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!
Former Member
0) Continue drinking the same old rot-gut wine you drank during training: now is the time to cast off cheapness and break out a bottle or two of Etude, Screaming Eagle, Opus One, Harlan Estates etc, etc. I can consult with you here, Paul, if you feel the need.
I can think of two reasons why to ditch the flip flops:
1 - Back when I was still swimming summer league, the front of my flip flop caught a stair as I was walking up my front walk, and with the subsequent awkward step, the concrete ate away a chunk of my big toe on my right foot - the forward foot of my track start. Not only could I not push off strong w/ my right foot on a start, but it also hurt like the dickens to push off using my right foot as my rear foot.
2 - Back and Posture. Lets face it, flip flops aren't the most supportive footwear options. In most cases, they are not designed for much more than good looks - think of the el cheapos at Gap/Target that aren't much more than a flat piece of foam and canvas.
What I believe Paul is suggesting is to wear a shoe that was designed to be walked/stood/run in, that protects your foot and can offer proper support to the rest of your frame.
You're supposed to take off the tech suit right away. You ruin it by wearing it all friggin' day, sitting down in it on the deck
I don't know if I agree. Putting the suit on and taking it off seem to be where the most wear and tear occur.
Why stop practicing starts?
To rest your legs. In other words don't practice 20 starts the day before the meet starts. Starts might not seem that strenuous, but do a few and you'll feel it the next day. That doesn't mean don't do any starts during your taper, but try to rest those legs for at least the last few days.
Once, more than a year ago, I got a deep tissue massage and I was sore for 2-3 days after. I don't think I want to do that again going into a big meet. Perhaps do one now then light massage for the remainder of the month? Thoughts? Anyone?
I've tried massages and I haven't found them useful. But I don't find them useful, period.
"Mileage will vary" and "know thy self" for massages, I'd say.
Regarding tech suits: read the labels and find out how many times you're supposed to swim in each one. Far, far, far too many swimmers have "tech suits" that are... um... falling apart ... literally ... at the seams. That does you no good. You're supposed to take off the tech suit right away. You ruin it by wearing it all friggin' day, sitting down in it on the deck!! :shakeshead:
I always take 2 or 3 suits to meets, all different colors. It makes it easier to keep track of which is the older/oldest suit.
So my addendum to Paul's list is to practice in a tech suit if it's your first time swimming in one or a new brand/model. If not, you're just wasting a race and using up your suit's life.
HOWEVER... some mileage may vary. For instance, if you like to have that feel so that you can visualize and get a rhythm going, go for it. I personally don't practice w/ them b/c I've got really good splits and I know my pace. I also really love the rush of diving in and feeling like a shark. It gets me pumped. :weightlifter:
I don't know about you guys, but at 55, starts are very hard on my lower back and to a less extent my shoulders. I tend to swim longer events so the start takes on relatively less significance anyhow, but I very rarely practice starts, and I don't do any practice starts at meets. I suspect this puts me in the minority, but I just can't convince myself it's going to do much good.
That said, I wonder if what declines with age is reaction time. At our regional Y meet, I did a 24.78 with a regular start and a 24.06 going second on a relay--not a huge difference, but it did make me wonder if reaction time is declining, and I am not sure how you can practice for this.
Once, more than a year ago, I got a deep tissue massage and I was sore for 2-3 days after. I don't think I want to do that again going into a big meet. Perhaps do one now then light massage for the remainder of the month? Thoughts? Anyone?
You need to drink a lot of water for about 6 hours afterwards, to clear out your system. (Massage helps to drain the lymph nodes, and that will be circulating through your blood stream.) No, it probably isn't a good idea to have one just a few days before a meet, but perhaps a week before would be good - or schedule one for a few days after.
Most massage therapists will use a gentler pressure on people who haven't had many massages, and deeper pressure on those who get it quite frequently, as it's something you need to get used to.
Here's what I recommend:
Send your spouse away for the whole week before a big meet for a business trup and become solely responsible for your pack of children. Drop one child off at practice, race through traffic to watch another child run in a track meet. Park in the wrong lot because you don't know where the track is at this high school. Sprint like crazy for 5 minutes circling the entire school to get to the race in time. Cheer. Afterward, pole vault over a 10 foot fence in flip flops (fortunately, the rest of me was in workout attire), taking a short cut to get to car to race back to pick up other child. Land a bit ungracefully on asphalt, hurting foot with tendonitis and jarring already inflamed facet joint in back. :applaud: Don't go home to ice because you have to drive around more to pick up other children, collect the racer when his bus gets back, quiz another for a history and math test, make school lunches, plop youngest in the tub, do dinner dishes which have been sitting in sink ... :violin: At about 10:30 pm, sit down and grab the chardonnay to get ready for drinking gridge with Mel at Nats.
On the upside, I am currently (knock on wood) free of sinus infection.
