O.k., it might seem that I’m a little obsessed with tapering lately, but that’s because it’s an Olympic year and we get to watch swimmers hit their peak (or miss that magic window) for two huge “meets” — Trials and the Games within a two-month span. And it’s because I’m just starting my taper for masters Long Course Nationals.
In terms of the Olympics, I am most interested to see what Brendan Hansen throws down. The 100 breast is probably my least favorite event (to spectate or swim) but I’m wondering if he’s going to nail the correct training-taper pattern this year to finally defeat his archnemesis in an Olympic forum.
I’m feeling confident that other big name swimmers — Phelps, Hoff, Couglin, Perisol, etc. will deliver WRs because they have proven themselves time and again when the pressure’s on. Taper or no, these swimmers know how to race. I can only just imagine what they will do in the water when rested for their biggest meet in four years.
The upsets (maybe Ryan Lochte in Beijing for example?) are always fun to watch because of course, few people saw them coming. It’s the swimmers in this category that I wonder about most in terms of their taper. Are their spectacular results due in part from following a different taper than they ever have before? Did they play that dicey game of swimming through Trials, gambling that they’d make it and thus have a bigger, full taper-payoff at the Olympics, better than anyone else? I guess we’ll find out in just a few days…
As for my taper, every time I go into one I’m always worried that it’s not going work, I’m not doing it right, or my timing will be off. Part of my panic springs from trying to determine the best plan based on ever-shifting conditions (I’m a year older than when I last tapered, my water and land training were both different this year, I’m swimming different events in a different pattern this summer, and many, many other factors are crowding my brain at the moment).
The other part of my panic comes from feeling really gross during tapers. Because I am not as tired, my appetite gears down and I don’t sleep as well. I feel odd in the water. And, I know this sounds weird, but I like the “heavy” feeling I get from lifting weights. When I start to feel rested, meaning I don’t feel my muscles working during every day tasks like going up the stairs, I feel too light, like I’m going to spin off the surface of earth. Again, I guess only time will tell in a few days if I did a good job of factoring training (or, “having something to taper from” as I like to tell myself on days when I need pushing) and rest this year…
Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist
UPDATE:
Well, not too surprising, Jessica Hardy will not be swimming in Beijing. The latest reports (she is still to blame even if she unknowingly ingested tainted vitamins) is interesting. Clearly, the current ruling puts the responsibility on swimmers to monitor their own food, beverage and supplements.
On the one hand, this seems like it could be a tricky job for the average person. After all, there are a lot of products out there with a lot of ingredients. Without a bio-chem background, it might be tough to navigate between what is or isn’t off limits, espcially as new products appear all the time, and because products sometimes use different names for the same ingredient. Heck, I ingest commercial vitamins and other “supplements” like recovery drinks, electrolyte drink mix, etc. all the time — who knows what I may be ingesting?
On the other hand, I have to wonder since everyone else is figuring out how to avoid banned substances at the Olympic Trials level, what’s Jessica missing? Is she truly naively non-proactive about monitoring everything that she puts in her mouth, or guilty? Again, I have to admit that proving innocence in this situation is going to be incrediblely tough. In either case, I don’t envy her position for the next two years — waiting out a suspension, fighting legal battles, and perhaps continuing to train, sans competition for motivation, under a cloud of suspicion.