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.
Fort, in college we had a meet in between the beginning of our 2-week taper and championships. I was a sprinter doing the 50-100-200. Invariably, the mid-taper meet was significantly slower than meets I did during the hard work months of 9000+/day. I felt flat. No ooomph at all. Added ~3% to mid season times.
Not sure what happened physiologically, but every year we thought "Oh, great, a mid-taper meet...should be fabulous" when we saw the schedule. However, the championship times always came down significantly as well after that. So *I* won't do less than 2 weeks for a taper for weights or the pool. Good luck.
Fort, in college we had a meet in between the beginning of our 2-week taper and championships. I was a sprinter doing the 50-100-200. Invariably, the mid-taper meet was significantly slower than meets I did during the hard work months of 9000+/day. I felt flat. No ooomph at all. Added ~3% to mid season times.
Not sure what happened physiologically, but every year we thought "Oh, great, a mid-taper meet...should be fabulous" when we saw the schedule. However, the championship times always came down significantly as well after that. So *I* won't do less than 2 weeks for a taper for weights or the pool. Good luck.
