits your legs just like the last 50 of a 200. I don't train solely this type of set and still do aerobic days, dryland and weights but I think his method of specificity is spot on. Is it fun? I would contend it's what you make it and my team has a lot of fun doing our race pace sets. Just my 2 cents.

There is one point of Rushall's training methode which is heavy ignore: fun Do you have fun guys doing a single set over and over again? everyday after everyday? really? comon, I don't belive that. Do you enjoy swimmig at all doing somethigs stupid like USTRP? You target is just ONE single goal: not to fail, right? But what is about the hundred more things benefit from swimming beyond only to get faster and faster?

There is a discussion on the Ande's Swimming Tips thread about weight training and USRPT. I thought I'd bring it back here as this thread seems a better fit. Here are my problems: I understand the importance of specificity, but I can't do over about 250 yd total breaststroke at race pace consistently without knee pain. I can't do sets over 1000 of any stroke race pace consistently without shoulder pain. I try to get around this by doing BR pull/dolphin kick with fins sets, kick sets, drill sets, and lifting weights. This is not very specific and I want to swim faster(don't we all.) Suggestions?

Please post more examples of USRPT sets Here are mine: 2 x ( 30 x 50 @ :50 -- holding 29s or better) -- EZ 100 or 200 between the two sets - Pacing primarily for 200/400 2 x ( 25 x 75 @ 1:10 -- holding 48s or better) -- with an EZ 100 or 200 between the two sets - 400/800 pacing 2 x ( 20 x 100 @ 1:30 -- holding 1:06s or better) -- with an EZ 100 or 200 between the two sets - 800/1500 pacing I religiously do the 100s every Sunday. Sometimes I do 2 sets of 25 100s. I try to do the 50s one day a week too, usually Tuesday or Wednesday, but sometimes I mix things up. And if I'm bored with 50s or feel like I need more turn practice, I will occasionally do the 75s These sets have definitely helped me with pacing for the 200 and 400 and with my conditioning and pacing for the 800/1500.

Please post more examples of USRPT sets I think the table on page 22 of this document shows the types of sets based on the distance you are training for quite well: coachsci.sdsu.edu/.../47GUIDE.pdf we don't follow USRPT exactly so by definition we are not doing USRPT but do follow a lot of Rushalls principles. We do: 16x50 at 200 race pace on :55(Wednesday's) - my goal time is :26 16x25 at 100 race pace on :30(Friday's) - my goal time is :12 16x100 at 500 race pace on 2mins(Saturday's) my goal is :57 I really should be doing the 50s on :50 based on Rushalls :20 second rest rounded up to the nearest 5 seconds rule. We don't do the failure exactly as prescribed but do skip if we fail on our goal time. With 16 I typically either make all 16 or fail once. We are doing these sets every week.

Here are mine: 2 x ( 30 x 50 @ :50 -- holding 29s or better) -- EZ 100 or 200 between the two sets - Pacing primarily for 200/400 2 x ( 25 x 75 @ 1:10 -- holding 48s or better) -- with an EZ 100 or 200 between the two sets - 400/800 pacing 2 x ( 20 x 100 @ 1:30 -- holding 1:06s or better) -- with an EZ 100 or 200 between the two sets - 800/1500 pacing I religiously do the 100s every Sunday. Sometimes I do 2 sets of 25 100s. I try to do the 50s one day a week too, usually Tuesday or Wednesday, but sometimes I mix things up. And if I'm bored with 50s or feel like I need more turn practice, I will occasionally do the 75s These sets have definitely helped me with pacing for the 200 and 400 and with my conditioning and pacing for the 800/1500. Those are good standard USRPT sets. I think what is very important to point out...because it is very different with USRPT, is that even though the set says 30 x 50 or 25 x 75 etc. you should NOT be able to do all 30 or all 25 etc. If you can do all of them, the target time is too easy. That concept is the biggest problem for those used to traditional training, because in traditional training you are always expected to do all of the assigned repeats in a set. I can never do as many the second set as I do the first, ever. When you first start USRPT one should start with a target time easier than the actual race pace you want to hold. WHY? because these sets are hard! It takes a while to get used to the send off and because you go to failure, it is very easy to get discouraged in the beginning because you chose a difficult target time and you will end up only doing a few and wind up saying "this doesn't work". So if you want to go 2:00 in the 200 free, your target per 50 should be :30, but you should start off using a target time of :32 or even :33 so you can make some of them and get used to the rhythm of a USRPT set. Then drop the targettime down a second and work with that a while, then drop another second etc. I am in my third year only doing USRPT 5 times a week so I have some idea on how this goes.

Glenn, how about: 2x (30 x 50 @ 1:15 - holding under :55) - LC 200 back 2x (30 x 25 @ :45 - holding under :25) - LC 100 back Last time I swam a 100 back, I turned at 50 sec and died. Never raced 200 back, so that pace is a guess. Australian Nationals = April

Glenn, how about: 2x (30 x 50 @ 1:15 - holding under :55) - LC 200 back 2x (30 x 25 @ :45 - holding under :25) - LC 100 back Last time I swam a 100 back, I turned at 50 sec and died. Never raced 200 back, so that pace is a guess. Australian Nationals = April The standard rest is :20 seconds for any repeat of 50 or more. The standard rest on 25s is :15 seconds, if you are doing the 25s for a 200. You might also do all-out 25s on 3:00 trying to do 12 - 18 of them (that is Rushall's new protocol for race pace 50 training).