Taper Question?

RE: Taper Question?

pwolf66 — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 11:09:09 GMT

I love to taper! Are you SURE you're doing it right??? :thhbbb: :thhbbb: :thhbbb:

RE: Taper Question?

Betsy — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:37:23 GMT

I love to taper! I agree with many of the comments... *Sometimes you feel bad at the start of a taper *You can taper even if you are the only one in your workout doing it. Modify the workout and do broken swims at race pace. *You know you're ready when you want to do more because you feel so good. It must work because all of my best times have been done at nationals after a good taper.

RE: Taper Question?

tjrpatt — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 05:09:24 GMT

The eating situation is the only thing that I hate about tapering. You really have to cut down what you eat since you are cutting down your yardage/meterage.

RE: Taper Question?

poolraat — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 01:09:11 GMT

I agree with Betsy 100%. Although I've had a major case of the hungrys. I want to eat everything in sight. I love to taper! I agree with many of the comments... *Sometimes you feel bad at the start of a taper *You can taper even if you are the only one in your workout doing it. Modify the workout and do broken swims at race pace. *You know you're ready when you want to do more because you feel so good. It must work because all of my best times have been done at nationals after a good taper.

RE: Taper Question?

knelson — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 05:43:41 GMT

Don't get worried if you feel terrible for a few days in the middle of the taper. That happens to me all the time.

RE: Taper Question?

tjrpatt — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 03:21:54 GMT

can't wait to start my taper tomorrow. This will be a good break from all the hard training that I started in January where I stepped up my training from about 10,000 yards a week to 20,000 yards or 25,000 meters(long course training) a week.

RE: Taper Question?

ande — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:48:11 GMT

you don't need a taper lane just tell your coach and tell your lane mates that you are tapering for a meet then modify each practice as you see fit mainly deleting sometimes adding don't get in the way I am loving the suggestions so far. I will have to do the best that I can with the pace work since I won't get a taper lane at my practice. I will have to improvise. I will have to experiment with my future tapers because I still don't feel any of my tapers worked properly in my age group days. But, I think that I have enough to go with this upcoming taper. Ande, thanks for all your detail. Kirk, you are so right about people not resting enough. A guy I train doesn't think that he needs so much rest for Nats even though he has been working hard all summer.

RE: Taper Question?

swimshark — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:20:12 GMT

Kirk, you are so right about people not resting enough. A guy I train doesn't think that he needs so much rest for Nats even though he has been working hard all summer. You know, I grapple with this every day. I had 2 meets this summer, swimming 4 events total. I went in to both meets with no taper and had personal bests in all 4 events. So now I worry that if I taper now, it will hurt me when I get to Nats next week. Who knew tapering could be so stressful!:dunno:

RE: Taper Question?

knelson — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:55:19 GMT

You swim about the same per week as I do. I would suggest cutting to between 15-20K for your first week (I'd tend to the low end). Make more of this easy swimming, but with some speed and pace work. The second week cut it down to something like 10K total. I like to continue to do some pace work right up until the end. Fight the urge that tells you you're cutting back too much. If anything, most people probably don't rest enough.

RE: Taper Question?

tjrpatt — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:07:47 GMT

I am loving the suggestions so far. I will have to do the best that I can with the pace work since I won't get a taper lane at my practice. I will have to improvise. I will have to experiment with my future tapers because I still don't feel any of my tapers worked properly in my age group days. But, I think that I have enough to go with this upcoming taper. Ande, thanks for all your detail. Kirk, you are so right about people not resting enough. A guy I train doesn't think that he needs so much rest for Nats even though he has been working hard all summer.

RE: Taper Question?

ande — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:32:47 GMT

Week 1: drop to 3,000 a day Week 2: drop from 3,000 a day to 1,500 the day before your meet ie 2,700 2,400 2,100 1,800 1,500 you're doing longer events warm up then do some pace work or descending sets or racing in your racing suit rehearse races / prepare to race also include a few sprints reduce quantity increase quality give yourself plenty of rest you need to figure out how you taper best some people perform best with short tapers others do well on longer ones experiment from season to season if you read my blog I am a fan of swimming fast in practice I have my big meet in over two weeks, Colonies Zones LCM Championships, August 23-24. I haven't tapered in a million years so I am not sure how much rest I should have. I swim about 25K meters a week and the events at my meet are the 400 IM, 200 free, 800 Free, 400 free and 200 fly. Should have cut my meterege to 3000 meters a day the first week(two weeks before My meet)? On the week before my meet, should I just do the warmup, Do some sprints, etc. and call it a day? Or, is this too much rest for 25K meters a week. I have done the two week taper in my age group days, but would do 10K yards/meters a day. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

RE: Taper Question?

swimshark — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:00:11 GMT