By rehearsing, do you mean swimming them as hard as you plan to swim in the meet? Or more of a leisurely "swim through"--like a pro golfer checking out a new course?
Swim all out, but under practice conditions. Practice suit, no cap, starting from a pushoff, warm shallow pool, no one to race against.
if I really hit my taper, then I will still feel like racing after the meet.
I agree. Sometimes you are still pumped up and just can't seem to swim slow even with the fatigue. Give it a couple days, though, and you always relearn how to swim slow.
I rehearse events in practice prior to competitions. For the longest events, rehearsing them on the same day of the week as your race is helpful. Case in point, I've got a 1650 coming up on the 15th, so I'm going to rehearse it on the 8th. I've never rehearsed race-day combinations of events in the same practice but this thread has me considering it.
I did this today (in a way).
I did a 500 Pull, Fast 400 IM (4:54), 300 Pull, Fast 200 Fly (2:19), Fast 100 Free (1:00), all on somewhat extended, but short rest.
It wasn't meant to be a race condition type swim, or prep for one. Just a set focusing on speed in my best two events. From a push of course, in the shallow YMCA 84 degree water. I do like the pool...it's where I swam for most of my age group career for practices.
