USPRT Workouts?

Isn't USRPT exactly avoiding brute yardage by terminating the set when things go wrong? You did a "squad training session" and THEN you did USRPT the same day!

It is simply impossible to brute force a USRPT set without maintaining good efficiency. I hate to break it to you, bud, and this might sound harsh/snarky/snobby to anybody reading too, but :54 per 50 for someone in their mid-20s if I remember correctly is not "efficient" no matter how you choose to do it. YOU. NEED. TO. LEARN. THE. BASICS. Stop screwing around with relatively advanced training modalities until you do so.

I am no longer willing to sacrifice my life Are you having fun? For me, fun is first in my mind. If you're having fun, then it's not so much of a sacrifice. Even if I don't achieve my speed goals (which are, relatively speaking, just as ambitious as yours) I still achieve workout and commitment goals and receive delicious validation by working toward them and improving. And I truly enjoy racing and competition (even losing) and the feel of satisfied exhaustion after giving 100% in a race or set. Do you share that experience?

That is what proper training cycles are for, and not throwing everything plus the kitchen sink at the wall to see what sticks. It still seems to me like you are trying to replace solid technique and efficiency with brute yardage. Isn't USRPT exactly avoiding brute yardage by terminating the set when things go wrong?

I have forgotten what CSS pace is, but if I look at your all-out 100m time (1:36) and your CSS pace time (1:58) that is a difference of 22 seconds. I don't swim the 1500 very often, but the last time I did so (three years ago) I averaged 1:28 per 100 and my all-out 100m time was 1:03. That is a difference of 25 seconds. My 1500 time and my 100 time were both Top Ten that year. So that does not sound like the difference in your times is too large. The difference between that all out and the CSS in my club is generally only about 15 seconds. The guys in the next faster lane have all out 100 m time similar to me but their CSS are much faster, under 1:50 / 100 m. Our club only trains on long distance swimming as we are a triathlon club and most swimmers here are targeting 70.3s. Also, I can only plan for 1, at most 2 years. Thinking anything more than that is too scary for me. I will see if I can make my ambitious target this or next year, if I can I then continue training, if not I am no longer willing to sacrifice my life and my entrepreneurial plan for that.

Sorry if this is the case then I give up. 6 months of squad training combined with a few private lessons, and also a video analysis session only helped me to swim longer without exhausting myself, but I CANNOT BREAK THE 30 MINUTES BARRIER FOR 1500 M. And my coach is trying, imo, to brute-force my sustainable speed because the difference of my all out 100 m time (1:36) and my CSS pace (around 1:58 - 2:00 / 100 m) is too large. Then give up! Every single post you've made on this forum is you over-analyzing everything. As far as I can tell, you did not even start with the basics, just jumped to more advanced concepts and got frustrated because you haven't become "elite." And *then* you went for "few private lessons." You do not appear to want to bother with the process of actually learning to swim correctly, and you cannot swim fast without swimming correctly, no matter what philosophy of swim training you choose to use. Swimming is not running. Humans did not evolve to swim the four competitive swimming strokes like we did to move efficiently on land. The movements do not come naturally for the large, large, large majority. It's like... trying to teach yourself piano for 3 months and being frustrated because you can't play Sonata Pathetique. My n=1: I took swimming lessons all the way back from parent/kid lessons at like age 2. I failed whatever level backstroke was taught 3 times. I started competitive swimming at age 9 (remember, that's *7 years* after I started swim lessons!) and was *slow*. I didn't get halfway decent until I was a senior in high school (that's age 18 - *16 years* after I started swim lessons!). And that's learning as a kid with a malleable nervous system. It isn't easy. It isn't fast. There aren't any shortcuts. You're teaching you body and brain to move in ways they aren't familiar with. But by all means, if your options are either somehow make swimming come naturally, or give up, then give up.

You did a "squad training session" and THEN you did USRPT the same day! but I made it all the way to my best in the USRPT on that evening despite doing a squad session on the morning! If I exhausted myself in the morning I wouldn't be able to push that USRPT set so far. It is simply impossible to brute force a USRPT set without maintaining good efficiency.

Are you having fun? For me, fun is first in my mind. If you're having fun, then it's not so much of a sacrifice. Even if I don't achieve my speed goals (which are, relatively speaking, just as ambitious as yours) I still achieve workout and commitment goals and receive delicious validation by working toward them and improving. And I truly enjoy racing and competition (even losing) and the feel of satisfied exhaustion after giving 100% in a race or set. Do you share that experience? I am ONLY having fun in open water swimming, and the pool is boring for me. Also, my fun is currently limited because I cannot swim with the open water group going long distance in my city, as they are too fast for me to follow (their endurance pace is under 1:40 / 100 m). The only purposes for me to get in a pool are to experiment different combinations of speed / intensity / technique / etc., and do squad training, and also to have a "relatively safe" environment to push my cold limit when it gets really cold. I am only aiming to complete races without being cut off as I know it is not possible for me to get to the level of swimming 15 km in 4 hours.

I hate to break it to you, bud, and this might sound harsh/snarky/snobby to anybody reading too, but :54 per 50 for someone in their mid-20s if I remember correctly is not "efficient" no matter how you choose to do it. YOU. NEED. TO. LEARN. THE. BASICS. Stop screwing around with relatively advanced training modalities until you do so. Sorry if this is the case then I give up. 6 months of squad training combined with a few private lessons, and also a video analysis session only helped me to swim longer without exhausting myself, but I CANNOT BREAK THE 30 MINUTES BARRIER FOR 1500 M. And my coach is trying, imo, to brute-force my sustainable speed because the difference of my all out 100 m time (1:36) and my CSS pace (around 1:58 - 2:00 / 100 m) is too large.

Well if you're aiming for a 15k swim, you need to get used to boring. Going those distances is as much about the mental as it is the physical part of it. As I've said before, you need to get your body and mind trained for those hours in the pool to prep you for OW. You need to do the work in the pool to get consistency and pacing down in order to be successful in OW. Go dig into training that the competitive OW swimmers are doing and I guarantee there are a lot who train mostly in the pool. If you can't hang, you need to just go back to orienteering. And to continue the insight that many of the others have given, I started swimming Master's about 6 years ago. Entered my first OW race a year later just to see what i could do. Each race, I learned something new to make the next one better and more efficient. I've had several coaches and each one has given a different perspective and that's training with them 3-5x per week all year around. I work on my stroke ALL THE TIME; constantly checking in on form, technique and efficiency. And it's 6 years of gradual improvements for me to finish competitively in many of the races I'm in. As others have said, swimming has a ton of nuance and you have to make tweaks over time. If you're unwilling to put in the time or listen to what people have been telling you for three pages of forum, then I just don't know what to tell you. Maybe Orienteering is your sport.