Ultra Short Training At Race Pace

Is it time to revisit this prediction yet? Although not Olympic trials finals yet, he did pretty well at US Nationals! Um, actually he did make finals at the 2016 trials. 4th as I recall.

I wanted to add my little n=1 experience with USRPT. As I've posted elsewhere, I've taken a long time off swimming- really about 14-15 years with one 6-month attempt about 7 years ago. I have thoracic outlet syndrome like several other forum folk do and after finally making a breakthrough there, I decided to re-enter the pool. I chose USRPT because keeping volume down is really appealing and because I train alone, so can infinitely customize my workouts. ANYWAY: I started in october and didn't really buckle down and read the papers well until early december. I swim 2-3 times a week and am in and out of the pool in 45 minutes or less. I picked 100 FR and 100 BR to train for, not because these were historically my best events but because the sets weren't quite as scary as longer distance. I do 25's on :30 SCY with a target time of :15 initially and now have switched to :14. I do this twice a week at minimum and mostly fail 3 x before the 14th or 15th rep. (dropped goal time once I had success a few times at :15). BUT.... I swam :59.5 100yd FR this weekend which fits with what I had trained for... I swam a technically poor race, missing a couple turns and breathing every stroke, so I suspect if I can use the technique I practice with that I would have more success. My 100BR is the same set but with :18.5 as a target and done on :40. I usually fail a bit earlier on this set and have not hit it "successfully" if success is doing 20 or 30 without fail. I went :36 for 50BR this weekend, again with poor technical aspects but close to practice. I also do the 200Fr set with 50's on :50 or :60 holding 31.5-32.0... on :60 I can do 18-20 of them and on :55 or :50 I struggle more, so I alternate from time to time. Will maybe swim the 200FR at an upcoming meet, but I worry I wont be able to finish well since the longest I swim in practice is 50yds. I have not done any of the 50FR stuff, but did 27.5 this weekend. So, my takeaway is that with just a few months of swimming 've gone from totally out of shape to being able to meet some basic starting goals! I feel like I've got a handle on how to go even faster in the future. My shoulders and fatigue are MUCH better with USRPT than traditional training and this is all coming from being completely out of shape, struggling to pick up a bag of dogfood and with mobility that didn't permit great technique initially.

I doubt I am the first swimmer of a certain age to think of this: USRPT(with apologies to Aretha Franklin's memory) What you want, baby it's got it What you need, you know it's got it All its asking,is for a trial at the swim pool, at the swim pool just a little bit, keep on trying, just a little bit, you'll be flying, just a little bit USRPT,found out what it means to me USRPT, take care TCB :lmao: Bruce is cracking up right now, because he thought this was so out of character for you. While we are changing the lyrics to songs, I have one for you: This is just something I had to do for this song in honor of my husband, Bruce who dutifully hums “Aqualung” before I race. You see, he calls me “Aquadog.” As a competitive swimmer, the nickname stuck and the song gets me psyched up! So, que up “Aqualung” on YouTube and sing these words to the tune, instead: Standing on the starting block– psyched up for the race with good intent. Crouching down the whistle blows– exploding from the blocks off I go! Hey Aquadog Racing hard with all my might– my flying arms are quite a sight! Hey Aquadog Feeling lactate in my blood– I hope I don’t finish this race with a thud! Whoa, Aquadog Oh, I’m feeling old– my arms slowing and struggling. Getting through the only way I know. Arms hurting bad, as I try to finish this race– I dig down deep my heart wants to succeed. Feeling alone– other racers are up ahead if I’m to finish strong it’s going to be all up to me. Aquadog I am– I will fight, not give up easy. I may be slow, but I’ll achieve, you’ll see. I still remember how fast I used to be– when I swam faster butterfly, back and ***, and even free. “The older I get the faster I was” that is my motto now, but nothing is going to stop me, my passion is swimming. Oh, I’m feeling old– my arms slowing and struggling. Getting through the only way I know. Arms hurting bad, as I try to finish this race– I dig down deep my heart wants to succeed. Feeling alone– other racers are up ahead if I’m to finish strong it’s going to be all up to me. Aquadog I am– I will fight, not give up easy. I may be slow, but I’ll achieve, you’ll see. Aquadog I am– I will fight, not give up easy. I may be slow, but I’ll achieve, you’ll see. Standing on the starting block– psyched up for the race with good intent. Crouching down the whistle blows– exploding from the blocks off I go. Hey Aquadog Racing hard with all my might My flying arms are quite a sight! Hey Aquadog Feeling lactate in my blood– I hope I don’t finish this race with a thud! Whoa, Aquadog Whoa, Aquadog!

I doubt I am the first swimmer of a certain age to think of this: USRPT(with apologies to Aretha Franklin's memory) What you want, baby it's got it What you need, you know it's got it All its asking,is for a trial at the swim pool, at the swim pool just a little bit, keep on trying, just a little bit, you'll be flying, just a little bit USRPT,found out what it means to me USRPT, take care TCB

That is pretty amazing!!!

That is pretty amazing!!! :D That was the first-- and probably the last-- of my "song writing." I think I'll stick with my travel blogs, instead. :agree:

I have been following the thread for quite a while. I learned how to ''swim'' a couple of years ago and swam on and off for 2-3 years with little to no progression because of my inconsistency. Now I have been swimming 2-3 times per week for 1 year and I suppose I can go 1.15-1.20 100m scm fully rested and probably 37-38 50m fly scm. I am swimming with a master team once or twice per week and getting in the pool myself once a week. I tried Usrpt with 25's on 20 sec with 15 sec rest, and some 25 fly max with 3min rest for 1-2 times per week. I really like this way of training and I feel like it is easier for me to "change gear" when I am swimming on the master team when we have to go fast on the intervals because of usrpt. However I have one concern. Since I didn't learn how to swim as a kid I guess I have some flaws in my technique. Going 1.20 on 100m scm is pretty much all out for me and for other people that pace is just warm up or cool down pace. I would like to train 2-3 times usrpt per week and then go to masters one time per week for drills and competition, but the 2-3 times per week usrpt is without a coach. Being an adult-onset swimmer would it be more beneficial for me to just swim slowly and really focus on technique when I am on my own to make sure I don't get any bad habits from swimming race pace on my own, or should I just go for it and just try my best to remember what I have been told technique wise while doing usrpt on my own?

I have been following the thread for quite a while. I learned how to ''swim'' a couple of years ago and swam on and off for 2-3 years with little to no progression because of my inconsistency. Now I have been swimming 2-3 times per week for 1 year and I suppose I can go 1.15-1.20 100m scm fully rested and probably 37-38 50m fly scm. I am swimming with a master team once or twice per week and getting in the pool myself once a week. I tried Usrpt with 25's on 20 sec with 15 sec rest, and some 25 fly max with 3min rest for 1-2 times per week. I really like this way of training and I feel like it is easier for me to "change gear" when I am swimming on the master team when we have to go fast on the intervals because of usrpt. However I have one concern. Since I didn't learn how to swim as a kid I guess I have some flaws in my technique. Going 1.20 on 100m scm is pretty much all out for me and for other people that pace is just warm up or cool down pace. I would like to train 2-3 times usrpt per week and then go to masters one time per week for drills and competition, but the 2-3 times per week usrpt is without a coach. Being an adult-onset swimmer would it be more beneficial for me to just swim slowly and really focus on technique when I am on my own to make sure I don't get any bad habits from swimming race pace on my own, or should I just go for it and just try my best to remember what I have been told technique wise while doing usrpt on my own? Going 1:20 on 100 fly SCM as a relative beginner is very impressive. Since you are concerned about technique I would go to the coached practice as often as possible and maybe see the coach about individual stroke work, or post a video here for comment. When you workout without a coach I think you can do USRPT. Focus on one technique area you want to work at each set and think about that during the swim and during the rest. USRPT can be very mindful. Be very aware of making the 20 sec. and if you don't, give yourself the extra rest and use the time to visualize technique.