I have a swim meet coming up this weekend Nov 1, Nov 2. I haven't raced in almost 6 years. I have, however, been swimming all the time. The meet restricts each competitor to only two events. Each event is a timed final. I guess they do this to save time. I have entered the 50 m and 100 m free. The last time I raced these events I went 26.15 and 59.01 respectively. Back then, however, I did more training than I am doing now.
Recently, I have been swimming 4 times a week, averaging about 1500 m to 2300 m per session. In the mornings I follow a home fitness program which involves some very vigorous cardio, dumbbell work, body weight workouts, etc. It can be really exhausting and leave my muscles sore for a couple of days afterwards.
My questions are:
should I drop the home exercise program in this final week before the meet?
how much swimming should I be doing and what should I be concentrating on in the pool?
what should I be eating?
and probably the biggest question of all,
how do I warm up on the day of the meet?
You are not going to lose conditioning in a week.You want to think of it as tuning up. 100s aren't going to help you as you can't do them at race pace with a reasonable recovery.Doing the entire distance at race pace before the meet is like striking all your matches before the camp out to make sure they all work,you'll have nothing left.
Thanks Allen, I didn't strike all my matches before the camp and that analogy gave me a good chuckle!
My specific to sprinters advice:
The week before is your time to keep it "long and strong" in practice.
Good advice, too. I didn't do anything in the pool that would result in lactic acid build up.
The meet went well given the circumstances.
Friday night's Halloween party went on a bit longer than expected. Or we left a bit later than planned. I, eventually got into bed at about 5 a.m. having spent most of the night standing or dancing. After all, it only comes around once a year. Unfortunately, it happened to be the night before my meet! I woke up at nine the next morning with aching legs. I drank water the entire night so I was fine otherwise, but just tired. I felt terrible in the warm up pool but convinced myself I was going to do well because I was going to give it everything I had.
Well I did. My first event was the 100 m Free. I went out in a 28.75 (I had wanted to go out in a 28 low and come back in a 30.XX for a 59) but the wheels came off in the second 50 and I died badly. Came back in a 32.65 for a 1:01.40. However, I still came first in my age group and beat the meet record which was a soft 1:03.93.
I also won the 50 m Free in a time of 27.64 also beating the meet record of 28.33.
So, all in all, I wasn't dissatisfied but I know I can do better and I know I need to train harder and not go out partying the night before. At least I set some times that I can set about improving on now.
Thanks for everyone's advice.:)
Syd
You are not going to lose conditioning in a week.You want to think of it as tuning up. 100s aren't going to help you as you can't do them at race pace with a reasonable recovery.Doing the entire distance at race pace before the meet is like striking all your matches before the camp out to make sure they all work,you'll have nothing left.
Thanks Allen, I didn't strike all my matches before the camp and that analogy gave me a good chuckle!
My specific to sprinters advice:
The week before is your time to keep it "long and strong" in practice.
Good advice, too. I didn't do anything in the pool that would result in lactic acid build up.
The meet went well given the circumstances.
Friday night's Halloween party went on a bit longer than expected. Or we left a bit later than planned. I, eventually got into bed at about 5 a.m. having spent most of the night standing or dancing. After all, it only comes around once a year. Unfortunately, it happened to be the night before my meet! I woke up at nine the next morning with aching legs. I drank water the entire night so I was fine otherwise, but just tired. I felt terrible in the warm up pool but convinced myself I was going to do well because I was going to give it everything I had.
Well I did. My first event was the 100 m Free. I went out in a 28.75 (I had wanted to go out in a 28 low and come back in a 30.XX for a 59) but the wheels came off in the second 50 and I died badly. Came back in a 32.65 for a 1:01.40. However, I still came first in my age group and beat the meet record which was a soft 1:03.93.
I also won the 50 m Free in a time of 27.64 also beating the meet record of 28.33.
So, all in all, I wasn't dissatisfied but I know I can do better and I know I need to train harder and not go out partying the night before. At least I set some times that I can set about improving on now.
Thanks for everyone's advice.:)
Syd
