Do you rest for meets? I'm not talking about taper meets, just your run-of-the-mill local meets.
I almost never do. OK, I might do 4,000 yards instead of 5,000 or something the day before, but usually I tend to "swim through" anything other than a taper meet. I'm starting to think maybe this is sort of silly. In some ways I almost feel like I'm afraid to swim too fast in season. Like I don't want to shoot my wad before the big meet or something. I have a feeling this is pretty common in swimming. We've been trained to believe everything is a build up to that one big meet.
A lot of this stems from high school and college swimming, I think. Those seasons are pretty short and you've got a lot of meets packed in. You can't afford to sacrifice training sessions to rest for meets (or at least that's what most coaches think). There's no question it's considered a sign of weakness for a college team to rest for a dual meet.
These days I probably average about six competitions a year total. Do you think it's going to affect my overall training if I'd rest a couple days before some of these?
I rest some for every meet, a few days up to a week. I usually cut back yardage and don't lift or run the week of a meet, although I did for my last one 2 weeks ago. Don't swim in that many meets (usually about 6, like you) and, as Chris notes, have no desire to be completely broken down or treat them as glorified practices. I'd say I do a 2 week taper 2x a year or so. I have completely shed the "one big one" mentality of my youth and like to race reasonably fast "in season," especially since I don't usually go to Nats.
I don't think resting a few days for non-taper meets will effect your overall training much at all.
I rest some for every meet, a few days up to a week. I usually cut back yardage and don't lift or run the week of a meet, although I did for my last one 2 weeks ago. Don't swim in that many meets (usually about 6, like you) and, as Chris notes, have no desire to be completely broken down or treat them as glorified practices. I'd say I do a 2 week taper 2x a year or so. I have completely shed the "one big one" mentality of my youth and like to race reasonably fast "in season," especially since I don't usually go to Nats.
I don't think resting a few days for non-taper meets will effect your overall training much at all.
