With 4 weeks left all to often this is when people screw up!
10) Get injured: going for max lifts, playing ultimate frisbee, getting out of bed to fast, screwing around in general. The further you get into a taper the more energy you will begin to feel and that's when it often happens.
9) Try and make a technique change: save that project for May 12th (take 1 week off after nationals and repair your body). This is not the time to change from a grab to a track start, this is not the time to staart learning to SDK....not is the time to refine and dial in whatever you've been doing all along.
8) Go on a diet: This is a national championship not a bathing suit contest...you need to eat healthy more than ever. Because your intenstiy should be upped the next 7-14 days DO NOT reduce calories but rather eat better in general...5x a day (a healthy low cal snack between breakfeast/lunch & lunch/dinner).
7) Get sick: more often than not this is when many people do. #1 way to avoid it is to avoid others who are sick...and wash your hands..a lot! Even if you do keep your head screwed on tight...we have all seen and at times first hand experienced great swims in spite of getting sicik right before or during a meet.
6) Take the stairs/wear flip flops/practice starts: Stop all 3 of these 2 weeks out...the legs ill take the longest to feel 100%.
5) Not take rest days: whereas I will typically swim 3-5x a week and go "hard" 2-3x....from here on out I will be in the water every single day...however I will make every other day...or more as needed, recovery days. For the next week that means keeping yardage the same with more rest and doing broken swims every other day with some speedwork and on the rest days longer, hypoxic swims.
4) Not stretch: Even if you typically don't stretch on a regular basis you like most probably do some...or a lot at a meet. This is often times shy people feel sore at meets because they have not been doing it all along. Start today and 2x a day spend 5-10 minutes...you will 100% feel/see the differance...espcially by the last day of your meet.
3) Not test out a new suit...goggles; Don't wait till the meet to buy them...get them now and practice with the suit at least twice and the goggles every day.
2) Try to get into "shape": you've either banked your yards by now...or not so don't up your mileage with 4 weeks to go and try and play catch up. Either wat the next 7-14 days you need to be doing quality swimming with more rest added in. If you go pace 50's on :50, go to 1:00 and try and get 1-2 seconds faster, if 100's are typically 1:30, go to 1:45 and try and be 2-4 seconds faster. Remember...you will most likely feel terrible the last week of your taper...this is not because your getting out of shape...its your body adapting to a change in training and healing...this is also one of the main times people screw up...trust your training/trust yourself.
1) Turn into a head case. Listen...its a cliche but its the journey not the destination. Nationals is simply the gravy on top of the mashies...have fun, swim fast, get ready to come back and start the whole process again!
For what it's worth, if you DO happen to get a cold a week or so before the meet, don't despair. This has happened to me twice in recent years, and both times it ended up forcing a taper that was much more restful than I otherwise would have done if not under the weather. Knock on wood, but both times ended up being really good meets.
I guess this is a variation on the tip about not psyching yourself out.
Ditto for sleep. I interviewed a sleep and sports specialist once some years back, and he told me plenty of Olympians get bad sleep the night before an important event. It hurts training and motivation to train more (which is monotonous, like driving 500 miles of Indiana highway) but is relative unharmful to major exciting events (even sleep-deprived drivers stay awake during the Indianapolis 500.)
On this note, goodnight one and all, and good luck at Austin.
Yeah, Jim, I know how you like to turn in at 9:30 pm with the other 5:00 am workout swimmers. lol
I've had sinusitis and bronchitis the week of zones the last two years. I was a bit freaked out, but swam well. Fell down a flight of stairs a week before another meet, swam well. Swam the last 4 meets with tendonitis of the foot, swam fine. And I NEVER sleep well during multi-day meets because of excess caffeine intake and excitement. So, now, while it's irritating as hell when it happens, I never worry about that stuff much. However, meets are much more fun when you're not ill or injured, that's for sure.
Poolraat: I think you could lay off the deep tissue a week or ten days prior, but I wouldn't lay off it for a month. I'm begging Mr. Fort for one tonight.
For what it's worth, if you DO happen to get a cold a week or so before the meet, don't despair. This has happened to me twice in recent years, and both times it ended up forcing a taper that was much more restful than I otherwise would have done if not under the weather. Knock on wood, but both times ended up being really good meets.
I guess this is a variation on the tip about not psyching yourself out.
Ditto for sleep. I interviewed a sleep and sports specialist once some years back, and he told me plenty of Olympians get bad sleep the night before an important event. It hurts training and motivation to train more (which is monotonous, like driving 500 miles of Indiana highway) but is relative unharmful to major exciting events (even sleep-deprived drivers stay awake during the Indianapolis 500.)
On this note, goodnight one and all, and good luck at Austin.
Yeah, Jim, I know how you like to turn in at 9:30 pm with the other 5:00 am workout swimmers. lol
I've had sinusitis and bronchitis the week of zones the last two years. I was a bit freaked out, but swam well. Fell down a flight of stairs a week before another meet, swam well. Swam the last 4 meets with tendonitis of the foot, swam fine. And I NEVER sleep well during multi-day meets because of excess caffeine intake and excitement. So, now, while it's irritating as hell when it happens, I never worry about that stuff much. However, meets are much more fun when you're not ill or injured, that's for sure.
Poolraat: I think you could lay off the deep tissue a week or ten days prior, but I wouldn't lay off it for a month. I'm begging Mr. Fort for one tonight.
