I raced at PNA Champs near Seattle this weekend and all of my times were much slower than last year even though I trained for 11 months straight (Masters swim 3 days/week, weight lifting 2-3 days/week, with some cross-country skiing and biking on weekends). I stopped lifting 2 weeks prior to the meet but I swam up until Thursday before the Sat/Sun meet. Mostly did sprints on the Tues-Thur swims before the meet, about 2k meters all-up vs 3k meters for a normal workout. Plenty of sleep time. But I felt tired during the meet and ran out of energy on most events (200/500 yd free, 50/100/200 ***). Age = 51.
Should I have tapered more? I have no idea what caused my fatigue.
Thanks for any thoughts.
Seattle Jack
I raced at PNA Champs near Seattle this weekend and all of my times were much slower than last year even though I trained for 11 months straight (Masters swim 3 days/week, weight lifting 2-3 days/week, with some cross-country skiing and biking on weekends). I stopped lifting 2 weeks prior to the meet but I swam up until Thursday before the Sat/Sun meet. Mostly did sprints on the Tues-Thur swims before the meet, about 2k meters all-up vs 3k meters for a normal workout. Plenty of sleep time. But I felt tired during the meet and ran out of energy on most events (200/500 yd free, 50/100/200 ***). Age = 51.
Should I have tapered more? I have no idea what caused my fatigue.
Thanks for any thoughts.
Seattle Jack
It's hard to tell you exactly why without having more detailed info about:
+ you, (height/weight in 2011 & 12, the suit you wore, shave or not?)
+ the training you did to prepare for your 2012 & 2011 meets,
+ each race: splits and rest between swims
Your performance is the direct result of your preparation
so looking up your swims in the USMS data base at
USMS Individual Meet Results by Jack Timmons (21 swims)
from just comparing your 100 & 200 BR times from 2011 to 2012 it's pretty obvious that you weren't as fast, fit or as well rested in 2012 as you were in 2011
Jack Timmons 2011-04-09 (20110409NWZONEY) 50 PNA
200 *** H5 / L1 2:55.25 4
Leg Cumulative Subtractive
1 39.41 39.41
2 1:22.59 43.18
3 2:08.67 46.08
4 2:55.25 46.58
Jack Timmons 2012-02-19 (20120219LAKEWAY) 51 PNA
200 *** H2 / L5 3:03.19 2
Leg Cumulative Subtractive
1 40.29 40.29
2 1:24.54 44.25
3 2:12.62 48.08
4 3:03.19 50.57
Jack Timmons 2011-03-12 (20110312ORCAEMY) 50 PNA
100 *** H3 / L5 1:20.85 3
Leg Cumulative Subtractive
1 37.72 37.72
2 1:20.84 43.12
Jack Timmons 2012-02-19 (20120219LAKEWAY) 51 PNA
100 *** H4 / L5 1:22.81 2
Leg Cumulative Subtractive
1 38.67 38.67
2 1:22.81 44.14
I suggest you:
+ swim train more times per week like 4, 5 or 6
+ pay attention to and track your practice times on sets,
focus on swimming and kicking faster in practice
+ actually get stronger from lifting weights,
strengthen the muscles that make you swim faster
You might be making technique errors,
shoot an iphone video of you swimming breastroke.
P.O.V. head on & from the side
put it on youtube then post the link here and ask for feedback
Swim Faster Faster can help you.
I raced at PNA Champs near Seattle this weekend and all of my times were much slower than last year even though I trained for 11 months straight (Masters swim 3 days/week, weight lifting 2-3 days/week, with some cross-country skiing and biking on weekends). I stopped lifting 2 weeks prior to the meet but I swam up until Thursday before the Sat/Sun meet. Mostly did sprints on the Tues-Thur swims before the meet, about 2k meters all-up vs 3k meters for a normal workout. Plenty of sleep time. But I felt tired during the meet and ran out of energy on most events (200/500 yd free, 50/100/200 ***). Age = 51.
Should I have tapered more? I have no idea what caused my fatigue.
Thanks for any thoughts.
Seattle Jack
It's hard to tell you exactly why without having more detailed info about:
+ you, (height/weight in 2011 & 12, the suit you wore, shave or not?)
+ the training you did to prepare for your 2012 & 2011 meets,
+ each race: splits and rest between swims
Your performance is the direct result of your preparation
so looking up your swims in the USMS data base at
USMS Individual Meet Results by Jack Timmons (21 swims)
from just comparing your 100 & 200 BR times from 2011 to 2012 it's pretty obvious that you weren't as fast, fit or as well rested in 2012 as you were in 2011
Jack Timmons 2011-04-09 (20110409NWZONEY) 50 PNA
200 *** H5 / L1 2:55.25 4
Leg Cumulative Subtractive
1 39.41 39.41
2 1:22.59 43.18
3 2:08.67 46.08
4 2:55.25 46.58
Jack Timmons 2012-02-19 (20120219LAKEWAY) 51 PNA
200 *** H2 / L5 3:03.19 2
Leg Cumulative Subtractive
1 40.29 40.29
2 1:24.54 44.25
3 2:12.62 48.08
4 3:03.19 50.57
Jack Timmons 2011-03-12 (20110312ORCAEMY) 50 PNA
100 *** H3 / L5 1:20.85 3
Leg Cumulative Subtractive
1 37.72 37.72
2 1:20.84 43.12
Jack Timmons 2012-02-19 (20120219LAKEWAY) 51 PNA
100 *** H4 / L5 1:22.81 2
Leg Cumulative Subtractive
1 38.67 38.67
2 1:22.81 44.14
I suggest you:
+ swim train more times per week like 4, 5 or 6
+ pay attention to and track your practice times on sets,
focus on swimming and kicking faster in practice
+ actually get stronger from lifting weights,
strengthen the muscles that make you swim faster
You might be making technique errors,
shoot an iphone video of you swimming breastroke.
P.O.V. head on & from the side
put it on youtube then post the link here and ask for feedback
Swim Faster Faster can help you.
