By rudiments I meant, as you say, paradiddles etc. And they are really useful to get clean strokes, and especially if you get stuck on the wrong hand.
By stuck on the wrong hand I mean, for example, that you're in the middle of a fill and need to do something that you would normally do with your right hand, but your right hand is busy, so you need to do it with your left.
I just checked 400 bpm and that's way too fast.
The most you need to hit the bass drum is on 1, 3, 3and. And you don't even really need 3and, as long as you keep time.
Learn to do that.
The clever part is then doubling and dropping bass drum beats to create a groove. Playing doubles and triplets with a single bass drum pedal is better practice than just learning to go really fast. Unless that's the kind of music you want to play.
In my opinion, learning to play grooves and common repeating phrases (and keep accurate time) is more important than just rudiments, but your guy seems to have you doing that now.
One last thing, if you are planning to play a paradiddle play it with your right foot and left hand while playing fours on the hats with your right hand. This will give you the basis for a number of bass/snare/hihat grooves, and help independence.
One last last thing, hand/foot independence is really important.
Hope all this is helping!
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