Reply To: Resting for meets
Billratio,
I would ask some questions 1. Are they faster now then last year at this time? Are they racing within say 2-3% of LTB? How are their race splits compared to what they hold in practice? My kids on the club that are swimming high school are all over the place with performances had a boy go 55.02 100 fly BT (he was racing one of his teammates from the club) and then the very next week go 1:03 against a team that had only 14 kids total. Has great numbers in practice and should really never swim that slow. Go figure.
Your first question is easy. Not really, but there is an accumulation of fatigue that comes with the increasing numbers and you add external stressors such as school activities, homework which may reduce or disrupt sleep, diet and the list can get very long. All are or can be factors in performance consistency.
On the resting question I’d ask how often do your kids have meets? That combined with the numbers done in practice can have an impact on performances. You could do the 3 day protocol (club we only have 1 meet a month) but if you have a meet a week and maybe sometime two in a week you’re spending a lot of time resting and less on accumulation of potential which you are going to need at the end of the season. An idea might be to drop to just two sets of USRPT the day before and see if they don’t freshen up or do the 3 day and see, if you think that’s what they need. In personal communications with Ernie Maglischo he would always say “when in doubt error on the side of rest” p.s. it won’t ruin your season!
Good old breast and fly. For the 50s I have gone to the 1:10 may have to go to the 1:30 for them and probably for the pure high school swimmer not a bad idea. Also gone to :40 and some to the :50 for their 25s. We have lactate tested and used heart rate monitors and the rest difference is minimal at best. Use your race splits and compare them to practice times. If by giving them a little more rest they start making more at race pace that’s a bad thing?
Just some thoughts and ideas
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