I'm just curious if people vary what they do in a meet warm up vs. a regular warm up. Something I never got the proper hang of during my fastest swimming days was 1) what MY best taper was and 2) what MY best meet warm up was. It was always do as I was told. I always suspected my tapers were too short (based on anecdotal evidence of feeling a week after championships like I was indestructible and could have shattered my times if the meet was that day) and never had a clue if my meet warm ups were sufficient, as we were typically left to our own devices to splash around.
Figuring that people's workout warm ups will roughly reflect the events they are training for, do you do the same warm up at a meet as you do in practice? How do you decide if your meet warm up is working for you?
Certainly as I get closer to a taper meet, I try to do the same warmup in a workout as I *think* I'll be able to do at a meet. My usual challenge, though, is that warmup conditions at a big meet do not allow me to carry the ideal warmup I'd like - unless that meet is a local meet or this spring's Nationals where we had ridiculous, everythings-bigger-in-Texas number of warmup lanes.
I try to do basically the same warm up for a meet as for a workout,except often at a travel meet I'll do extra long slow swimming until I feel loose,especially the day before the meet and the first day.
My coach as a kid always used to say if you don't do it in practice you won't do it at a meet. I firmly believe practice is just that; it's what you do to get ready for a meet. I too try to do my normal practice warmup and then will do some pace 50/100s as my transition from warmup to the meet. I also do a light loose warm down after the pace 50s/100s. If warmup/wRm down space is a challenge I will do the same thing but over more of an extended timeframe.
My meet warmup is usually shorter than practice warmup. I usually do between 900 - 1200 for a meet warmup, depending on feel. During a practice, there's sometimes gray area between what is warmup and what is a pre-main or main set, but I'd say I usually do between 1500 - 2000 when the total on the day is 6,000. If I'm only doing 4,000 yards, then warmup is probably closer to what I do in a meet (in distance). In content, my practice warmups vary, but I always do the same meet warmup.
Yeah, there's often that gray area for me in practice, too between warm up and pre-main set to main set. Yesterday I had a lot of easy swimming with 4 short lactate tolerance sets thrown in and I paid close attention to see if I was "ready to go" for the first lactate set or if I kept getting better with each one. I didn't think I felt ready to go when I finished warm up but I stood at the end and "loosened up" for a minute or two before the first lactate set and every single set was a slam dunk, each one equally great. So, the warm up I've been using will be good for racing. The trick is, will I actually be able to do it at a meet...just swimming can be tough enough at some meets but when varying speeds and intervals are involved that would make it even tougher. I should practice an "oh crud the pool is full" warm up on a regular basis to get used to different types of warm ups.
some very very good info above from some national champions to think on m2tall2.
realize you will never get to use the toys during warmup in a usms meet. fina, well, i have yet to see someone get punished for diving off the blocks, using paddles, using a kickboard, using a pullbouy or anything else that is not allowed, but done.
also realize that your warmup on a multi-day meet should change according to the events that day. no reason to do a lot of fly if all you are racing that day is ***!
here is my big tip: sometimes you get thrown a curve...you either take the strike or you knock it out of the park. the choice is yours.
ie. you have looked over the time line and know exactly how much time you need for warmup and to be ready for your event to swim at 2pm. you get to the pool at 12:15pm knowing you have plenty of time. uh oh! instead of the meet being on the mens 200 *** before the womens 100 fly starts...they are 3/4ths the way done with the womens 100 fly! its time to sprint to the locker room put on your race suit and get in the warmup pool for 300 so you can sit in marsheling to swim your race and hour before you thought
Ok I have done this two different ways. One from being a age group coach and the other from my masters meets. In both instances I try to do the same, but the master's vary some.
As a coach I standardized the warm up based on ability. For meets I do the same warm up as practice and then do some 50s of the strokes they are swimming, such as 50 back to make sure the counts are ok with the flags, *** to make sure they feel comfortable with the wall and then a few 25 sprints to get a feel of the blocks. The thoughts here are to get use to the pool.
For masters it's a little different. My coaches don't really have a standard warm up. They change it every practice, but when i go on taper, I do a specific warm up each practice. I use that warm up for meets. The nice thing is that warm up has each stroke in it so I can do the same things that I have my kids do in their warm ups.
