I've been attempting to do some reasonable 10 day-2 week taper for an upcoming meet. Perhaps this is unusual for a sprinter, but I've found I hate tapering. I'm not terribly good at sticking to a taper plan. I feel more unfit each passing day. I just want to get back to my usual workouts and cross training ...
On top of this general angst, a tri friend told me today that tapering makes you b*tchy. :bitching: I've read this in running books too. Seems somewhat true for me, unfortunately for my family.
Anyone else hate tapering or is it just me?!
Having said this, I'm sure I'll have fun at the meet.
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.
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.
