Ok, quick question across the group. Say you are having a bad practice. Can't get any speed, feeling slow in the water, do you gut it out or do you quit and rest up for another day? I've had a couple in the past week and one I quit on (although I was swimming on my own) and another I fought through it (team practice). Thoughts?
The key thing is to learn where your own line is in terms of gaining fitness by stress and adaptation vs making yourself sick. It is important to build in time to recover and adapt, both for performance and for health. The evidence suggests that one of the old ways of thinking, which was that you get tired and stay tired until you taper, is unhelpful and regular opportunities to recover are important. One recent study, though I don't recall where I saw it, suggested that 2 days on, one off, could be optimal. The point is that we shouldn't be scared to take time off and catch up.
Another way of looking at it is that a bad practice is still a practice.
The key thing is to learn where your own line is in terms of gaining fitness by stress and adaptation vs making yourself sick. It is important to build in time to recover and adapt, both for performance and for health. The evidence suggests that one of the old ways of thinking, which was that you get tired and stay tired until you taper, is unhelpful and regular opportunities to recover are important. One recent study, though I don't recall where I saw it, suggested that 2 days on, one off, could be optimal. The point is that we shouldn't be scared to take time off and catch up.
Another way of looking at it is that a bad practice is still a practice.
