Here's the thing. I always swim my best times at the end of practice or at the end of a set. I don't deliberately hold out (maybe in a set but not in a practice as a whole). If I am doing a set of 10 x 50 free sprint, I always descend the set and usually in 1 second intervals. So if I did the final 50 in 27 the previous one would have been in 28 and the one before in 29, etc. In fact it is almost as if I have to go through the whole progression to get to my best times. I find it very difficult to just dive in and do a good time.
What should I do at a meet? I don't know what the situation is going to be with warm up pools etc. I know I would want to do at least a 500m slow warm up and then, at least, 5 - 7 fast 50's getting my time down as low as possible (without burning myself out) on the last few. I don't know if this is going to be possible though.
What does everyone else do for a race day warm up?
Syd
I agree with Alan that a warmup is a very individual thing. The older I get, the more it helps to do a long warmup. Most people don't swim well in practice until at least 1/2 way through the practice, and many swim well at the very end. I know of lots of people who do not warmup enough. Rarely have I heard of anyone who says they did too much.
I like to do about 800 during my initial warmup, then get back in the pool closer to the race and do 200-300 more. In the initial warmup, I always do some 50s or 25s to get my heart rate up.
My worst weakness (in regard to warmup) is do less each day of a meet. The truth is that I need to do more when I am tired as the meet goes on. I have a real battle with myself to show up early and do a good warmup by the 3rd day of nationals. I swim better when I do it, but ...
I agree with Alan that a warmup is a very individual thing. The older I get, the more it helps to do a long warmup. Most people don't swim well in practice until at least 1/2 way through the practice, and many swim well at the very end. I know of lots of people who do not warmup enough. Rarely have I heard of anyone who says they did too much.
I like to do about 800 during my initial warmup, then get back in the pool closer to the race and do 200-300 more. In the initial warmup, I always do some 50s or 25s to get my heart rate up.
My worst weakness (in regard to warmup) is do less each day of a meet. The truth is that I need to do more when I am tired as the meet goes on. I have a real battle with myself to show up early and do a good warmup by the 3rd day of nationals. I swim better when I do it, but ...
