Hello,
My 16 year old has been swimming 3000-4000 yards 5x week on the local team for the past 5 months. (This is after a year out for shoulder surgery, and a year of swimming prior to that. His shoulder is doing fine.) He has 6 months until high school varsity swim team tryouts in August. High school workouts will be 6000 yards 5x week beginning in August.
I want to plan his training to both peak for his varsity tryout in August, and to be acclimated to the increased yardage.
I know nothing about swimming tapers so I'm strictly guessing. Roughly I thought he might begin now adding 1 - 6000 yard workout a week say for the first month, then 2 per week etc, until in June he can do 6000 - 5x a week. I would guess that July he would taper in some way....maybe:
First week 6000 yrd 1x, 3000 4x
Second week 3000 yrd 4x
Third week 3000 yrd 2x
Fourth week 3000 yrd 1x
Your advice is appreciated.
Thank you!
I think the use of the term "Taper" is a bit misleading - if you want your son is swimming 3-4k a day and needs to be ready for 6k, you need him "ramping up" his training in preparation.
I coach kids your son's age, so here are my thoughts from that perspective. I'm only a coach and not a parent, so please keep in mind my coach hat is on here:
1 - what are your son's wishes? before anything happens, he needs to be on board. it is he doing all the work, and he needs to be willing to do it.
2 - how is his technique? when we look to move kids around on my team, I won't take kids who need more work on technique. They spend more time in the lower groups focusing on perfecting their stroke so that they don't get injured swimming fast with incorrect technique in my group (and same for those wishing to move to the next group up). Same for injuries - nurse yourself back in the lower groups and get comfortable swimming correctly AND fast.
3 - time in the water - how much time is he doing the 3-4k workouts and how long are the HS 6k workouts? If both are 90 minute slots, he's got a lot of work ahead of him. regardless, he's going to need to get used to swimming that kind of yardage in a certain amount of time, and is going to need to go from 3-4k to 4-5k before you can start getting up to 6k. (see #4)
4 - goal setting - your son needs to have a goal meeting with his coaches. whether you're along is up to them, but he needs to talk with them about his goals and they can create a training plan and road map to address these goals - which will include ramping up yardage, technique and speed work.
5 - trusting your coaches
it sounds like you don't trust the coaches. does your son? if he doesn't trust his coaches either, he needs to figure out why and address those reasons with the coaches during his goal meeting. if a satisfactory plan and middle trust ground cannot be reached, he will need to reconsider changing clubs and/or workout groups.
if your son DOES trust his coaches, let him address his concerns with them and do your best to encourage him in his training.
6 - coach/parent boundary - Dad needs to address his trust issues with the coaches too. You should be able to be reinforcing them to your son with positive fathering out of the pool. Coaches will take care of the in-water portion.
7 - have fun!
None of this is possible without your son having fun. It is ok to play grabass every once in a while in the water - it's not all about training, training, training. Swimming faster is fun; winning HS events and meets is fun. So is being in good shape and hanging out with friends. Keep this in mind every time you and he go to the pool. :) :banana:
I think the use of the term "Taper" is a bit misleading - if you want your son is swimming 3-4k a day and needs to be ready for 6k, you need him "ramping up" his training in preparation.
I coach kids your son's age, so here are my thoughts from that perspective. I'm only a coach and not a parent, so please keep in mind my coach hat is on here:
1 - what are your son's wishes? before anything happens, he needs to be on board. it is he doing all the work, and he needs to be willing to do it.
2 - how is his technique? when we look to move kids around on my team, I won't take kids who need more work on technique. They spend more time in the lower groups focusing on perfecting their stroke so that they don't get injured swimming fast with incorrect technique in my group (and same for those wishing to move to the next group up). Same for injuries - nurse yourself back in the lower groups and get comfortable swimming correctly AND fast.
3 - time in the water - how much time is he doing the 3-4k workouts and how long are the HS 6k workouts? If both are 90 minute slots, he's got a lot of work ahead of him. regardless, he's going to need to get used to swimming that kind of yardage in a certain amount of time, and is going to need to go from 3-4k to 4-5k before you can start getting up to 6k. (see #4)
4 - goal setting - your son needs to have a goal meeting with his coaches. whether you're along is up to them, but he needs to talk with them about his goals and they can create a training plan and road map to address these goals - which will include ramping up yardage, technique and speed work.
5 - trusting your coaches
it sounds like you don't trust the coaches. does your son? if he doesn't trust his coaches either, he needs to figure out why and address those reasons with the coaches during his goal meeting. if a satisfactory plan and middle trust ground cannot be reached, he will need to reconsider changing clubs and/or workout groups.
if your son DOES trust his coaches, let him address his concerns with them and do your best to encourage him in his training.
6 - coach/parent boundary - Dad needs to address his trust issues with the coaches too. You should be able to be reinforcing them to your son with positive fathering out of the pool. Coaches will take care of the in-water portion.
7 - have fun!
None of this is possible without your son having fun. It is ok to play grabass every once in a while in the water - it's not all about training, training, training. Swimming faster is fun; winning HS events and meets is fun. So is being in good shape and hanging out with friends. Keep this in mind every time you and he go to the pool. :) :banana:
