I hate tapering!

"Anyone else hate tapering or is it just me?!"- The Fortress I love tapering! You get to take it easy for awhile. You don't just get to, you have to! Maybe I'm just lazy? All that saved up energy will make you explode in your races. Good luck!

I wholeheartedly disagree here, maybe thats because I don't do the speedwork workouts that you do, and do longer stuff. But come early February, I start marking off the da ys till tapering starts.

I went insane when I tapered 1.5 weeks for my meet in Orlando that was August 4 and 5. I think I even seemed to get a bit of hypochondria. It was the first masters meet I tapered for - ever since I started masters in 2002. I like working out for fitness and mental reasons and tapering really threw me mentally and physically. 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. I felt terrible up until my race (and actually, it was good to get a first race under my belt.) I almost thought I was sick during my taper. But. . . did a 30.6 and 1:08.4 in the 50 and 100 flys. So, it was worth all the fuss. You will do GREAT!!! Trust in yourself and your training. Um. . . what are you thinking entering yourself in the 100 fly with a 1:40? Isn't your 50 around a 31? :rofl: Even though I'm trying to turn distance, I'm still a sprinter like it or not. Now that I/ we have a taper under our belts as adults, we know what to expect when the super big meets come around next year! JUST DO IT!! You can go as fast as you think you can! I wrote down 30+ and 1:08 for my 50 and 100 and actually went those times. I should have written down faster numbers!

Well, I have always enjoyed tapering because I knew my swim meet outcome would be terrific! I never got B*chy, but I did feel very fatigued. I think a lot of the taper I also worried because I was afraid I would lose my conditioning, but thank goodness, I never did. I actually had an emergency taper before 95 Nationals and was totally out of the water for 10 full days. I was sweating bullets over that one but swam some of my best times. There is no true taper designed for everyone cause we are so different with our yardage, age, etc. I am working now on actually building a taper plan for my 20 mile Utila swim in 13 months and will make adjustments to that plan early on. Pent up energy, however, can make one "irritable" so that's the nature of this beast. Just you wait, though!!! What some good swims you will have!:cheerleader:

I hate tapering too. No workouts mean extra time to be nervous, and for me that leads to shoving junk food in my mouth. Stress eaters like me should wear duct tape over their mouths during a taper! Sometimes I can't take the whole taper anymore and just go do a real workout.

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.

Leslie, I don't like tapering either. First of all, I'm addicted to my workout log and it is a big disruption. Big meets just crush my training program. On top of that, there is the physiological effect. Two days after the start of taper, I feel GREAT - I can fly, leap tall buildings with a single bound, see through walls etc, etc. However, my times in the pool don't reflect that. Than, about week out, the glycogen starts to build in the muscles. Glycogen carries with it AT LEAST (from what I can find out) an equal amount of water. So, you start to feel bloated and puffy and that relates to the out of shape feeling. On a typical two-week taper I will gain 5 pounds (mostly water) But, at the end, the muscles are rested and have the explosive power you need to swim FAST. I've tried one-week tapers and they just don't work for me although my wife thrives on them. For me, it's two-three weeks to get it right. When it's right you really sail in the water!

It takes guts to taper.

I was sandbagging the 100 fly because the 50 free is the next event: 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.

Except for the practice before the meet, I don't like tapering either. I hate sitting on the walls watching the clock. But I'm like that when I do any practice. There are times when we do 100's on th 1:50 and go all out. I am far froma sprinter. I can do all out on a 1:30. Those extra 20 seconds get to me so much. Fort, we'll see if your taper has worked today. Alison