I hate tapering!

... please don't take this the wrong way, and as I do not know your training regimen I should tread carefully, but... Assuming you have an adequate aerobic base to taper FROM, you will have a short period when you feel crappy, and then you will feel progressively lighter and faster, hopefully peaking at the right time. :groovy: Thanks! I don't do that much yardage. Last time I tried this, I think I peaked a couple days after the meet. :rofl: No big deal. I am actually feeling a bit "lighter" today, so I think that means I may hit my "peak" a couple days later again. Live and learn. Or embrace random. :bouncing:

what are you thinking entering yourself in the 100 fly with a 1:40? Isn't your 50 around a 31? :rofl: Man, glad I'm not the only one! I already confessed on another thread about shortening meets that I was sandbagging the 100 fly because the 50 free is the next event, Miss Hypochondria! I'm not going to swim it now anyway because my shoulder has been killing me for 2 weeks from the speedwork. I tried to tell Mr. Muppet Meet Director that, but it didn't seem to make much difference. I think you had a bit more yardage to taper from than me though, although I did swim more in July than usual. Those fly times are VERY Wonder Woman. :cheerleader::cheerleader:

I kept some ounce of sanity b/c I have a very experienced NCAA Division I coach who knows what she's doing. She assured me I would feel "funny" and that I would NOT get out of shape in that time frame. I just opted to trust in her skill and my ability. My pool's been closed the entire month, so I'm on the Coach Ande/Coach Fortress plan. If I do really badly, I'll blame him. :thhbbb: You are cracking me up, Runner Girl!! LOL.

On top of this general angst, a tri friend told me today that tapering makes you b*tchy. :bitching: Have you been tapering for the last 6-9 months?

Have you been tapering for the last 6-9 months? No, but I thought you had. :thhbbb: And to think I just complimented your avatar!

You'll do just fine. And like you said, in the off chance that things don't go as planned you can create a rip into Ande thread next week. :thhbbb: :duel: I will only blame myself. I won't lose any sleep over it either. Besides, then I can go back to running and training!

It takes guts to taper. Here, here! And faith! Just like "training".....we advance not of the minimal amount of time we put into "max" efforts.....but on our recovery/healing. The single biggest area of misunderstanding and opportunity I see for most masters swimmers is learning to truly understand/respect the importance of rest days and cycling their training (which includes tapering and time off).

I've tapered for 3 meets since I started competing 4 or 5 years ago (i've only been swimming for a little more than 7 years). Two of those meets I swam (lifetime) best times or 2nd best times in every event. The other meet the taper was junked by my pool closing due to mechanical problems right in the middle of the taper. I still swam okay in the meet but not my best. I noticed that I go through stages of feeling like crap to feeling good in cycles throughout the 2-3 weeks prior to the meet. Even in the warmup before the 1st day of the meet I felt slow & heavy but then swam better than I had ever done before.

... please don't take this the wrong way, and as I do not know your training regimen I should tread carefully, but... Assuming you have an adequate aerobic base to taper FROM, you will have a short period when you feel crappy, and then you will feel progressively lighter and faster, hopefully peaking at the right time. :groovy: The length of a taper will vary DRAMATICALLY from swimmer to swimmer. Back in the day, we had some guys who tapered as little as a week or two for a major competition, while others (like me!) would taper for 4-6 weeks. Just my $0.02... Good luck!

Ande’s Tip 26 on tapering has a lot of good stuff – especially “trust your taper”. As a sprinter, you should be totally rested and climbing the wall at meet time - really ready to race. If you are going for a top-ten 50 time, don’t blame your taper for a slower than expected 50 if you do a 100 fly first (the event before!!??!). Meet planning might allow for a 50 fly before the 50 free with enough time between. In fact, a 50 fly can get rid of any cobwebs and benefit your 50 free. A 100 fly beforehand will take the edge off your 50. But if it’s just a fun meet, just have fun, pizza & beer and don’t worry about tapers or times. Good luck either way, Ian. Thanks Ian. I'm not swimming the 100 fly now. But, as you suggest, I am swimming a 50 fly first in a relay. Also a 50 back. Plenty of rest inbetween. I definitely swim better when I "get rid of the cobwebs" as you suggest. Not sure if I rested enough, not quite climbing the wall yet, but I'll give it a whirl! For me, meets are mostly for fun, but I'd still prefer to swim fast. I won't do another taper for a long time -- because I hate tapering.