My first taper as a masters swimmer will be for Nationals. In my youth, I always had huge drops after tapering for a big meet, but that was 25 years ago and frankly, I can't remember how it was done. In addition, those tapers were after 70,000 yards/week. Now I'm only doing 20-25,000 yards/week.
Any suggestions?
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Former Member
Keith
I agree with Kirk and Jim. Don't be afraid to rest! I do half the yardage you do, while doing lots of weights and dryland. I stop lifting three weeks out and reduce the sprinting, while only cutting total yardage by about 25%. I have felt good my last few taper meets - certainly not like I'd cut back too much and gotten out of shape. Starting at 20-25k yards per week, you have lots of room to seriously reduce yardage while staying in good shape. If you are a sprinter, you might want to reduce the yardage even more. If you are more mid-distance / distance, then I'd go with Kirk's plan.
Craig
Keith
I agree with Kirk and Jim. Don't be afraid to rest! I do half the yardage you do, while doing lots of weights and dryland. I stop lifting three weeks out and reduce the sprinting, while only cutting total yardage by about 25%. I have felt good my last few taper meets - certainly not like I'd cut back too much and gotten out of shape. Starting at 20-25k yards per week, you have lots of room to seriously reduce yardage while staying in good shape. If you are a sprinter, you might want to reduce the yardage even more. If you are more mid-distance / distance, then I'd go with Kirk's plan.
Craig
