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?
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I don't swim a whole lot of meets (four since February), but I rest some for all of them. Two weeks for the February meet, a few days for March and May, and a week for the June meet. I noticed that I always returned to training with renewed energy - lifting more weight, sprinting faster in practice. I don't swim a lot of yardage, but I hit the weights hard and usually do at least some sprinting in each practice, so it takes its toll. And I'm not doing the whole 'train until you are broken down' thing we all did in our youth. Life is too short. I think that, as we age, resting a few days (or a week) here and there can be very good for swimming fast, as well as overall fitness.
I don't swim a whole lot of meets (four since February), but I rest some for all of them. Two weeks for the February meet, a few days for March and May, and a week for the June meet. I noticed that I always returned to training with renewed energy - lifting more weight, sprinting faster in practice. I don't swim a lot of yardage, but I hit the weights hard and usually do at least some sprinting in each practice, so it takes its toll. And I'm not doing the whole 'train until you are broken down' thing we all did in our youth. Life is too short. I think that, as we age, resting a few days (or a week) here and there can be very good for swimming fast, as well as overall fitness.
