USPRT Workouts?

I'd make a comment on Doug's training habits (since we share the same pool), but I'm sworn to uphold the veil of secrecy surrounding them. Without unlocking this veil, could you go so far as to mention if training, compared to blogs few years back, has changed somewhat, moderately, a lot, or something else?

Question: did you feel like you got stronger more quickly with USRPT? I definitely feel like I've put on more muscle and am able to get away with nutritional indiscretion WAY more than when I would do steady state cardio like run/bike or other things over the years. I can't say with certainty that I got stronger more quickly with USRPT, but the constant race pace surely puts maximum swimming stress on the muscles.

Glenn, I train USRPT a few times during my 6/wk training sessions; however, I find that it wears me down too much if I train those sets on successive days for the same stroke. Having said that, I am curious how youwould recommend setting up a week of training, limiting daily sessions to 2,500 yards, and targeting these race events (in order of priority): 50 ***, 200 ***, 200 fly, 400 IM, 100 fly and 200 IM. I would like to take your USRPT recommendations, Allen Stark's recommended breaststroke sets, and PWB's recommended 400 IM sets, combine them in a perfectly balanced recipe for my physical limitations, and bake to perfection! My goal meet is the National Senior Games this June. Two weeks ago, my race times from the first day of a two-day meet were faster (or off by .05) than meet times from 2017, so I am in good shape so far. Elaine, Let me say that for the first time, I understand what you are saying about successive days! I have been doing USRPT 5 days a week for 5 years with no ill effects whatsoever. Over the last 8 months or so, I have been fatigued much more than ever. I finally figured out, (duh), that a few short months from age 70, I could not sustain that high a level of training. This past week I trained Mon, Wed and Fri only. I did the same sets each day and by Friday, with Tuesday and Thursday off, I felt great and had my best in-pool day of the week, and was able to work in the garden too (which I have not had the strength to do). Moral of the story..."rest is your friend". Thank you Leslie Livingston. As for your training using USRPT for the races you mentioned, you need not worry about too much yardage. I do not and have never, since starting USRPT, counted yardage. Why? Because a USRPT set is over when you can no longer hold your target time regardless of how many you have done. I have spoken with Dr. Rushall about his suggested sets whereby he says 20 x 50 or 30 x 50 etc. He and I both wish now that he had never attached numbers to those suggested sets. Too many people take those numbers as gospel and subsequently do sets of 20 x 50 etc. the "rule" is, once you can do repeats at your target race pace, you want to do as many as you can until you have failed (or missed) your target time for a third time in the set regardless of how many you have done. If you can only do 3 or 4 before first fail, that is probably too hard a target time or if you can do 28 or 35 before first fail that is likely much too easy a target time for you. So first choose a target time that is a challenge, but not too hard or too easy (especially when first starting). Your target races are a 50, several 200's and a 400. That sounds like a lot to me! When I was training to break the 400 record, I trained only for the 400, knowing that there would be a certain amount of "spillover" for the other races, plus all of my races were freestyle. Right now I am training only for the 100 so I am doing 12 1/2s, 25s and a few (very few) 50s. If you want to train for all of those distances and races you might start your workout with race pace 25s for your 50 target race, and follow it with 50s at 200 pace and finally 50s at 400 IM pace with each 50 being two of the strokes in the IM so that you get the transition turn practice on each one. I suggest starting from the faster pace repeats (25s) and ending with the slower pace repeats (50s at 400IM pace). I was doing that for a while a few months ago and I found I could actually get in three sets total ech day since each successive set was at a slower target race pace time. All of that said, you may want to consider training only for one race. There are not many Michael Phelp's out there who can train for and be very good at many different races. Look at Anthony Ervin, Olympic Champion in the 50...that is all he needed to work on at practice. You have a very big menu on your hands.

Elaine, Let me say that for the first time, I understand what you are saying about successive days! I have been doing USRPT 5 days a week for 5 years with no ill effects whatsoever. Over the last 8 months or so, I have been fatigued much more than ever. I finally figured out, (duh), that a few short months from age 70, I could not sustain that high a level of training. This past week I trained Mon, Wed and Fri only. I did the same sets each day and by Friday, with Tuesday and Thursday off, I felt great and had my best in-pool day of the week, and was able to work in the garden too (which I have not had the strength to do). Moral of the story..."rest is your friend". Thank you Leslie Livingston. As for your training using USRPT for the races you mentioned, you need not worry about too much yardage. I do not and have never, since starting USRPT, counted yardage. Why? Because a USRPT set is over when you can no longer hold your target time regardless of how many you have done. I have spoken with Dr. Rushall about his suggested sets whereby he says 20 x 50 or 30 x 50 etc. He and I both wish now that he had never attached numbers to those suggested sets. Too many people take those numbers as gospel and subsequently do sets of 20 x 50 etc. the "rule" is, once you can do repeats at your target race pace, you want to do as many as you can until you have failed (or missed) your target time for a third time in the set regardless of how many you have done. If you can only do 3 or 4 before first fail, that is probably too hard a target time or if you can do 28 or 35 before first fail that is likely much too easy a target time for you. So first choose a target time that is a challenge, but not too hard or too easy (especially when first starting). Your target races are a 50, several 200's and a 400. That sounds like a lot to me! When I was training to break the 400 record, I trained only for the 400, knowing that there would be a certain amount of "spillover" for the other races, plus all of my races were freestyle. Right now I am training only for the 100 so I am doing 12 1/2s, 25s and a few (very few) 50s. If you want to train for all of those distances and races you might start your workout with race pace 25s for your 50 target race, and follow it with 50s at 200 pace and finally 50s at 400 IM pace with each 50 being two of the strokes in the IM so that you get the transition turn practice on each one. I suggest starting from the faster pace repeats (25s) and ending with the slower pace repeats (50s at 400IM pace). I was doing that for a while a few months ago and I found I could actually get in three sets total ech day since each successive set was at a slower target race pace time. All of that said, you may want to consider training only for one race. There are not many Michael Phelp's out there who can train for and be very good at many different races. Look at Anthony Ervin, Olympic Champion in the 50...that is all he needed to work on at practice. You have a very big menu on your hands. Well, you were very fortunate to make it to nearly 70 before coming to that realization! (My husband will be 70 on August 1, and he has been grappling with the same issues in the gym.) I inherited my father's genes, his bad skeleton, and a lifetime of repetitive stress injuries. I am finding more and more that during my 6x/wk swim sessions, I have to back off my 2,500-yd plan and do a Leslie Livingston "float" around the pool. Those days turn into drill days of anywhere from 800-2,000 yards depending on how bad I feel after warm-up, and where I'm hurting. Regarding my six target races, I swam all of those in a very quick one-day meet to qualify for the National Senior Games! That's not unusual for me. I have done an "Ironman Triathlon" in Rob Copeland's pentathlon meet: 200's of each stroke plus the 400 IM, all in about two hours or so. Of course, each race time suffers; however, due to my middle-of-the-pack rankings, the only way I will ever swim my way to a Top Ten is to outlive my competition! Instead, I go for high points as a goal to shoot for at a meet. The National Senior Games will be spread out over three days for my individual events, so that's nothin' compared to the 5+ events I usually race in a few hours! I have been doing USRPT 50's for my 200 *** and 200 fly, so I have nailed down my target times and intervals pretty well. I do it as you describe; quit on the 3rd fail. I would like to try USRPT for my 50 ***, rather than doing 8 all-out 25's on 1 min. intervals like I have been doing. I LIKE your 400 IM USRPT idea! I currently do one of Laurie Hug's old workouts that incorporates 75's in IM order; however, I would like to give your idea a try now. Do you rest (more than 1 minute) after failure in between the different-paced sets or go straight into the next one? As for training for just one race, my body won't let me train that much breaststroke! My poor frog legs (and hips) would be toast! When I just raced breaststroke, I ran into a lot of problems. Since adding fly and IM into my training and racing, my body (and mind!) have been so much happier with the variety! It's worth the slower race times to avoid injury, enjoy my workouts more, and have a better chance of outliving my competition! :D Thanks for the advice on those sets. I will give it a try and make adaptations where needed.

Do you rest (more than 1 minute) after failure in between the different-paced sets or go straight into the next one? I usually take 10 minutes or more to rest between sets. I think one should be totally gassed at the end of a set to the point that there is no way you could do another repeat. Ten minutes rest (or more), allows me to do the same in the next set. In terms of the number of races you are training for, I would not do what you do, but that is me. Obviously you have weighed the pros and cons of swimming five races a day and that works for you. What works for you is what you should do.

I usually take 10 minutes or more to rest between sets. I think one should be totally gassed at the end of a set to the point that there is no way you could do another repeat. Ten minutes rest (or more), allows me to do the same in the next set. In terms of the number of races you are training for, I would not do what you do, but that is me. Obviously you have weighed the pros and cons of swimming five races a day and that works for you. What works for you is what you should do. Ok, that's good to know. I will see how a ten-minute break works for me. At a local meet, I would do the same thing (race a full slate), even if no high points or Ironman award existed. For that matter, at the last meet I competed at, it was a two-day meet with no awards at all. I also knew there was no way I could win my age group for the first leg of the Georgia Masters Grand Prix Series. I still signed up for a full slate of events plus relays, because I love to race! I would rather race than watch. :bliss:

Yes, and training doing USRPT exclusively! Glenn, I train USRPT a few times during my 6/wk training sessions; however, I find that it wears me down too much if I train those sets on successive days for the same stroke. Having said that, I am curious how youwould recommend setting up a week of training, limiting daily sessions to 2,500 yards, and targeting these race events (in order of priority): 50 ***, 200 ***, 200 fly, 400 IM, 100 fly and 200 IM. I would like to take your USRPT recommendations, Allen Stark's recommended breaststroke sets, and PWB's recommended 400 IM sets, combine them in a perfectly balanced recipe for my physical limitations, and bake to perfection! My goal meet is the National Senior Games this June. Two weeks ago, my race times from the first day of a two-day meet were faster (or off by .05) than meet times from 2017, so I am in good shape so far. Thanks for any input you could provide! :agree:

Glenn, how many days per week do you train? Did you find that your body had to adjust to training so frequently at high intensity? I find that my sleep is HORRIBLE following a session of USRPT (especially more than one set in a session). The same goes for any day where I do multiple practice races or a swim meet day. Even when I keep the yardage low (less than 2,500), my body doesn't deal well with the demands of high intensity training or racing. Did you ever have that problem? I have tried USRPT before, and I had the same problem. I tried it again throughout last week, and it wiped me out. To avoid repetitive stress injuries, I never did sets of the same stroke two days in a row; however, it was still tough on my body. My body is telling me to back off, and I'm guessing that other swimmers in the AARP set have the same experience. Done properly, USRPT is very much harder than traditional training. That is why many people go into it and after a few sessions say,"this is too hard" and they quit. If you are going to train with USRPT here is what you should do when beginning: 1. Do only one set each time. This is NOT like Traditional Training. You do not need mega yardage, you need quality yardage. 2. When you calculate your target time, add two or three seconds to the time in the beginning. That way you can concentrate on how the set flows, and get used to doing USRPT sets. When I first started, my 50 repeat target time was :32 per 50. I started however using :35 as my target time to get used to it. After two sessions I was able to do 30 repeats with no failures. So I moved it down to :34. After three sessions at :34, I was able to do 30 repeats with out a fail. I moved it down to :33 and then started to get fails after 12 or 15. It probably took me a month to get to my target time of :32 on the repeats. By that time I was used to doing the sets. 3. Start with one set two times a week only. Then go to three times a week and eventually for or five times a week. Do this gradually. 4. Many people continue with Traditional Training while flirting with USRPT. If that works for you then go for it. I however, believe that only training with USRPT is the way to go, but I do understand why most people reject that approach. Remember, I have been doing USRPT exclusively for 5 years. Up until very recently, I was doing it five times a week doing two and sometimes three sets a day and that was doable for me. Three months shy of my 70th birthday, I have come to the realization that I can no longer do this training five times a week. Right now I am training only USRPT three times a week and taking the other two days off. I have not trained on weekends for several years. We have many swim meets in SoCal so Sat/Sun twice a month will be a meet. If you want to commit to USRPT don't try to do it in one week or even one month...take your time and ease into it. You are essentially changing your training habits of many years to a workout regimen that may be much shorter in yards but much harder in it's application.

Done properly, USRPT is very much harder than traditional training. That is why many people go into it and after a few sessions say,"this is too hard" and they quit. If you are going to train with USRPT here is what you should do when beginning: 1. Do only one set each time. This is NOT like Traditional Training. You do not need mega yardage, you need quality yardage. 2. When you calculate your target time, add two or three seconds to the time in the beginning. That way you can concentrate on how the set flows, and get used to doing USRPT sets. When I first started, my 50 repeat target time was :32 per 50. I started however using :35 as my target time to get used to it. After two sessions I was able to do 30 repeats with no failures. So I moved it down to :34. After three sessions at :34, I was able to do 30 repeats with out a fail. I moved it down to :33 and then started to get fails after 12 or 15. It probably took me a month to get to my target time of :32 on the repeats. By that time I was used to doing the sets. 3. Start with one set two times a week only. Then go to three times a week and eventually for or five times a week. Do this gradually. 4. Many people continue with Traditional Training while flirting with USRPT. If that works for you then go for it. I however, believe that only training with USRPT is the way to go, but I do understand why most people reject that approach. Remember, I have been doing USRPT exclusively for 5 years. Up until very recently, I was doing it five times a week doing two and sometimes three sets a day and that was doable for me. Three months shy of my 70th birthday, I have come to the realization that I can no longer do this training five times a week. Right now I am training only USRPT three times a week and taking the other two days off. I have not trained on weekends for several years. We have many swim meets in SoCal so Sat/Sun twice a month will be a meet. If you want to commit to USRPT don't try to do it in one week or even one month...take your time and ease into it. You are essentially changing your training habits of many years to a workout regimen that may be much shorter in yards but much harder in it's application. OHHHH! I did these three sets last Monday (from post #25 on this thread), and I did a combo of two sets on Tuesday through Friday, and then again yesterday: "If you want to train for all of those distances and races you might start your workout with race pace 25s for your 50 target race, and follow it with 50s at 200 pace and finally 50s at 400 IM pace with each 50 being two of the strokes in the IM so that you get the transition turn practice on each one. I suggest starting from the faster pace repeats (25s) and ending with the slower pace repeats (50s at 400IM pace). I was doing that for a while a few months ago and I found I could actually get in three sets total ech day since each successive set was at a slower target race pace time." At my target pace, I was able to do (6) 25's ***, (11) 50-'s ***, and then 7 (50's) of fly-back for my 400 IM training. I survived, but I was TOAST for the next day, and I had insomnia, which happens to me after too much race-pace or after a swim meet. My sleep has been the pits since then. Your tips above for newbies like me is a HUGE help! You might want to copy/paste those into the main USRPT thread that has been going for several years now. NEWBIES TO USRPT: Take it from me, especially if you are 50+ or have any physical issues; DO NOT go full-on into USRPT training! Take Glenn's advise and ease into it, no matter how good of condition you think you are in. I am in excellent condition from swimming (104 miles GTD to date)/ push-ups/ planks/ theraband/ yoga/ etc., and have a resting heart rate that hovers around 50 bpm; however, USRPT knocked me on my *&$ after just one week! Thanks for this advice, Glenn. I appreciate it very much!

"If you want to train for all of those distances and races you might start your workout with race pace 25s for your 50 target race, and follow it with 50s at 200 pace and finally 50s at 400 IM pace with each 50 being two of the strokes in the IM so that you get the transition turn practice on each one. I suggest starting from the faster pace repeats (25s) and ending with the slower pace repeats (50s at 400IM pace). I was doing that for a while a few months ago and I found I could actually get in three sets total ech day since each successive set was at a slower target race pace time." When I posted this I obviously was not thinking about you being new to this!