My goal meet is March 27/28. I am swimming 10 individual events and relays. My focus events are the 1650 and 1000 freestyle. The mile is the 1st event on Saturday morning, the 1,000 is the 1st event Sunday. I have been swimming 16-18K per week for 4 months. Here are my questions:
1- Am I swimming enough yardage to bother with a proper taper?
2-How much (%) per week should I cut back and when should I start tapering?
3-Should I do any extra "speed" or "pace" work during the taper?
4-What does the last week before the meet look like?
I normally train normally right up to the week before the state meet. At this point I cut back and add an extra rest day to the week. I am usually happy with how I do at State but am wondering if I'm missing the boat somewhere. I have done alot more swimming the last 10 months than ever before and I can honestly say I'm tired and my shoulders are a bit ragged.
thanks in advance for any advice!! :applaud:
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My goal meet is March 27/28. I am swimming 10 individual events and relays. My focus events are the 1650 and 1000 freestyle. The mile is the 1st event on Saturday morning, the 1,000 is the 1st event Sunday. I have been swimming 16-18K per week for 4 months. Here are my questions:
1- Am I swimming enough yardage to bother with a proper taper? hmmm, borderline. It depends in part on the training density, that is the number of workouts per week. If you're swimming 3x (5 to 6 kilos) then I'd be very careful not to cut too much. If you're swimming 5 to 6 times 3kilos, that is another story.
2-How much (%) per week should I cut back and when should I start tapering? Given that your goal is to perform in a pure threshold event, I would keep the taper well within 10 days. A week being probably sufficient.
Now, a proper taper for a threshold event is probably improper for anaerobic capacity events (50/100/200). Vice versa.
3-Should I do any extra "speed" or "pace" work during the taper? I would rather go with extra speed (read mostly vo2max work) 2 weeks prior the beginning of the taper, then taper mostly on race pace sets.
The interesting bit here is that the taper is one thing. An important one. But the sort of work you'll be doing prior the taper is almost as important. It can leverage your taper.
4-What does the last week before the meet look like? Race pace work. **Maybe** 1 vo2max set early in the week. The few days prior the meet depends on what works best for you.
Myself, I absolutely need a workout the day prior the event. That's my wake up call. so I like to take 1 or 2 days off prior this short and sweet wake up call.
I am usually happy with how I do at State but am wondering if I'm missing the boat somewhere. Well, a lot of endurance athletes are spoiling their competitions by tapering too much.
However...
I have done alot more swimming the last 10 months than ever before and I can honestly say I'm tired and my shoulders are a bit ragged. ... any tapering strategy should first take into account all that you've put in the bank during the season. If you have a lot of volume in the bank, you'll be able to maintain fitness despite a cut in volume
For next year, if you like playing with data, you may consider using Skiba's SwimScore model in order to assist you with your performance modeling (season wide that is): www.physfarm.com/swimscore.pdf
My goal meet is March 27/28. I am swimming 10 individual events and relays. My focus events are the 1650 and 1000 freestyle. The mile is the 1st event on Saturday morning, the 1,000 is the 1st event Sunday. I have been swimming 16-18K per week for 4 months. Here are my questions:
1- Am I swimming enough yardage to bother with a proper taper? hmmm, borderline. It depends in part on the training density, that is the number of workouts per week. If you're swimming 3x (5 to 6 kilos) then I'd be very careful not to cut too much. If you're swimming 5 to 6 times 3kilos, that is another story.
2-How much (%) per week should I cut back and when should I start tapering? Given that your goal is to perform in a pure threshold event, I would keep the taper well within 10 days. A week being probably sufficient.
Now, a proper taper for a threshold event is probably improper for anaerobic capacity events (50/100/200). Vice versa.
3-Should I do any extra "speed" or "pace" work during the taper? I would rather go with extra speed (read mostly vo2max work) 2 weeks prior the beginning of the taper, then taper mostly on race pace sets.
The interesting bit here is that the taper is one thing. An important one. But the sort of work you'll be doing prior the taper is almost as important. It can leverage your taper.
4-What does the last week before the meet look like? Race pace work. **Maybe** 1 vo2max set early in the week. The few days prior the meet depends on what works best for you.
Myself, I absolutely need a workout the day prior the event. That's my wake up call. so I like to take 1 or 2 days off prior this short and sweet wake up call.
I am usually happy with how I do at State but am wondering if I'm missing the boat somewhere. Well, a lot of endurance athletes are spoiling their competitions by tapering too much.
However...
I have done alot more swimming the last 10 months than ever before and I can honestly say I'm tired and my shoulders are a bit ragged. ... any tapering strategy should first take into account all that you've put in the bank during the season. If you have a lot of volume in the bank, you'll be able to maintain fitness despite a cut in volume
For next year, if you like playing with data, you may consider using Skiba's SwimScore model in order to assist you with your performance modeling (season wide that is): www.physfarm.com/swimscore.pdf
