Swimming tips with thanks to previous coach Adam Beisler
Race Preparation
Being such a competitive club and coming into the short course race season, hopefully this will help you to get race ready!
Taper
Depending on how many sessions you do, depends on how long of a taper you will have coming into a meet. A taper is a process in which the body starts to recover while gaining more strength and speed, this is done by dropping the distance in the session and the amount of sessions you do. There is a lot more speed work with longer rest through the sets as well. You want to feel at your peak just before you race. The more sessions you do the longer the taper.
Racing Healthy
Make sure you have a good diet (hopefully you already do) but at least 2 weeks prior to racing cut out all alcohol and fatty foods, try to load up on carbohydrates and protein. Remember to keep up Hydration (H2O). The night before racing have a big meal, make sure it is easy to digest (no tough red meat or seafood that might make you sick). The morning of, eat light and most importantly keep drinking water or sports drinks. You want to be continuously eating small portions all day, rather then one large one preferably snack foods (fruit, muesli bars, snakes etc).
Racing Mentality
Always go into a meet with loads of confidence, you don’t have to be cocky, just believe in yourself and your training. If you go into a race thinking you have already lost, you have! To have a chance you have to give
yourself a chance. Don’t be afraid to visualise your race on race day and see yourself winning, this is also a good technique to practice in training. If you do have a bad swim, forget it because you will always get another chance. If you have a good swim use it as motivation to keep excelling.
Racing Warm Up
Already in the week leading up to the race you should be increasing your amount of dives, turns and explosive speed in training. When you get to the pool, jump in and get a good feel for the water, make sure you learn the blocks by practising dives and the walls by practising turns. Make sure you keep stretching and moving so you keep the blood circulating, you don’t want to swim stiff. Keep yourself warm and remember to do a swim down after ever race. Just to finish, remember what works for you might not work for someone else, be comfortable in what works for you. The more racing you do, the more confident you will be in your preparation. Most of all enjoy the experience, that’s why we race!
Taper
Depending on how many sessions you do, depends on how long of a taper you will have coming into a meet. A taper is a process in which the body starts to recover while gaining more strength and speed, this is done by dropping the distance in the session and the amount of sessions you do. There is a lot more speed work with longer rest through the sets as well. You want to feel at your peak just before you race. The more sessions you do the longer the taper.
Racing Healthy
Make sure you have a good diet (hopefully you already do) but at least 2 weeks prior to racing cut out all alcohol and fatty foods, try to load up on carbohydrates and protein. Remember to keep up Hydration (H2O). The night before racing have a big meal, make sure it is easy to digest (no tough red meat or seafood that might make you sick). The morning of, eat light and most importantly keep drinking water or sports drinks. You want to be continuously eating small portions all day, rather then one large one preferably snack foods (fruit, muesli bars, snakes etc).
Racing Mentality
Always go into a meet with loads of confidence, you don’t have to be cocky, just believe in yourself and your training. If you go into a race thinking you have already lost, you have! To have a chance you have to give
yourself a chance. Don’t be afraid to visualise your race on race day and see yourself winning, this is also a good technique to practice in training. If you do have a bad swim, forget it because you will always get another chance. If you have a good swim use it as motivation to keep excelling.
Racing Warm Up
Already in the week leading up to the race you should be increasing your amount of dives, turns and explosive speed in training. When you get to the pool, jump in and get a good feel for the water, make sure you learn the blocks by practising dives and the walls by practising turns. Make sure you keep stretching and moving so you keep the blood circulating, you don’t want to swim stiff. Keep yourself warm and remember to do a swim down after ever race. Just to finish, remember what works for you might not work for someone else, be comfortable in what works for you. The more racing you do, the more confident you will be in your preparation. Most of all enjoy the experience, that’s why we race!
Dryland Workouts (Cross training)
Well this issue the topic of discussion is dryland workouts or cross training as it is also known.
Now while we are mainly focussed on the training we do in the water, there are other ways of improving your fitness. They can especially come in handy if you are trying to mix it up because training might be getting a little dull or you might not have enough time to travel to the pool, the weather conditions might be poor, or you might have a certain injury, the list goes on...
Now when we talk about dryland training it can vary from stretching to running a marathon. The most common areas of fitness are flexibility, core strength and aerobic fitness. Luckily with internet access these days, these types of workouts are readily available.
First of all stretching, not only does it help you to be flexible but also prevents injury and most importantly gives you a longer, smoother stroke in the water - making you an efficient and faster swimmer.
As a masters swimmer this might be even more important because as you get older you lose some flexibility.
Core strength or stability is pretty much the base of a swimmers strength. In all land sports, the energy is transferred from the feet to the rest of the body due to the fact that feet grip the ground for support. In the water, our stable support comes from our core (around the abdomen area) and generates the energy to our arms and legs.
Now some examples of aerobic fitness could be: skipping, running, push-ups, chin-ups and boxing. These are all fitness exercises that could be done inside a small space.
Also sports like tennis, basketball, rowing, rock climbing, soccer and touch football are all ideas for outdoor exercises and can also be used as group activities. You can pretty much say anything that requires physical strength and increases your heart rate will also work your aerobic fitness levels.
Just remember these should be done as extra training sessions, NEVER as a substitute.
The best training that a swimmer can do is always in the water.
Now while we are mainly focussed on the training we do in the water, there are other ways of improving your fitness. They can especially come in handy if you are trying to mix it up because training might be getting a little dull or you might not have enough time to travel to the pool, the weather conditions might be poor, or you might have a certain injury, the list goes on...
Now when we talk about dryland training it can vary from stretching to running a marathon. The most common areas of fitness are flexibility, core strength and aerobic fitness. Luckily with internet access these days, these types of workouts are readily available.
First of all stretching, not only does it help you to be flexible but also prevents injury and most importantly gives you a longer, smoother stroke in the water - making you an efficient and faster swimmer.
As a masters swimmer this might be even more important because as you get older you lose some flexibility.
Core strength or stability is pretty much the base of a swimmers strength. In all land sports, the energy is transferred from the feet to the rest of the body due to the fact that feet grip the ground for support. In the water, our stable support comes from our core (around the abdomen area) and generates the energy to our arms and legs.
Now some examples of aerobic fitness could be: skipping, running, push-ups, chin-ups and boxing. These are all fitness exercises that could be done inside a small space.
Also sports like tennis, basketball, rowing, rock climbing, soccer and touch football are all ideas for outdoor exercises and can also be used as group activities. You can pretty much say anything that requires physical strength and increases your heart rate will also work your aerobic fitness levels.
Just remember these should be done as extra training sessions, NEVER as a substitute.
The best training that a swimmer can do is always in the water.
Planning
This time I will be writing about planning and I hope as you read this you have a pen in your hand or go out after this article and try to give yourself some kind of direction with what your after with your swimming.
Now throughout life you have always had to plan, whether it was going to school and reading your timetable so you knew what classes to go to or at work, you might have a roster so you know when to turn up to work and how long you’re going to be there. It can even be as simple as going to the shops with a shopping list so you remember all the items you need to buy.
Just telling yourself you’re going to train hard sometimes won’t be sufficient. You have to give yourself a structured plan of what days, for how long and how hard and stick to it. It’s actually a good idea to print out your schedule so you can see it everyday or tell those around you about it so you feel you have an obligation or even better get them to do it with you.
Now depending on what you are after with your swimming might depend on how tough your weekly plan might be. Just remembering if you miss days at work you don’t get paid it’s the same with your training you have to be there to get results. Each session you should have goals you want to achieve or give yourself a certain amount of time to achieve your goal, whether its dropping 5 kilos or 5 seconds in 5 months its all relevant.
Now if something happens to your plan take notice and make sure you understand there can always be hurdles but once you jump over them you need to be right back on track and not give up because there is always a finish line.
If anyone needs help with their swimming plans that’s what coaches are there for, we can tell you what you need to do but it’s only your commitment to that plan that counts in the end.
Now throughout life you have always had to plan, whether it was going to school and reading your timetable so you knew what classes to go to or at work, you might have a roster so you know when to turn up to work and how long you’re going to be there. It can even be as simple as going to the shops with a shopping list so you remember all the items you need to buy.
Just telling yourself you’re going to train hard sometimes won’t be sufficient. You have to give yourself a structured plan of what days, for how long and how hard and stick to it. It’s actually a good idea to print out your schedule so you can see it everyday or tell those around you about it so you feel you have an obligation or even better get them to do it with you.
Now depending on what you are after with your swimming might depend on how tough your weekly plan might be. Just remembering if you miss days at work you don’t get paid it’s the same with your training you have to be there to get results. Each session you should have goals you want to achieve or give yourself a certain amount of time to achieve your goal, whether its dropping 5 kilos or 5 seconds in 5 months its all relevant.
Now if something happens to your plan take notice and make sure you understand there can always be hurdles but once you jump over them you need to be right back on track and not give up because there is always a finish line.
If anyone needs help with their swimming plans that’s what coaches are there for, we can tell you what you need to do but it’s only your commitment to that plan that counts in the end.
