How to Handle Taper: 4 Tips From Coaches and Swimmers

schneider-start-relay-duel-2015
Photo Courtesy: Annie Grevers

By Sarah Lloyd, Swimming World College Intern

Well friends, it’s that time of year again. As my teammates and I frequently say “It’s taper time and the swimming’s easy” (you know, Sublime?). Anyway, taper time is upon us. It’s a time to reduce your yardage, bring down the intensity, and give your body a chance to recover from the wringer that was the regular season.

Sometimes, though, as much as we like taper and look forward to the day where we can officially justify taking the elevator instead of walking up another flight of stairs so we don’t “ruin our taper,” we get stuck or scared. We often have a million questions that we ask ourselves: Are we doing enough to make sure we recover well? Is this too much or too little swimming right now? Are we going to hit our taper in time for the meet?

Here are a few tips and tricks to getting through taper that I’ve gathered from coaches and swimmers that have been around the block a few times.

1. Don’t change anything.

“Keep doing what you’ve done well all year,” says Haley Mitchell, an assistant coach at the USMA (Army). Taper isn’t a time to change anything about the way you swim, it’s a time to hone the skills you’ve worked on all season. If your turns are good, focus on keeping them consistent during taper workouts so you’ll nail them in your races.

2. Maximize your ability to perform.

Kenyon College assistant coach Doug Lennox is a huge proponent of doing everything in your control to prepare yourself for the meet. “Make smart choices and keep it simple…do what you can to stay healthy, happy, and uninjured,” he explains. Whether this is remembering to take your daily vitamins (we all forget, it’s okay), getting to bed at a reasonable time, foregoing the sledding with friends, or planning ahead for assignments, we actually have a lot more in our control than we think, so we need to exercise our agency and minimize anything that could get in the way of our performance.

swimmer-sleeping-napping

Photo Courtesy: Maggie McKenna

3. Have some faith.

Macalester College head coach Beth Wittle tells her swimmers to “believe in [themselves], their training, their team, their coaches, and taper.” Sometimes, with all of the extra energy that comes from finally resting, we allow our minds to wander into the land of “what if,” which can make or break a taper. The idea that swimming is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical applies not only to difficult sets, but to taper as well. We’ll actually be doing ourselves a favor by turning our brains off and just trusting the swimming.

4. Relax!

Both Kenyon head coach Jess Book and Kenyon senior distance swimmer Mariah Williamson think that relaxing is the most important thing when it comes to taper. “We spend so much of our season in a hurried state of movement…workout, school, workout, sleep,” says Book. “This is our time to rest, relax, and recover.” We need to relax our bodies and our minds, but it can be a difficult task. “I think relaxing is one of the hardest things to do before a big meet,” explains Williamson. “But it’s also the most important.”

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr

In the end, our bodies are all capable of swimming fast, but taper boils down to a combination of trusting the process, yourself, and your training. Relax, have fun, and get ready to swim fast!

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Eike Zan
8 years ago

Marius Bornkessel

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