Took the Morning off

I took the morning off to catch up on some sleep, those 5:20am alarm clocks are rough! I might make the judgment call to cease all doubles (2 practices a day) till trials. I'm still fine tuning my all-out backstroke by doing lots of speed work. Most of it is fast 50's and 75's. I'm noticing a lot of excitement about the trials, I see it on TV, ads on the internet, people talking about it in public. I don't ever remember these types of things from 4 years ago, I'm definitely hyper sensitive about it because I'm finally part of it all.

I had a lengthy discussion with my friends Sarah today about my taper cycle, which reminds me, I've had some requests to explain a taper cycle leading up to a big meet. Keep in mind I'm certainly not a pro, or coach for that matter, but this is my take on it:

A taper consists of slowly lowering daily yardage over a period of weeks. Some swimmers taper for as much as a month, some, as little as a week. Taper also means you stop doing some of the strength training like weights and body weight excessive (dryland training). Some swimmers do more speed work while doing less yardage, this results in getting used to how fast you will swim once rested. These changes, coupled with extra sleep and good food are believed to help fine tune your body for a important meet.

In most cases the coach determines what a swimmer needs for a taper, the swimmer puts their trust in the coaches experience and hopes for the best. In my case, I had great coaching in college, but it's been quite a while since I tapered for a big conference meet. I barely remember how I prepared. I plan on exactly following how I prepared for the 2008 Grand Prix at Ohio State where I swam my best long course meet. I was only rested about a week and a half for this meet. Because this is my only reference point, this is the plan I'll follow. I trust my instincts during all my training and it's worked out great so far. I know I need a short taper to perform well. I'm excited for trials!