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?
Kirk,
I do a fair amount more racing than you (we're talking 13 meets for the 07-08 SCY season + 2 SCM during that time) and swim through all but nationals. I think getting up to race frequently helps me, but to a point - racing when burnt out just sets you back even further at the end of the year.
Anyways, to your question, I'm beginning to be of similar mind myself. Was talking with the parent of a young lad (mid distance) who completed his first year at 'bama and she was saying he realized that he needs to swim faster in season than he has been used to doing through USAS and HS. I did my first USAS meet (that wasn't distance only) in February, and relaxed a little the two practices prior. The rest + fastskin = times that ended up as season bests in everything, and included a then-lifetime best performance in my 100 back.
None of us are in HS/College anymore, but may still train and think like we are. If you're getting tired of that mindset and workset, a change may be the best thing that happens to you. I am going to be looking for a meet in Feb/March to have a brief rest period again. For me, it was a great confidence booster and a good start to a long, heavy training period.
Kirk,
I do a fair amount more racing than you (we're talking 13 meets for the 07-08 SCY season + 2 SCM during that time) and swim through all but nationals. I think getting up to race frequently helps me, but to a point - racing when burnt out just sets you back even further at the end of the year.
Anyways, to your question, I'm beginning to be of similar mind myself. Was talking with the parent of a young lad (mid distance) who completed his first year at 'bama and she was saying he realized that he needs to swim faster in season than he has been used to doing through USAS and HS. I did my first USAS meet (that wasn't distance only) in February, and relaxed a little the two practices prior. The rest + fastskin = times that ended up as season bests in everything, and included a then-lifetime best performance in my 100 back.
None of us are in HS/College anymore, but may still train and think like we are. If you're getting tired of that mindset and workset, a change may be the best thing that happens to you. I am going to be looking for a meet in Feb/March to have a brief rest period again. For me, it was a great confidence booster and a good start to a long, heavy training period.
