In our winter YMCA league, there are about a dozen meets from September to April. Some of the swimmers come to these meets and more or less go through the motions--i.e., they swim almost as if the meet were a leisurely Sunday workout. For one friend of mine, it's almost as if he doesn't want to try too hard because if his time isn't as good as he thinks it should be, he's disappointed and de-inspired.
Other swimmers try their hardest in every event they enter, regardless if this nets them a personal record or not.
It's a difference of philosophy, I guess, but I am curious to see where others out there come down on this duality.
Someone mentioned on another thread somewhere that Popov planned to race the 50 a hundred times a season, and that these races were part of his conditioning strategy. This makes a lot of sense to me--it's hard to do a truly maximal sprint in practice, and even if you can do this, you don't have the same adrenalizing, etc. that meet conditions can induce. By attending lots of meets and sprinting all out there everytime, you get a form of practice that's virtually impossible to get anywhere else. Partly for this reason I guess I am a believer in trying your hardest in meets throughout the season. I also don't see the point in coming and swimming with less effort than you are capable of summoning.
But maybe I'm missing something. What do others out there think?
Parents
Former Member
Wow !! Great topic. There are so many variables in one's planning I sometimes wonder how we ever accomplish best times. Our season in Oregon runs basically from October to May for s/c yards and s/c meters. Then June-August for l/c meters. There are usually meets at the end (champs.) to peak, train,taper for. We usually have one meet per month somewhere in the State plus one or more in neighboring States such as Washington or perhaps all the way to B.C. Canada. Here's the wild card in the planning process. The pool. Assuming you have your social life/family properly trained, you can go to as many meets as you want. However, not all pools are equal, nor am I always at the bottom of the age-group ! So...... most of, but not all,Championship meets are in great (fast) pools and generally these are the ones we aim at. This season (fall), the first two meets were scheduled at fast pools and so I did a mini-taper for each. Of course, the best-laid plans....... the Nov. meet turned out to be in the pool which was too short ! Dec. was good and the January and February meets were in skanky pools. Not to worry, I just swam off- events, had a great social time and thought about better meets to come . So - to address the question, if the pool is right and the conditioning is right and the age is correct, I go like sickum ! If the pool stinks, or I'm not fit, or I'm too darn old for the age-group......... Hello, ladies !!! One last thought. I always space my events so as to get adequate rest and at least have a fighting chance for a good swim. :p
Wow !! Great topic. There are so many variables in one's planning I sometimes wonder how we ever accomplish best times. Our season in Oregon runs basically from October to May for s/c yards and s/c meters. Then June-August for l/c meters. There are usually meets at the end (champs.) to peak, train,taper for. We usually have one meet per month somewhere in the State plus one or more in neighboring States such as Washington or perhaps all the way to B.C. Canada. Here's the wild card in the planning process. The pool. Assuming you have your social life/family properly trained, you can go to as many meets as you want. However, not all pools are equal, nor am I always at the bottom of the age-group ! So...... most of, but not all,Championship meets are in great (fast) pools and generally these are the ones we aim at. This season (fall), the first two meets were scheduled at fast pools and so I did a mini-taper for each. Of course, the best-laid plans....... the Nov. meet turned out to be in the pool which was too short ! Dec. was good and the January and February meets were in skanky pools. Not to worry, I just swam off- events, had a great social time and thought about better meets to come . So - to address the question, if the pool is right and the conditioning is right and the age is correct, I go like sickum ! If the pool stinks, or I'm not fit, or I'm too darn old for the age-group......... Hello, ladies !!! One last thought. I always space my events so as to get adequate rest and at least have a fighting chance for a good swim. :p
