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.
The right taper can be individual too. I know from both coaching and my own swimming career that some people do well on tapers and some don't. My coach finally figured out I never did well on tapers...he stopped tapering me and a few others and we did much better at important meets.
I tend to agree with those that say many Masters swimmers are not doing enough yardage to do a real taper....the ones for whom taper is most effective are probably swimming a quality workout 5 days a week.
The right taper can be individual too. I know from both coaching and my own swimming career that some people do well on tapers and some don't. My coach finally figured out I never did well on tapers...he stopped tapering me and a few others and we did much better at important meets.
I tend to agree with those that say many Masters swimmers are not doing enough yardage to do a real taper....the ones for whom taper is most effective are probably swimming a quality workout 5 days a week.
