I despise tapering so much, it sometimes makes me NOT want to compete anymore. I feel moody, tired, and depressed and worried about my races because I'm so used to being very active on a daily basis. I remember reading that Laura Val doesn't worry about a taper but the article had no details. Is there anyone else who has been able to perform really well without cutting way back on yardage? I would be interested in hearing what you do.
I usually do 2600-3300 4 or 5 days a week and a lot of cross training. My preference would be to swim at least 1800 every day during "taper." That is about the minimum yardage for me to feel normal.
As cokie pointed out (and many others will attest), tapering/resting is highly individualized. In the ballpark of 2600-3300 yard workouts, I would peg you for a 3 day rest period.
Mon - 3,300
Tues - 2,800
Wed - 2,000-2,500 (basically a normal practice, just shorten your main set a bit)
Thurs - ~1,500 (meet warmup plus some 100's or 50's pace)
Fri - ~1,000 (or meet warmup equivalent)
Sat - Meet
At the yardages you describe, you can quickly get back up to speed the following week. You could test that out at just about any meet and it's not going to ruin your training.
However, you said you don't feel normal with less than 1,800 yards. If that truly is the case, I would suggest continuing with your normal practices except the day before the meet (do meet warmup) and reducing/eliminating any dryland work the same week of your meet.
I usually do 2600-3300 4 or 5 days a week and a lot of cross training. My preference would be to swim at least 1800 every day during "taper." That is about the minimum yardage for me to feel normal.
As cokie pointed out (and many others will attest), tapering/resting is highly individualized. In the ballpark of 2600-3300 yard workouts, I would peg you for a 3 day rest period.
Mon - 3,300
Tues - 2,800
Wed - 2,000-2,500 (basically a normal practice, just shorten your main set a bit)
Thurs - ~1,500 (meet warmup plus some 100's or 50's pace)
Fri - ~1,000 (or meet warmup equivalent)
Sat - Meet
At the yardages you describe, you can quickly get back up to speed the following week. You could test that out at just about any meet and it's not going to ruin your training.
However, you said you don't feel normal with less than 1,800 yards. If that truly is the case, I would suggest continuing with your normal practices except the day before the meet (do meet warmup) and reducing/eliminating any dryland work the same week of your meet.
