Reply To: Help with planning my weeks
Matt,
Really like the “calibration” idea! Or the “now that I have your attention” Well thought out.
On the 3 day protocol it is yes, a combination of all 3. Total volume gets reduced with the 25%, the volume of the RP set is reduced with the 25% and reps are reduced. I keep all the technical and drill work the same so no reducing there. In the old days we would have called this a “drop taper” problem was it never really worked as the kids were so beat up from TT they usually swam like crap and never felt rested a great mental state to try and perform.
The best parts of the 3 day has been; they feel rested, mentally they get dialed in and maybe the best part is they don’t get that after taper “blues” After a 3 day P/F meet over the weekend we can come right back to practice and the numbers we left off with before the 3 day and they are just fine. It was worked really well if we have a January or February meet they need to swim fast at but the championship meet is not until March. You don’t spend 7-10 days coming down and then after meet 4-6 days coming back up. Just FYI, we’ll run in the 80% plus LTB and then come back in March and again post 80% plus LTB and that’s over their last meet. Over the course of the meets we’ll run in the 3-5% improvement in time event dependent.
I will say this about the 3 day. If you’re not paying attention to the numbers before then the results could be totally different and not in a good way. You seem to have a good handle on “letting the numbers” speak to you so I’d give it a try.
Yes to the third set on race focus. Because of the reduced numbers we are looking for perfect race execution which would be back to our “value system” turns speeds, underwater work and surface swimming skills.
On recording, I did the WB thing. Then the kids came up with “you already take attendance why don’t you just make columns on the data sheet and when we’re done with each set just walk down the lanes and ask how many we made it’s got to be faster than us getting in and out of the pool after each set and we’re just going into a recovery set anyway, so it’s not like we’re pressed for time” Damn if they weren’t right. Takes all of a 1-1.5 minutes and they are on to the next set. We swim outdoors year round and I think they didn’t like getting out in the winter so they came up with the idea. Smart.
Just thoughts,
Oldschool
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