Tapering is fabulous. I start looking forward to our April taper in November. Basically, you drop your yardage and do more quality fast work with tons of rest. Not all practice, but maybe 500-1500 yards of easy enudrance (depending on how much you do currently) then a few fast 12.5s, 25s, or 50s and then you are done. It's great!
Also, are you sure you didn't taper as a kid?
hm, so if you've been training all hard for a month w/ very little rest, then you have a meet, you are less likely to improve, am i right?
You're probably better off having a very easy week before the meet like I just did. Think more "stretchy and technique" keep a little pace work in there but not too much, I bettered my entry times by a good few seconds. The resting obviously makes all the difference.
i remember when i was young - around 10 years to 12 years old, we never did any sort of tapering or "sharpening", yet i still almost always swam PBs. why do you think that is?
