I am 54 years old, and have recently gotten back into competitive swimming. I have not yet worked up to monster workouts (like folks doing 4000 yards) and not sure I would even want to. My shoulders can't take swimming every day.
I have a meet on Saturday. I am only swimming two 50s (*** and free).
My training for the last week or so was as follows:
Thursday, 3/4 mile swim
Friday, rest
Saturday, worked with trainer (dry training/weights, etc.)
Sunday-Monday-Tuesday (1200 yds, 1200 yds, 880 yards)
Wednesday-rest
Thursday (today)-1000 yards
Should I work out at all on Friday. If so...how hard?
What is the best prep for the day of the meet (in terms of rest, supplements, eating, etc.). The meet is not until 4 pm.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.
I am 54 years old, and have recently gotten back into competitive swimming. I have not yet worked up to monster workouts (like folks doing 4000 yards) and not sure I would even want to. My shoulders can't take swimming every day.
I have a meet on Saturday. I am only swimming two 50s (*** and free).
My training for the last week or so was as follows:
Thursday, 3/4 mile swim
Friday, rest
Saturday, worked with trainer (dry training/weights, etc.)
Sunday-Monday-Tuesday (1200 yds, 1200 yds, 880 yards)
Wednesday-rest
Thursday (today)-1000 yards
Should I work out at all on Friday. If so...how hard?
What is the best prep for the day of the meet (in terms of rest, supplements, eating, etc.). The meet is not until 4 pm.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.
Swim a light workout on Friday. Maybe 80% or 90% of your normal distance, and ease up on the intensity. Last Friday I swam about 3100 yards instead of my usual 4000, and my main set was 75 freestyles on an interval that would have been quite challenging if I were doing 100's. So it was a pretty easy set but I still did something, if that makes sense.
As for your prep on the day of the meet, that is a highly individual thing.
Should I work out at all on Friday. If so...how hard?
Hi! I am like you: 54, and back into competitive swimming after an embarrassingly large number of decades away. My suggestions would be,
Friday, get in the water to loosen up. Maybe 1000 or so. Nothing that gets your heart rate going, or that generates any lactic acid. The whole point is to feel good in the water. Find your streamline.
Saturday, have fun! Masters swimming is a blast. It's great to get out there & meet people, swim your events, cheer for your new friends, and in particular, celebrate & marvel at the accomplishments of our older athletes. You will see some really inspiring stuff if you keep your eyes open. Pay attention!
It's a process! Learning how to train for meets, how to train hard, how to taper, and what to eat on the day of the meet ... it all takes time. You will make mistakes. But it's fun! Enjoy the process!
I am 54 years old, and have recently gotten back into competitive swimming. I have not yet worked up to monster workouts (like folks doing 4000 yards) and not sure I would even want to. My shoulders can't take swimming every day.
I have a meet on Saturday. I am only swimming two 50s (*** and free).
My training for the last week or so was as follows:
Thursday, 3/4 mile swim
Friday, rest
Saturday, worked with trainer (dry training/weights, etc.)
Sunday-Monday-Tuesday (1200 yds, 1200 yds, 880 yards)
Wednesday-rest
Thursday (today)-1000 yards
Should I work out at all on Friday. If so...how hard?
What is the best prep for the day of the meet (in terms of rest, supplements, eating, etc.). The meet is not until 4 pm.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.
I am far from an expert on this, as I have just returned to the world of competitive swimming, but I like to get in a swim the day before a meet. My usual workouts are either 3500 or 4000 yards (sometimes in between that but I like multiples of 500 :)) and on the day before both meets in recent memory I've swum about 1500 or 2000 yard with the goal of getting loose and spending some time working on technique.
I agree with That Guy about meet preparation being a very individual thing. For what it's worth, I try to get to bed a little early and I've always had a certain breakfast I eat, though what it is has morphed over time. (Rec league through club team: pancakes. High school/college: bagel with cream cheese. Now: Starbucks veggie breakfast sandwich and a latte :anim_coffee: - which is sort of odd because I am not all that fond of lattes, nor particularly devoted to Starbucks.)
I still love to have pancakes for breakfast before a meet. I'll make them if I've got time. If it's a meet I've got to get up early and drive to I'll usually just have a bowl of cereal, but it just isn't the same!
McDonalds has hotcakes and sausage, which are actually pretty good. I prefer 3 sausage burritos and 2 hashbrowns from McD's as my typical pre-meet meal. Without it, I swim like garbage. :)
I would add that drastically changing your routine can cause other negative issues on performance. Case in point with food stuff - you could gobble down James' breakfast plan only to find out that there is only one toilet at the pool :afraid:
Most important for me is to relax and know that with each race I learn something more about what I can improve for the next race. I have swum through some meets, others I'll do a quick drop taper the week before, and for the target meets I will build in a longer taper period. Rest a bit and have fun!
:cheerleader:
You have a meet on Saturday (like tomorrow?)
you're swimming two 50s (*** and free)
last week you trained:
Thursday, 3/4 mile swim
Friday, rest
Saturday, worked with trainer (dry training/weights, etc.)
Sunday-Monday-Tuesday (1200 yds, 1200 yds, 880 yards)
Wednesday-rest
Thursday (today)-1000 yards
you asked: Should I work out at all on Friday. If so...how hard?
As in today? depends on what your goals are and if you have anymore meets this season. I say yes get in but take it easy, do around 500 to 700 with perfect technique then a couple sprints, with an easy 75 swim down between
(in your workout examples, are you saying you did
Sun 1200, Mon 1200, & Tue 880?
If that's the case you don't have much to taper from
What is the best prep for the day of the meet (in terms of rest, supplements, eating, etc.). The meet is not until 4 pm.
relax,
don't worry about it,
if you feel nervous right before your race that's good
ask a friend to video you
don't each much before you race
warm up well
take what you learn from your races then ask yourself
"What do I need to do to swim faster?"
Then get to work in the following days weeks and months preparing for your next meets.
I've written a lot about meets in SFF and Ask Ande
I've always had a certain breakfast I eat, though what it is has morphed over time. (Rec league through club team: pancakes.
I still love to have pancakes for breakfast before a meet. I'll make them if I've got time. If it's a meet I've got to get up early and drive to I'll usually just have a bowl of cereal, but it just isn't the same!
I still love to have pancakes for breakfast before a meet. I'll make them if I've got time. If it's a meet I've got to get up early and drive to I'll usually just have a bowl of cereal, but it just isn't the same!
The pancakes thing was something my rec league coach always told us to do before our Saturday meets, and if Mr. Mac said to do it, my five-year-old self demanded it. It was even better for Tuesday night meets where he said we should go to the movies in the afternoon to enjoy the air conditioning. I wasn't always as successful at getting to do this.
I'm thinking that since my next meet won't require being up super early I will bring back the pancakes tradition.
Another swim tradition this post reminded me of, again started when I was five - we always listened to the Beach Boys in the car on the way to the meet. This continued until I went away to college, even when I started driving myself, but when my dad came to visit me in college he actually brought a Beach Boys tape with him. (My dad and I are the tradition/superstition/neurotic habits people in the family. :))
Most of my meets have a 3 hour+ travel time to get there, so I usually get it on the way ...
Youth is wasted on the young! I have tried driving 3+ hours on the morning of a meet, and I swim like the stiff I am surely soon to be. :cane: Now I fork over the extra bucks for a night in a cheap hotel. The Hell's Angels parties after midnight aren't really all that loud ...
If you can swim an SCM 800 IM in under 11:00, you are free to eat whatever your iron stomach craves! :bow:
, you are free to eat whatever your iron stomach craves! :bow:
I pretty sure that if I ever went back to a strict "normal food" diet, I'd probably get sick. It takes training to build up to an iron stomach that I apparently possess. :bliss:
