Hi I am looking for help. I want to know how masters swimmers plan out their Taper before competition. How long is it ? How much do you reduce the distance and intensity of your workouts ?
How effective has it been? Do you Taper at all?
I have found through my own swimming that the Taper for masters swimmers is not the same as for elite swimmers. I don't think that we need the same taper as we are not doing 50,000 + meters a week ! All of the research out there is written for elite swimmers. If anyone knows of an article dealing with taper for masters swimmers then please tell me.
I am thinking of writing a paper on this if I can get enough info. If you could say how you plan your Taper, what your weekly volumes are and the events you swim then I would be eternally thankfull.
Gareth,
you might try posting a poll on tapering. i posted one a while ago on weekly yardage, and the results were interesting.
you could ask something like this:
in the week(s) before an important competition, how is your weekly yardage affected?
A) I swim about the same as always
B) I swim only about 75 percent of my average yardage
C) I swim only about 50 percent "
D) I swim only about 25 percent "
There's probably a more elegant way to phrase the poll, and maybe a way of incorporating intensity as well (I keep the same yardage but cut back the intensity, for example);
anyhow, good luck with your research. It's a topic I think many of us find fascinating, but there are so many variables that it's a bit bewildering to tease out meaningful results (does a distance swimmer need to taper more or less than a sprinter? how about a 65 year old compared to a 45 year old? if you're used to doing mega yardage, is a taper more likely to help you? etc.)
Gareth,
you might try posting a poll on tapering. i posted one a while ago on weekly yardage, and the results were interesting.
you could ask something like this:
in the week(s) before an important competition, how is your weekly yardage affected?
A) I swim about the same as always
B) I swim only about 75 percent of my average yardage
C) I swim only about 50 percent "
D) I swim only about 25 percent "
There's probably a more elegant way to phrase the poll, and maybe a way of incorporating intensity as well (I keep the same yardage but cut back the intensity, for example);
anyhow, good luck with your research. It's a topic I think many of us find fascinating, but there are so many variables that it's a bit bewildering to tease out meaningful results (does a distance swimmer need to taper more or less than a sprinter? how about a 65 year old compared to a 45 year old? if you're used to doing mega yardage, is a taper more likely to help you? etc.)
