In threads where training philosophy comes up, discussions of TRIMPS and TSS and other training models occasionally intrude. These models are not very well known, and even more poorly understood, so probably SolarEnergy, qbrain and I are just talking to each other and killing threads in those conversations. In any case, I figured I would present a brief overview of what it is that we're talking about when this terminology starts showing up.
Best case, this will introduce these models to the subset of swimmers (or coaches) who would be interested enough to use them, but didn't previously know enough to do so.
Plus, even if you're not the type to be interested in quantifying your training, it can be useful to think about workouts in this general framework.
And, at the very least, this might serve as a place to discuss some of the details without worrying about driving those other threads too far off-topic.
Parents
Former Member
"Some experts have suggested that the taper effect may be due to surcompensating effects of other physiological mechanisms that are similar to those of glycogen loading. Although this explanation is vague, it may nevertheless be the best one currently available" (E.Maglischo, 2003).
Without any more context, I'd interpret this as saying that recovery during taper may be analogous to restocking glycogen during carb loading. Not that the timescales are similar.
I.e., overtraining followed by rest allows recovery to higher than previous levels of fitness (which sounds to me like the standard training effect), just like starvation followed by carb loading allows a temporary over-filling of glycogen levels. But the time scale of the former is ~2 weeks, and the latter is ~2 days.
I don't assume from this that "muscle tissue damage recovery time goes parallel to time to replenish glycogen levels" (emphasis mine).
Just like fatigue related mechanisms go parallel to blood lactate concentration.
Wow, that's a whole different argument. I don't know about you, but I definitely feel fatigue long after my blood lactate concentrations return to normal.
There are far too many, several too many many physiological changes that are taking place during the tapering process to explain performance enhancement solely on 1 of them.
I agree wholeheartedly.
Persisting in *micro-injuring* ourselves during the taper provides the best explanation for prolonged duration.
Which implies that your 4-day "sudden break" would be more effective than a 2-week gradual taper. I agree that would not be a good taper strategy. But I think so because I don't believe fatigue has faded in 4 days. I'm curious why you don't like a full-stop taper strategy?
"Some experts have suggested that the taper effect may be due to surcompensating effects of other physiological mechanisms that are similar to those of glycogen loading. Although this explanation is vague, it may nevertheless be the best one currently available" (E.Maglischo, 2003).
Without any more context, I'd interpret this as saying that recovery during taper may be analogous to restocking glycogen during carb loading. Not that the timescales are similar.
I.e., overtraining followed by rest allows recovery to higher than previous levels of fitness (which sounds to me like the standard training effect), just like starvation followed by carb loading allows a temporary over-filling of glycogen levels. But the time scale of the former is ~2 weeks, and the latter is ~2 days.
I don't assume from this that "muscle tissue damage recovery time goes parallel to time to replenish glycogen levels" (emphasis mine).
Just like fatigue related mechanisms go parallel to blood lactate concentration.
Wow, that's a whole different argument. I don't know about you, but I definitely feel fatigue long after my blood lactate concentrations return to normal.
There are far too many, several too many many physiological changes that are taking place during the tapering process to explain performance enhancement solely on 1 of them.
I agree wholeheartedly.
Persisting in *micro-injuring* ourselves during the taper provides the best explanation for prolonged duration.
Which implies that your 4-day "sudden break" would be more effective than a 2-week gradual taper. I agree that would not be a good taper strategy. But I think so because I don't believe fatigue has faded in 4 days. I'm curious why you don't like a full-stop taper strategy?
