Fast swimming in practice/unrested

Leslie, Paul is right about the wine. However, I happen to know that he drinks Yellowtail and thinks it is pretty high-end wine. When we get to Austin, Grace & I will show you what REAL winos drink.... Well, since I've never been on the Clydesdale Taper, I've never abstained from drinking wine at any time even during meets. :wine: Yellowtail though?! Is that for people so tall that they don't have taste buds? :mooning: I always wear fastskins at meets now. Can't stand regular suits for a race. But unlike ande, I never wear them in practice. If it only lasts for a few meets, why wear it out in practice? If I want a race pace feel, fins work. Ha ha ha.

Yay, my first post.... As far as training hard, I end up training as fast as I can for as long as I can. I prefer to lift weights prior to workout if possible, but do so only 50% of the time. I make sure to get in at least a few hundred warm-up and warm-down, so that doesn't leave much time in between. I wear 3-5 drag suits so training is tougher for the 20,000 yards a week I am currently putting in. I have found it very difficult to become fatigued in a 1 hour Masters workout, so I push it every day. On the other hand, some days (usually by about Thursday) my upper body is completely worn out, so I make it a point to focus on kicking, stroke drill, or an off stroke that doesn't hurt so bad. I've trained this way as long as I can remember without shoulder problems. If something doesn't feel right, I back off and work on drills/technique until things feel good again. I always drop at race time... rested or unrested. Just getting out of a monster drag suit into a fast suit and a prior day of rest is enough for me to get a big boost. Resting 2-3 weeks results in 1.5 to 2.5 sec per 100 improvement from the mid-season swims.

I think I'm sort of extreme. I do what I call 'all out' 100s breaststroke starting about 6 weeks before big meets. I literally swim as fast as I can and then take a lot of rest between repeats, typically rest:work = 8:1. The fastest 100 yard BR I have ever swum in practice (at 9000 feet, with a polyester drag suit, unrested and unshaved) is about 1:26.5. Last spring at Federal Way I swam a 1:12.71 in the 100 BR, so that's a drop of nearly 14 seconds in a 100 yard swim. That was a shaved & tapered swim in a FSII body suit. In the past when I used to swim with larger groups I noticed that I could not keep up with other swimmers in practice who I could pretty easily beat in meets. I don't think it is because I'm lazy in practice since I'm usually in before and stay later than most other swimmers. I wish I could go faster in practice but it doesn't happen. Maybe I have the ability to set pain aside in races that I can't do in practice.

Mel, I've got some bad news for you. You cant' swim fast in practice You need a rest to work ratio of 8:1 when swimming hard in practice You go 1:12 in the 100 ***, breaking the national record. Man, you're a sprinter!

Does this mean I have to enter those damned 50s, Rich? Or, can I just say that a 200 is a sprint?

And Fort...NEVER abstain from wine...during a taper is actually the time to break out the good stuff! Leslie, Paul is right about the wine. However, I happen to know that he drinks Yellowtail and thinks it is pretty high-end wine. When we get to Austin, Grace & I will show you what REAL winos drink....

I picked the 3rd choice, though I'm partway between #2 and #3 because recently I've had some pretty quick, for me, workout swims. In the before-time (before the child) I would often swim fast at in-season meets and maybe drop a second on a 100 at taper, if that. This season is my 3rd season post-kiddo, so based on two data points, I now get a bigger boost from my taper. I don't know if it's due to me working harder the few days a week I actually swim (I do) or because I'm operating at a higher level of general fatigue (I am) or maybe just because I'm older. Breaststroke has always been the most affected by taper for me... and the most affected back when I used to run (running killed my br... I NEVER ran the week before a big meet). But the last 2 seasons I also dropped 2.5 sec off the 100 free at taper time.

Hi Paul, I was talking to eddie about this, this morning with the racing suits it's hard to tell how tapered his swimmers are. I throw on the racing suit now and then in practice so I'll be used to it in meets, usually jammers sometimes FS II I've noticed hineck fastskins shift my body position, swimmers need to be ready for this, especially in breastroke, last year I kicked air 2 or 3 times on *** in my 100 IM people just need to know what kind of swimmer they are. I think I fall in the category of fast in practice then a little faster in meets I get medium drops from tapering wish I was a huge drop swimmer It's good to wine things down when you taper I'm a Cab fan We'll see, Ande Another interesting thing about this is how many top swimmers put on race suits for almost all their meets these days...and like Ande often in workout for quality days as well. I swim so few meets as well that I almost always wear at least legskins and often a full suit. As for workouts...on rare occasions a jammer but never a full suit for me, there's still something to shaving and putting on a full suit after a taper that is a lot like Xmas morning if you know what I mean! And Fort...NEVER abstain from wine...during a taper is actually the time to break out the good stuff!

Paul I'm training in Sugarhouse (Fairmont) most mornings and Heber City when I can't get to Fairmont. I'm not coaching much (mostly privates), but have been filling in for my high school age group coach since he has moved. I'm actually swimming more now than I have in years. You might see me at a big meet soon!!!

i have a tough time going fast in practice. 50s free tend to be 29 or 28high, though I did do a 28.3 timed by our coach today (from a push). i struggle to get under :60 from a push for a fast 100, though it has been done once or twice that I can remember, and can get to 58s from the blocks. meet 100s tend to be in the 54/55 range, with the occasional 53, then down to low 51's or 50highs at nationals. we had to do a 200 from the blocks a few weeks ago at practice; i went 2:03, which actually was not bad at all considering I usually struggle to keep my meet 200s under 2:00 (not a problem this year for some reason). in my case, i think the combination of hair and mesh drag suit don't help me go all that fast in practice. the shave/taper (esp the shave) really helps for nationals. I keep meaning to do a comparison of 100s at practice - with and without a cap.