Taper = preparation for fast/optimal swimming.  Taper does not equal complete rest.  Think about it for a second...what happens in August while you are as rested as you'll ever get.  Spend a few weeks on land without training and you can feel a difference in your fitness level.  By the time your month long hiatus is up you can even see a definite reduction in muscle mass and tone.  So why, I ask you, would you want to rest completely before a big meet?  The answer, I think is obvious...you wouldn't.  So instead, we taper. 

So what does it REALLY mean to taper?  This is usually a time anticipated with great excitement for the swimmers and great anxiety for the coaches.  Swimmers find practices to be shorter with more recovery time instead of the usual pounding out of one hard set after another.  Coaches find this time annoying and concerning because their swimmers have entirely too much energy and worse yet no two swimmers ever seem to taper the same.  So we spend the entire time trying to keep you all focused while secretly worrying that since there is NO science to tapering we may be doing it all wrong!

Unfortunately there is not a great deal of consistent research done that would allow any cookie cutter approaches to planning a taper; however, there are some standards that seem to be universal and widely used...so it is from here that we can truly define what tapering is.

The key to tapering is a reduction in accumulated fatigue - both physical and mental.  This is done by reducing the total number of yards swam while increasing intensity and recovery time.  This is the time when you push your body to swim fast and simulate your races while giving lots of rest and recovery.  You're essentially performing rehearsals of the upcoming meet so that when you get there your body has developed the muscle memory to know what to do and is rested and ready to do it FAST!!!!

posted 1/5/2011 6:16 PM | comment | view comments (0)