I did a practice shave of my legs last night, to get used to it and also figure out how long it takes me for planning purposes.
Today in practice, I was faster than usual. The most obvious was in my 200 free warm-up. I dps the first 100 and then gradually speed up to about 75%. Usually I am around 3 minutes. Monday, I went 2:51. Today, I was 2:36 with the usual effort level.
My 200 *** warm-up was about 10 seconds faster than usual.
Can shaving really improve things that much? Is some of this because I am tapering?
Also, for those guys who shave your heads, do you also wear a cap? If not, is the bald head better than a cap?
Shaving can be an amazing thing as far as cutting time. Nothing like that feel when you first dive in.
I will never wear a cap. My hair grows so fast that even after one day I get the total sandpaper thing going so i reshave the head nightly for multi-day big meets. If its longer than a 2 day meet I reshave the rest also before day 3.
So you shaved during taper but before the big meet? Don't "waste" the shave though by doing it too early. You dont want to get used to that feel as it should be a new, quicker feel that you don't get any other time of the year than the end of taper time for the big meet. In my opinion the shave is just as much psychological as it is physical... and not being used to that is a big part. Some guys even wear pantyhose(toes cut off and tied off around the ankle) after shaving so that they don't get that shaved feel for anything but a race.
Just my advice anyway
Thanks.
I am doing it in 'parts' to minimize the effect in the pool. There was plenty of 'hair drag' today, just not on my legs. I just want to make sure I plan correctly at nationals and allow for enough time in the AM or PM to shave right.
This nationals trip is a learning experience for me, including the shave, warm-up, warm-down, travel routine, deck routine. I seldom traveled when I swam as a kid, and I didn't have nearly as much hair(!).
My head gets sharkskin after about 6 hours, so I think I will shave it each day.
Shaving can be an amazing thing as far as cutting time. Nothing like that feel when you first dive in.
I will never wear a cap. My hair grows so fast that even after one day I get the total sandpaper thing going so i reshave the head nightly for multi-day big meets. If its longer than a 2 day meet I reshave the rest also before day 3.
So you shaved during taper but before the big meet? Don't "waste" the shave though by doing it too early. You dont want to get used to that feel as it should be a new, quicker feel that you don't get any other time of the year than the end of taper time for the big meet. In my opinion the shave is just as much psychological as it is physical... and not being used to that is a big part. Some guys even wear pantyhose(toes cut off and tied off around the ankle) after shaving so that they don't get that shaved feel for anything but a race.
Just my advice anyway
Thanks.
I am doing it in 'parts' to minimize the effect in the pool. There was plenty of 'hair drag' today, just not on my legs. I just want to make sure I plan correctly at nationals and allow for enough time in the AM or PM to shave right.
This nationals trip is a learning experience for me, including the shave, warm-up, warm-down, travel routine, deck routine. I seldom traveled when I swam as a kid, and I didn't have nearly as much hair(!).
My head gets sharkskin after about 6 hours, so I think I will shave it each day.
