Tapers

Conversely, I wish I could always taper! Like that guy who was profiled in the recent Swimmer who swims 2,000 yards, three days per week and is swimming fast. Now that would be awesome.

Conversely, I wish I could always taper! Like that guy who was profiled in the recent Swimmer who swims 2,000 yards, three days per week and is swimming fast. Now that would be awesome. :blush:

Conversely, I wish I could always taper! Like that guy who was profiled in the recent Swimmer who swims 2,000 yards, three days per week and is swimming fast. Now that would be awesome. I live for the taper.

I'm a big believer now in a longer taper, up to 3 weeks. For me it's a gradual drop in yards, combined with a gradual increase in EZ swimming as a percentage of those yards. I dropped weights completely at 3 weeks too. I'm 44. I think it takes me longer to rebuild than someone in their 20s. I didn't feel rested/tapered/EZ speed until a day or two before Greensboro. In a normal week now, I swim from 3k to 3.5k per practice 5 days a week and lift weights 4 times per week. I go down to roughly half of that the week of the meet. I also drop morning practices completely to sleep in. It worked for me at Greensboro. I dropped on average 2 seconds per 100 from my in season times. I don't get the b*tchies so much as an increasing sense of anxiety and feeling unsettled. Like I have all this excess strength ready to burst. It's quite cool actually. When I was a kid, I remember pulling the interior door handle off my Dad's car on the way to a championship meet. Guess, I was ready then!

I have always used a four week taper. Even without thorough season training, it works for most events up to 200 meters. In order for it to work, one must be absolutely sure that it will. I have never had the bitchies and don't understand why anyone would. If you are getting enough rest, the taper will work. As a for instance: All season long, I would post 1:03 - 1:05 for 100 butterfly, even as soon as 2 weeks before nationals. At nationals, I went 1:00.05. Because of the taper, but mostly because I believed in it. Worrying is a non productive pastime. Believe in your training, plan for your performance, then execute.

Worrying is a non productive pastime. Believe in your training, plan for your performance, then execute. Couldn't agree more. The negative mind chatter that an individual sport like swimming causes can make it impossible to reach your goals. Create a plan and work your butt off, and then believe you have done all you possibly can. When it comes race day you'll have all the confidence in the world. 4 week taper for me has worked for the past 20 years

Michael Heather, you really said it right! If we doubt our preparation, we will not do as well. All of my best races have been when I was confident that I had prepared correctly. Racing can be such a mind game. For me, being able to hit the correct time for the first 1/4 of the race gives me confidence in my taper. Additional yardage will not work within the last few weeks. Too many swimmers have fantastic times after a forced layoff. We can't discount rest. But you have to believe. Betsy, I hear what you and the others who commented right before you are saying, but my issue isn't that I don't believe tapering will work. I know I'm in outstanding shape. Tapering has worked very well for me before. It's just that now that I've been swimming Masters for awhile, the tapers are beginning to annoy me since I love to exercise and feel so good when I'm training that I don't like what it does to my personal and professional life when I'm doing almost nothing and feeling icky and grouchy. I think I will experiment with a 7 day taper next time (longer for weights) and see what happens. I'm seeking a place where I'm satisfied with the results as well as my frame-of-reference.

Greetings- I saw Brian Stack at the pool the other day and he told me that Cokie mentioned me and Restwise. Many things going on that require explanation: 1) I am now swimming laps for pleasure. I quit WCM after 19 years and so far do not intend to return. 2) I ordered Restwise and received it in the mail along with my pulse oximeter. I decided that I am not interested enough in competitive training anymore to actually follow the plan. You need to wear a HR monitor to bed so you can wake up and know your HR; you need to know your pulse and SpO2 right when you wake up; look at the color of your pee, yadda yadda. I decided that after being pregnant 4 times and having swum for 30 years I already know my body. I bet most lifelong swimmers can tell their pulse and HR just as well as they know their repeat times before even touching the wall. I am not criticizing RW at all. I just don't think it is the thing for me, esp now since I've stopped "swimming". 3) I could never figure out tapers either. I have learned 2 important "nuggets" though. Men require more rest than women, generally, because they have more muscle mass; and two, swimming/tapering is 100% mental. I have run the gamut as far as 'not trained enough' to 'completely overtrained' (313,000 yds in March) before Nationals. One thing was consistent though, and that was my attitude. (Over the past few years my attitude has sucked and that's why I've swum poorly. *please note that few people knew of my sucky attitude, as I very much kept it to myself- I have never been known as a "downer teammate"- I have always supported everyone on my team, and others = ] 4)If you do not know 100% that you will perform, then no matter what training/tapering you've done, you will not perform. It's that simple. Any negative self talk will decimate your efforts. You have to be so positively self-focused at meets, and not worry about anything else. I can recall at meets actually sitting behind the blocks and yawning before a race. I got life best times. I was so confident and mentally prepared that to actually swim the race was a mere formality. In the past I have visualized a goal time (100 Br) on the Colorado board and did that exact time TWICE in 2 months. The mind is powerful. 4) Some swimmers lie (related to above). I hear a lot at meets, usually in the female locker room, "Oh, I haven't been training much." These people will then proceed to do well and/or break records. Yea, right, not training much. I think that often-times these people are just playing mind games. Or if they say they haven't been training and then do well people will think, "Wow, they are really talented." Lame. So, that's why I have never been caught up in what other people are doing. I have to know that I can perform. I only get one lane to swim in, I can't be physically in my lane and mentally in someone else's. That's ridiculous. For now I have lost the passion to train and race, however I still love the water. I am cross-training and swimming a few thousand a few times/week. (I've been using the workouts from Eric and Leslie on-line. LOVE THESE WORKOUTS! I adapt as needed for time restrictions.) I have zero meet goals and I swim when I want to. I am not stressed about getting to workout, not stressed in the water, and I am so happy when I get out of the water. I have really had to challenge myself, when a tough set comes up because I could very easily loaf it or get out (since I'm alone). What I've found though is that I feel even more accomplished when I finish a hard workout because it was all me that did it. I do miss swimming "with" my teammates but I see them regularly in passing. I still go over and talk to Kerry and Mike occasionally, on deck, because I really miss them. Ultimately though, swimming with WCM was causing unneeded stress. I always thought my swimming should relieve stress, not give me more. I am finding peace with my decision more and more each day. That's a good thing for me and ultimately my family. I haven't been on the forums much, but I am on FB if anyone wants to keep in touch.

Michael Heather, you really said it right! If we doubt our preparation, we will not do as well. All of my best races have been when I was confident that I had prepared correctly. Racing can be such a mind game. For me, being able to hit the correct time for the first 1/4 of the race gives me confidence in my taper. Additional yardage will not work within the last few weeks. Too many swimmers have fantastic times after a forced layoff. We can't discount rest. But you have to believe.

I agree. I think these people also tend to sandbag their seed times. And I'm not talking about tactical sandbagging because they are swimming the next event or something--I'm talking about people who just always enter with times they must know they are going to destroy. FYI Kirk...I entered with all my masters BEST TIMES in Canada next weekend. :canada: No sandbagging here!! ...though I plan to beat my times! :banana: