I'm planning on resting for a meet in Feb. As usual, I'm wondering what taper to use, how much to rest, etc. I don't feel like I've really hit on the "one" plan that works for me.
I know everyone has their own approach to taper and may taper for between 1-4 weeks. In every taper plan I've seen, the yardage always drops off gradually. Has anyone ever tried a "drop dead" taper? One where you continue to exercise at your regular level and then, say 7 days before the big meet, you precipitously drop the yardage down to 1500 or so with very little sprinting? Thoughts?
I'm wondering if this type of taper might work for me, as I feel (possibly falsely) like I lose conditioning if I taper too long.
My college team did this the year before I got there and it was reported to be an unmitigated disaster. Swimmers added time from in-season, babies cried, atonal music was sung in the streets.
This rings of truth. In college I attended Plucky Mid-Major. Each year we had a dual meet against Major Conference Top 25 Hopeful. They were much better than us, swimming off events and still beating us easily. But we noticed things. At the end of each meet, most of their team would have ice bags on their shoulders, and be strangely happy about it. My senior year, we arrived at our second taper meet (ECAC Championships) to find out that they had blown their Major Conference meet because they had completely missed their taper. Again, they were oddly happy about it... and they swam much better in the 2nd meet, redeeming themselves in an irrelevant competition.
Anyway the moral of the story is not to do a crash taper because if you miss, you miss hard.
My college team did this the year before I got there and it was reported to be an unmitigated disaster. Swimmers added time from in-season, babies cried, atonal music was sung in the streets.
This rings of truth. In college I attended Plucky Mid-Major. Each year we had a dual meet against Major Conference Top 25 Hopeful. They were much better than us, swimming off events and still beating us easily. But we noticed things. At the end of each meet, most of their team would have ice bags on their shoulders, and be strangely happy about it. My senior year, we arrived at our second taper meet (ECAC Championships) to find out that they had blown their Major Conference meet because they had completely missed their taper. Again, they were oddly happy about it... and they swam much better in the 2nd meet, redeeming themselves in an irrelevant competition.
Anyway the moral of the story is not to do a crash taper because if you miss, you miss hard.
