I am preparing for a meet the second saturday in August (4 weeks away now). I have some taper questions. I know there are a ton of ideas and it is different for each individual but I would love to hear your thoughts,experiences, and opinions.
I am a distance/stroke swimmer. I will be swimming 100 ***, 100 back, 200 back, 1500 free, and I think the 400 free (not sure on that one yet).
I generally swim 5,000 LCM a day (5-6x a week) and lift 3 times a week.
In the past I have always had a coach who directed taper workouts but I will be between two teams durring this time and will be on my own. This is a common occurance for me and I am not worried about being motivated on my own as much as the fact that it is taper time on my own. I am good at pushing myself not resting LOL :D
I know that I don't need a long taper. I generally get most of my best times when I am slightly sore in mid season but if I think that if the taper is done right I could benefit greatly.
So far my plan is two wait until two weeks before the meet to taper. At that point I will stop lifting until after the meet. The first week decrease the yardage by about 25% and do more speed work. The second week cut down to around 2,000 and the last day warm up do some starts and warm down. My fear is over tapering and being slow in the water in my distance events.
I would appreicate any thoughts particularly from the other distance/ stroke people out there!
Thanks:)
I would appreciate some help with this too. I swim with an age group team that is tapering for a meet this weekend, and my meet is still 3 weeks away. I'm not so sure about the coach here either - I think he is in favor of the drop taper - which may be fine for some, but for an old lady like myself, perhaps not. And yet, I don't want to taper myself out of the meet.
My current plan (I don't lift weights yet) is to do normal workouts this week - that means 5 x 4-5000 meter sessions.
Next week I'm going to cut it down to only 4 - and the next week only 2 1/2 - since the meet will start in the middle of that week. The last 2 weeks I am going to focus more on holding my goal pace time - for instance, instead of 10 x 100's on the 1:30 and getting in at 1:25 - I will go 10 x 100's on the 1:40 and hope to hold 1:20's. Might do some broken's and "goal sets" as well. I swim similar events to you - mid distance -
Good luck
I would appreciate some help with this too. I swim with an age group team that is tapering for a meet this weekend, and my meet is still 3 weeks away. I'm not so sure about the coach here either - I think he is in favor of the drop taper - which may be fine for some, but for an old lady like myself, perhaps not. And yet, I don't want to taper myself out of the meet.
My current plan (I don't lift weights yet) is to do normal workouts this week - that means 5 x 4-5000 meter sessions.
Next week I'm going to cut it down to only 4 - and the next week only 2 1/2 - since the meet will start in the middle of that week. The last 2 weeks I am going to focus more on holding my goal pace time - for instance, instead of 10 x 100's on the 1:30 and getting in at 1:25 - I will go 10 x 100's on the 1:40 and hope to hold 1:20's. Might do some broken's and "goal sets" as well. I swim similar events to you - mid distance -
Good luck
