It’s that time of year as we are starting to get a lot of questions about like “Are we starting our taper yet?” At our level I always find it a bit amusing when asked that. First off it comes from the mouth of an athlete all 90 pounds (if that) with little or no muscle on their bodies, and even though it’s amusing, I also know it is mentally important to all athletes. So let’s dive into this topic a little bit.
First off “tapering refers to the practice of reducing exercise in the days just before an important competition. In swimming the yardage has logged and standing before us is that two week period where you start to feel a little anxious and excited for what could be. During this time it is important for you, the athlete to channel that anxiety and excitement in positive ways.
The first way to do that is to make sure you are doing all the lonely things that a swimmer needs to do to place themselves in a good position to be successful. What do I mean by the lonely things ? It’s the things that you do away from the pool when your all alone, such as your nutritional meals, staying hydrated, getting extra rest (stay away from sleep overs).
Regardless of the sport most championships take place over several days and swimming is no different. Don’t think that because you only have one race that you will be fine. Just being in that environment can be draining with all the warmup and warm downs, the races themselves and maybe relays, maybe finals. It is important that you spend the next couple of weeks catching up with schoolwork if you need to, maybe even getting ahead as much as you can so when the meet arrives you can get the rest you need away from the pool without the stress of school.
Your coaches will take care of you around the pool, but it is important to really focus in on the little things as you work through your sets. These would include streamlines, underwater dolphins, fast feet to wall, deep arm no breath, all the things that will help get us to that GREAT SWIM.
For our purposes her is what I believe to be the essence of what most of your taper will involve and look like.
You see first off most of you only swim 3 to 4 days a week and your daily yardage ranges from 3200 to 5000 yards a day. The amount of yardage is determined by what the focus of the day is. Lots of freestyle will drive the number higher, where lots of kick will drive that number lower. Stroke work and drills will drive that number lower and fin work will drive it higher, so as you see there are quite a few variables that dictate that number
That being said now we look at your bodies, not a lot of muscles on those bodies, so no need for a lot of recovery. If and this is probably a big ask from some of you😎, but if you have been paying attention to our pattern of sets, they have become stroke oriented with quality and speed. So what else can you do during this time to put yourself in the best position for success.
Along with what we just discussed one of the most important things that you can do is prepare mentally by always thinking positively and getting rid of all the garbage between your ears. We have talked before about how just doing something simple as making a word switch from negative to positive will change your confidence level immediately. How many of you come into practice and the first thing out of your mouth is I'm tired and by saying that what kind of confidence are you going to start that practice or meet off with. By saying that is it going to make you feel any better, I doubt it. Focus on positive thoughts and all those little things about your swimming at practice and you will find yourself in a better place.
It might even be good mentally to unplug from technology a little during this time, and no I'm not talking about information that is good, but from all the garbage and fake stuff we fill our heads with. Come in fresh and with a clear mind.
And as we have said really try to enjoy your swimming over the next few weeks.
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