On Sunday, January 3, 2016, ESPN's "Outside the Lines" aired the story about Michael Andrew and the success he's had utilizing USRPT (Ultra Short Race Pace Training) and the resistance that has come from the "traditional" swimming community.
After watching the segment, I felt the reporter and ESPN truly stayed independent and allowed parents and swimmers to make cast their own decisions as to whether USRPT would actually benefit their long term COMPETITIVE swimming future, but I believe more conversation is warranted.
As a background, I myself have been associated with competitive swimming for over 12 years. First as a parent, then a USA Swimming official, and finally as a coach. Over the years, my kids have had the opportunity to train with many "certified" USA Swimming coaches and train with various clubs across the United States, and the one thing I realized is there are many ways to "skin a cat" and USRPT is simply one of them.
The first time I heard of the Andrew's family was in 2009, when Michael broke the National Age Group record in the 50 SCM backstroke. I knew this because my son had broken the 50 LCM backstroke the summer prior.
Once I noticed the record had been broken, I began to research the family. The first unusual aspect of the family I noticed was where they lived, South Dakota. I wondered how could a swimmer come from that state like South Dakota versus more pedigree states known for their swimming such as; Florida, Texas, and California? The second item of interest involved the number of meets they would attend. Prior to Michael turning 10 years old, I noticed they had traveled from Oklahoma, California, Colorado and Utah, where he actually broke the record just days before he turned 11. I wondered why a family would be traveling so much, especially when in most traditional clubs, kids may swim one meet per month?
As we continued to track Michael's progress, we discovered in April 2010 prior to his 12th birthday, he and his family were making a stop in Nashville, TN, on their way back from the NASA Junior Championships in Orlando, FL. It provided an opportunity for the "current" record holder in the 50LCM backstroke and the previous record holder to race against one another. What a great opportunity.
When we first saw Michael and his family, it was without question he came from good genes. Both his parents were very tall and very athletic. His father swam with the South African "SEAL" unit there and his mother was a "Gladiator" on the British television show version. This kid came from good stock! At the time, Michael was just a shade shorter than my son and both of them were looking forward to racing each other. This would be the last time my son would get the better of Michael in most of the races.
As we continued to monitor Michael's progress, we were amazed by his ability to drop time at every single meet he attended, with many meets occurring back to back weekends. We wondered 'how in the world?' We knew he was a big kid, but then again - so was our son - and he wasn't dropping time like Michael. We couldn't understand how he could drop so much time at every meet, especially considering that they were driving to every meet in a Suburban and being homeschooled along the way. It just didn't seem possible. It wasn't the "traditional" way. It didn't matter what questions we would ask, it was simply evident, this kid was getting faster every week, but how?
In December 2011 Peter was interviewed by Peter Busch of Swimming World Magazine where Michael's success in achieving National Age Group records was getting noticed. Swimming World inquired about Michael's training. After watching this interview, it made perfect sense what Peter was looking to accomplish. In order for Michael to continue to set National Age Group records, he would simply take the record time, and break it down by 25 yards, in order to create a training cycle for Michael to follow, limiting the amount of rest per 25 yards in order to simulate a race experience.
This made perfect sense to me. From a mathematical philosophy, if Peter was able to break down the time Michael would need to go for each 25 yds in the race (including turns) in order to achieve the record, and if Michael was able to achieve those times in practice, then Michael should have the confidence in knowing that he would not only break a record, but question, by how much?
I mentioned this idea to my son's USA swim coach at the time (who had worked with Michael Phelps) and he dismissed the idea. His coaching philosophy followed the traditional coaching route that many other USA swim coaches followed. Train the kids hard for 6 weeks, then pick up the speed the following 6 weeks, then reduce the yardage in the final 6 weeks so they are rested by the time championships roll around. The problem with that philosophy is that, every "body" is different.
I couldn't help but think that Peter was on the right track. Not only did it make sense, but the MATH and the SCIENCE was available to back up the results. I had to research this style of training further.
In 2012 my son suffered a shoulder injury. I knew the "traditional" USA Swimming program wouldn't be good for him and could easily push him out of the sport. Even after surgery, he still wanted to swim so in his interest, I flew out to Lawrence, KS, to meet with Peter for the day and learn about his training technique, and from that time I knew there was no way my son could handle the 6000+ yards / day swimming where the kids are simply thrown into the pool and the coach pays the most attention to the swimmer who can actually finish the day. This isn't coaching, this is survival of the fittest.
I began to train my son following the USRPT ways. Initially it was met with resistance, but after a few training sessions, my son began to benefit from training for the race, versus training to survive the practice.
As the years have passed, I have implemented the program with a high school teams and my own kids. While I'm not a total believer in Dr. Rushall's principles (dryland training) I have seen the results, and more importantly, so have my swimmers.
The problem that I believe many programs will have with USRPT is that it requires the coaches to actually "coach". It requires the coach to train each swimmer on a specific basis, but what's wrong with that? What's wrong with a coach ASKING a swimmer, 'what events do you enjoy swimming?', 'what are your goals for swimming?', 'how can I help you to get closer to these goals?'. This is where many of the "old school" coaches who swam 10,000 yds/ day when they swam have a problem. They don't have an interest in working at making their swimmers better.
Race Pace Swimming works. It provides kids with tracking that tells them IF they are improving at every practice. If they normally could swim 20 X 25 free on 15 secs - and now they are able to hold 22 X 25's - THAT IS SUCCESS - and they get psyched knowing they ARE getting faster.
Michael Andrew may not be the Messiah, but I think we've seen enough from his performances to suggest there is another way to success.
If you have a swimmer that is frustrated with their coach, training, or ability to achieve faster times, keep an eye on RacePaceSwimming.com. We are versed in the skills of USRPT and how you can translate its principles into your current club environment.
We know that race pace swimming works. We have seen results. The first step we take with our swimmers is understanding THEIR goals. From there, we educate the swimmer on aspects of swimming that will help them achieve their goals which include making sure the swimmer is swimming the stroke correct, the importance of all 6 strokes(freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, breastroke, starts and turns, and underwaters), and how training "at pace" will give them the confidence to race at their absolute best during meet season.
