The first presentation was arguably the best presentation at this year’s FINA World Aquatics Convention hosted in Hangzhou, China. Coach Peter Andrew kicked things off by discussing quality vs. quantity and the influence that the race pace revolution is having all over the world.
Michael Andrew, along with Dr. Brent Rushall and his coach/father Peter Andrew, have popularized Ultra Short Race Pace Training (USRPT) over the last 5 or so years. It has been polarizing to say the least — simply read the comments section of any Swim Swam article.
I had the pleasure to chat with Peter Andrew in the back of the room prior to the start of his talk. Coach Andrew is as tall and thin as his son and ridiculously nice (almost Canadian nice). He had a smile on his face the entire time and I believe he genuinely enjoyed shooting the bull with a swim nerd. I told him that I admired his family for weathering the immense backlash from the swimming community every step of the way. He told me how surprised he was when he received the phone call letting him know that he was going to be part of Team USA’s coaching staff for the SC World Championships. He was elated and astonished as well as perhaps a little bewildered.
We briefly discussed the family’s move to Encinitas, California in between the Two Dave’s: 2 hours south of Dave Salo and 20 minutes north of Dave Marsh. Will he work with one or both or neither? We shall see…
Below are our embedded tweets of Peter Andrew’s Race Pace Revolution presentation.
Coach Andrew was extremely articulate and confident in talking about why he believes race pace training is the best way to train. One big takeaway for me was that they do not rest for very long because he believes this allows the lactic acid to take over your body. They keep 25’s to 15-20 sec rest. So, basically, 25’s on :30 seconds.
Realizing that Michael Andrew doesn’t go over 2,000 yards/meters in any given practice was a bit of a shock to the entire audience. As well as the fact they don’t do any weights or drylands.
Michael got on stage and answered some questions along side his Dad. Here he discusses why the race pace revolution is great for young kids: it’s not boring.