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
Parents
Former Member
I do agree that it is individual BUT it is also based on what kind of training a person has been doing (yardage) and what event(s) they will be swimming. There is no way that a warmup even a long one should take everything out of a swimmer who has been training.
Here's an example: a swimmer swims 3500 to 5000 yds a day 3x week. Event is a 500 yd or 800 m free. The warmup can be as long as 1,000 yds all split up of course. EZ 300 free, some not-quite race-pace 50s, 200 of mix and match, some hypoxic 25s done easily, etc. For many people, they DO NOT warm up for a long enough period of time, thus, why they feel better the further into their swim meet they go. The better the conditioning a swimmer is in, the longer the warmup should be. I never found a warm shower of much benefit; it doesn't get my heartrate and muscles moving; it only makes me feel looser. And I need that aerobic warmup to get my body to "READY." For a mid to long distance swimmer, a longer warmup may just do the trick; it has for me.
Donna
I do agree that it is individual BUT it is also based on what kind of training a person has been doing (yardage) and what event(s) they will be swimming. There is no way that a warmup even a long one should take everything out of a swimmer who has been training.
Here's an example: a swimmer swims 3500 to 5000 yds a day 3x week. Event is a 500 yd or 800 m free. The warmup can be as long as 1,000 yds all split up of course. EZ 300 free, some not-quite race-pace 50s, 200 of mix and match, some hypoxic 25s done easily, etc. For many people, they DO NOT warm up for a long enough period of time, thus, why they feel better the further into their swim meet they go. The better the conditioning a swimmer is in, the longer the warmup should be. I never found a warm shower of much benefit; it doesn't get my heartrate and muscles moving; it only makes me feel looser. And I need that aerobic warmup to get my body to "READY." For a mid to long distance swimmer, a longer warmup may just do the trick; it has for me.
Donna
