Firstly, apologies if this has been brought up before. I'm sure it must have been covered at some time over the years.
I'm in the 70-74 year age group, and on October 28th I'll be swimming a 1500m freestyle, and hoping for a good time. I'm training twice a day, covering between 7,500m and 9,000m daily.
The question is - How long should I allow for the taper? I feel as though I could train right up to the event. Do you think a short taper of about 3 days would be sufficient, or does it need to be longer. I'd be keen to hear how you would approach this.
Thanks
Firstly, apologies if this has been brought up before. I'm sure it must have been covered at some time over the years.
I'm in the 70-74 year age group, and on October 28th I'll be swimming a 1500m freestyle, and hoping for a good time. I'm training twice a day, covering between 7,500m and 9,000m daily.
The question is - How long should I allow for the taper? I feel as though I could train right up to the event. Do you think a short taper of about 3 days would be sufficient, or does it need to be longer. I'd be keen to hear how you would approach this.
Thanks
Well done Graham! Super swim!
i guess YOU can tell best whether the taper was correct or not for your body by how the swim felt.
Certainly before I did my heat (shortly after yours btw) I had no idea if my taper would work at my age (63). I decided to do no swimming for 5 full days, coming off a programme of about 20-22km per week for the previous 10 weeks. I had planned to loosen up 2 days before the race but cancelled that as I still felt tired at that point in time.
On The blocks I felt nervous and not good. As soon as I got in the water and started racing it felt good. That good feeling and rhythm kept going to the end. At no point did I get that 'training tired' feeling. Yes it got harder and harder to maintain but it felt achievable, which as you know is vital to motivate through to the finish.
i usually taper for 3 days. But 5 or 6 days will be used by me in future as with more rest I knocked over 50 secs off my last years time! - my fastest time since 2007 I believe.
It's not just the time though, it's the feeling of how much taper power I feel in the race. That's what's crucial to my decision for next time.
T
Firstly, apologies if this has been brought up before. I'm sure it must have been covered at some time over the years.
I'm in the 70-74 year age group, and on October 28th I'll be swimming a 1500m freestyle, and hoping for a good time. I'm training twice a day, covering between 7,500m and 9,000m daily.
The question is - How long should I allow for the taper? I feel as though I could train right up to the event. Do you think a short taper of about 3 days would be sufficient, or does it need to be longer. I'd be keen to hear how you would approach this.
Thanks
Well done Graham! Super swim!
i guess YOU can tell best whether the taper was correct or not for your body by how the swim felt.
Certainly before I did my heat (shortly after yours btw) I had no idea if my taper would work at my age (63). I decided to do no swimming for 5 full days, coming off a programme of about 20-22km per week for the previous 10 weeks. I had planned to loosen up 2 days before the race but cancelled that as I still felt tired at that point in time.
On The blocks I felt nervous and not good. As soon as I got in the water and started racing it felt good. That good feeling and rhythm kept going to the end. At no point did I get that 'training tired' feeling. Yes it got harder and harder to maintain but it felt achievable, which as you know is vital to motivate through to the finish.
i usually taper for 3 days. But 5 or 6 days will be used by me in future as with more rest I knocked over 50 secs off my last years time! - my fastest time since 2007 I believe.
It's not just the time though, it's the feeling of how much taper power I feel in the race. That's what's crucial to my decision for next time.
T
