How many meets do you swim a year/season ?

ANA ! ! Holy event star ! :bow: So many meets ! :applaud: You really must like to compete ! :bliss::bouncing::banana:

Oh, and FWIW, only two taper meets per year - one SCY (usually Nationals) and one LCM (occasionally Nationals). I don't travel well, so no more meets East of the Mississippi for me. And I don't train enough to taper more than once per season... .

2010: 1 between 2004 and 2009: 0 Since I began masters swimming in 1998: about 10 total, no more than 3 per year. For those who do more than 6/year, how do you train through the different training cycles, taper, meet, recover? I usually do 2-6 timed swims/month as part of workout, 99% of those off the blocks and racing other people on the team.

O K Be real - how many meets do you really swim a year/ season ? Including state & national meets ? ooopppsss! like the social part... did 20 meets during 2010 (Spain, Portugal, France , Scotland) :)

ANA ! ! Holy event star ! :bow: So many meets ! :applaud: You really must like to compete ! :bliss::bouncing::banana: well... your post deserves more words:applaud: I am addicted to my daily swim practice, have been a Master for almost 15 years and never had more than 3 days off. Competing is just a consequence without much thought on the quality of practice to improve times (though I love to get TOP10...) Have always done my practice alone but I am lazy, only like to do aerobic workouts; to do the intense tasks have to get audience - meets:blush: Love to travel, no family nor stressful working responsibilities ; since 1999 decided to combine the travelling with social part and intense workouts. Have done almost all Europeans nationals.Had for some short periods of time been affiliated to Portuguese, Spanish, UK, German Master federations to know the system... Basically I am a adventurous "free" person and decided to be " adventurous" through Master swimming :)

2010: 1 between 2004 and 2009: 0 Since I began masters swimming in 1998: about 10 total, no more than 3 per year. For those who do more than 6/year, how do you train through the different training cycles, taper, meet, recover? I usually do 2-6 timed swims/month as part of workout, 99% of those off the blocks and racing other people on the team. This is what I do for normal meets. I'll also add that I typically do not swim the day after a meet. Tapering is more of a fine art. And by that I mean a crapshoot. :bitching:

For me around five per year is pretty typical. Add in two open water swims on average.

FOURTEEN IN 2010!! 1/15/10 USA 2/5/10 USA 2/27/10 USMS DAMM SCY Republic of TX 3/4/10 USA 4/23/10 USA 5/14/10 USA 5/22/10 USA 6/4/10 USA 6/25/10 USA 10/29/10 USA 11/21/10 USMS DAMM SCM 12/03/10 USA 12/11/10 USMS DAMM Relay meet! 12/16/10 USA All meets except 2 USA were local meets. I'm not going to travel as much for masters so I try to swim whatever comes along, regardless of what condition I am in. 12/16/10 was the Chesapeake Pro/Am, so now I am taking this week off, next week off, then swim for 2 weeks before my next meet on 1/14/11! And no, I won't really be in shape for that. To address aztimm's question, the short answer is I don't taper/train/periodize for meets. I probably won't for the next several years. My MO is to simply enter every local A meet that comes along and swim anywhere from just one to (recently) several events per meet. I rely a lot on simply "getting up" and "delivering" when the more competitive meets come along. Racing alot gives me that confidence and "racing shape".

oops! forgot one more! 04/xx/10 - USMS SCY zone meet! Fifteen!

In 2010 I went to 9 meets: 3 SCY, 2 LCM, 4 SCM. Two of the meets were USA-S meets. There were 4 taper meets in the mix, two in SCY, one each in SCM and LCM. There was also one OW race in there. My sweet spot is probably about 8 pool meets per year and 2 OW races. This works out to roughly one meet or race per month, taking January and September off. I need meets/races to keep me motivated, but of course need to balance family with that. One-day races/meets that are drivable and don't require an overnight stay are great in that respect. We have several of those around here. For those who do more than 6/year, how do you train through the different training cycles, taper, meet, recover? I like having 3-4 taper meets a year, spaced 3-4 months apart. That gives 2-3 months of training followed by a 3-week taper. When I was young and stupid, I was definitely of the school of thought of one, maybe two taper meets per year. But now I find I need more frequent tapers to ensure I don't over-train. I don't usually rest much for in-season meets, but I find they are a useful gauge of accumulated training fatigue.