I recently read an article on the importance of warming up. I have started beginning my workout by doing a 5 minute swim at an easy pace (usually about 16 or 18 laps), then a brief rest, then a 300 moderate tempo warmup. I then follow this with 4x50 on the kickboard. That means I am doing about half a mile of warmups. I then get into my workout, which is usually intervals of 100s, 50s, and 25s, swum mostly at anywhere from 80 to 100% of maximum effort.
My question...on the day of the race, there is usually one hour before the meet starts. How much swimming should I be doing? Should I do my full warm-up, so all the kinks and lactic acid are worked out of my muscles? And what about between races...Let's say I have a 50 freestyle and then a 50 *** a half hour later. What should I be doing in between?
I do a pre-meet warmup during the open pool warmup before the meet kicks off and, depending on how long I have between events, will sometimes warm up before an event. I always cool down after an event...unless it's the last event of a long/late meet, then I just get the heck outta the pool! :D
The length of my pre-meet warmup depends on what I'm swimming that day and how I'm feeling in the water. I always do at least an 800, but if I'm doing longer events (the 200s and the 400 IM, for example), I'll stretch that out. Also, if I'm feeling cruddy in the water, I'll stretch that warmup out until I start to feel decent. At a meet in October, I felt like complete crud in the water during warmup, so I ended up doing a 2100.
If I have more than 30-40 minutes before my first event, I'll hop back in to do some stroke specific warmup. For example, if my first event is the 100 fly, and it's an hour after warmup, I'll hop in and do a 300-400, with some stretch out free, fly drills, and 12.5 fly sprints. If my events are sprints, especially the 50s, I'll hop in for a 100-400. If the event is a longer event, like the 400 IM, I'll hop in for a 400-600. If I have less than 30 minutes or so between events, I won't do an additional warmup before heading to the blocks. I do generally head to the blocks about 10 minutes before my race to stretch and shake my muscles out.
After all my events, I cooldown using the general rule of thumb that I will cooldown for at least twice the distance I swam, or at least a 300 for the sprints. I don't do anything longer than the 400 IM (and that only 2-3 times a season), so I'm not putting a ton of time in the warmdown pool.
I do a pre-meet warmup during the open pool warmup before the meet kicks off and, depending on how long I have between events, will sometimes warm up before an event. I always cool down after an event...unless it's the last event of a long/late meet, then I just get the heck outta the pool! :D
The length of my pre-meet warmup depends on what I'm swimming that day and how I'm feeling in the water. I always do at least an 800, but if I'm doing longer events (the 200s and the 400 IM, for example), I'll stretch that out. Also, if I'm feeling cruddy in the water, I'll stretch that warmup out until I start to feel decent. At a meet in October, I felt like complete crud in the water during warmup, so I ended up doing a 2100.
If I have more than 30-40 minutes before my first event, I'll hop back in to do some stroke specific warmup. For example, if my first event is the 100 fly, and it's an hour after warmup, I'll hop in and do a 300-400, with some stretch out free, fly drills, and 12.5 fly sprints. If my events are sprints, especially the 50s, I'll hop in for a 100-400. If the event is a longer event, like the 400 IM, I'll hop in for a 400-600. If I have less than 30 minutes or so between events, I won't do an additional warmup before heading to the blocks. I do generally head to the blocks about 10 minutes before my race to stretch and shake my muscles out.
After all my events, I cooldown using the general rule of thumb that I will cooldown for at least twice the distance I swam, or at least a 300 for the sprints. I don't do anything longer than the 400 IM (and that only 2-3 times a season), so I'm not putting a ton of time in the warmdown pool.
