Fatigue Cost Me Race Times?

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.

They have yet to post the PNA Champs results from last weekend. I actually beat my best 100 *** time by 0.4 seconds in the first race but expected more, felt tired, and got much slower every race after that. Excellent advice going forward, and thanks for the kind offer to review video. Thanks much!

Like what waves said, it will take trial end error to find out what works for you. I've only tried two tapers as an adult. The first was disappointing. The second was a disaster. Friends of mine from high school and college (ages 47-52) who have swum a lot as adults tell me that it takes several years of experimentation to find out how to taper. Especially once you are into the 40's.

1 more question - and thanks again for all your help! If I want to hit the following times next year, what should my workout times be near race time? For example, for the 200 Free, should I be able to swim 10x50 on 0:40 send off time? race -------- time --- time per 50 100 *** --- 1:16 --- 38 200 *** ----2:48 --- 42 200 Free ------2:24 --- 36 500 Free ------6:40 ----40 (1:20 for 100's) thanks, Jack

If I want to hit the following times next year, what should my workout times be near race time? For example, for the 200 Free, should I be able to swim 10x50 on 0:40 send off time? race -------- time --- time per 50 100 *** --- 1:16 --- 38 200 *** ----2:48 --- 42 200 Free ------2:24 --- 36 500 Free ------6:40 ----40 (1:20 for 100's) If you can do 10x50 on :40 you're going to be able to go much faster than 2:24 if you race a 200 free. Think more along the lines of being able to be :36 or better, but on a set of 10x50 on 1:00 or even more. If you want to go 6:40 for your 500 try doing something like 5x100 on 2:00 and hold them all at 1:19 or better. And aim for consistency. If you can do the first one in 1:15, but the fifth one is 1:25 you need to work more on your endurance.

Jack, If I can copy/pdf the table of food alkaline/acidic indicies, I'll attach when i get a chance. Attached is a pdf of the section and table i mentioned above. See the realtive indicies in the table - they're apparently on a weight basis . For instance, raisins and spinach (now we know why popeye liked spinach) are very alkaline and beneficial, and brown rice and parm cheese/cheese are more likely to highly contribute to loss of muscle. Note too, that this does not obfuscate the need to eat adequate amounts of protein, fats, carbs and water for your training. I think it is highly unlikely that your diet had much to do with your performance, and as other have indicated the training and taper are likely issues for you to consider. But diet is something to consider over the long term for building muscle and for retention. I'm 62 and eating lots os spinach, and raisins.:banana:

If you can do 10x50 on :40 you're going to be able to go much faster than 2:24 if you race a 200 free. Think more along the lines of being able to be :36 or better, but on a set of 10x50 on 1:00 or even more. If you want to go 6:40 for your 500 try doing something like 5x100 on 2:00 and hold them all at 1:19 or better. And aim for consistency. If you can do the first one in 1:15, but the fifth one is 1:25 you need to work more on your endurance. Think i need to work on my endurance. did a set of 6x100 on 2:00 this morning on about 1:40 - 1:45 (a sluggish practice)- my goals at this point is to get under 2:30 - last race was 2:46.

Very cool, thanks!