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:
I part ways with Patrick on the amount of warm-up he does (2000)...I follow the "warm up till I'm warmed up" theory, its not set and it can be as little as 3-400yds and never over 1000...don't "leave your race in the warm-up pool".
Bobinator, Paul's actually right here. I think I'm different from many people in that I need (like?) a lot of warmup to get my engine running. Also, for my distance races, I prefer it close to the actual race. A lot of it is still relatively restful, though. Here's my planned warmup this weekend when I'm going to try to swim a fast 1000. I'll aim to do this so that I get out of the pool about 30 minutes before my race (I do like to dive in for a race dry):
1 x 600: 200 fr, 200 IM k/d, 200 fr -- very easy
8 x 50: on ~1:00, 2 each stroke, 1 kick, 1 drill/swim, still pretty easy
4 x 100: on ~1:30, descend from moderate down to target pace, ideally about 2-3 seconds drop per 100
1 x 50: easy
8 x 50: on ~0:50, 4 IM build, 4 free at target pace
1 x 50: easy
2 x 25: on ~0:30, 1/2 lap sprint, 1 each stroke
1 x 50: easy
Even though I'm racing free, I like to warmup all strokes as I think (absolutely no scientific data to back this up) this warms up a greater range of muscles. The above warmup probably ends up taking me about 40 minutes with rest between sets.
I part ways with Patrick on the amount of warm-up he does (2000)...I follow the "warm up till I'm warmed up" theory, its not set and it can be as little as 3-400yds and never over 1000...don't "leave your race in the warm-up pool".
Bobinator, Paul's actually right here. I think I'm different from many people in that I need (like?) a lot of warmup to get my engine running. Also, for my distance races, I prefer it close to the actual race. A lot of it is still relatively restful, though. Here's my planned warmup this weekend when I'm going to try to swim a fast 1000. I'll aim to do this so that I get out of the pool about 30 minutes before my race (I do like to dive in for a race dry):
1 x 600: 200 fr, 200 IM k/d, 200 fr -- very easy
8 x 50: on ~1:00, 2 each stroke, 1 kick, 1 drill/swim, still pretty easy
4 x 100: on ~1:30, descend from moderate down to target pace, ideally about 2-3 seconds drop per 100
1 x 50: easy
8 x 50: on ~0:50, 4 IM build, 4 free at target pace
1 x 50: easy
2 x 25: on ~0:30, 1/2 lap sprint, 1 each stroke
1 x 50: easy
Even though I'm racing free, I like to warmup all strokes as I think (absolutely no scientific data to back this up) this warms up a greater range of muscles. The above warmup probably ends up taking me about 40 minutes with rest between sets.
