Every great coach and every great swimmer has a plan when it comes to their training. A plan can be as simple as a single workout consisting of a warm-up, main set, and warm down or it can be a season plan scheduling meets. A taper is another element of the training process that needs to be planned and perfected to achieve the best possible results.
A taper is completely dependent on a swimmer’s training background. A long distance swimmer preparing to race the mile at a meet will not need as much rest as a sprinter preparing for the 50 free. The standard workouts for these distances differ dramatically. The distance swimmer will train long sets to build their endurance and the sprinter will have workouts that are short and designed to increase speed. Not only should tapers vary for different events, they should vary depending on the athlete’s overall training background.
Samantha Neff, the age group coach for the Puget Sound Swim Club in Washington State, is responsible for swimmers around the ages of ten to fourteen. These kids are new to the sport or are in the early development stages. Neff doesn’t make drastic changes to her kids’ training for meets, because at a young age, these swimmers don’t have a training base. Most of Neff’s swimmers only attend about 70 percent of the offered workouts. She said if she were to drastically decrease the workload for an upcoming meet, it would be like asking a kid to study for a test when they haven’t attended the class. That would set her kids up for failure. Instead, Neff will change the focus of workouts to high intensity and high rest, only four to five practices out from a meet. This allows for a lot of fine-tuning and stroke work with her swimmers right before race day, without bringing down their overall workload.
However, a more experienced swimmer will take a different approach with their taper. Olympic gold medalist Nathan Adrian will start to make subtle changes to his training two months out from a meet. His coach, Dave Durden at Cal Berkeley, will gradually cut back Adrian’s pool time to just an hour per practice before a big competition. Studies show that a taper should never fall below 50 percent of an athlete’s peak training time, or the athlete can become out of shape. Adrian also reduces his time in the weight room. He will gradually lessen reps and weight so that the week of a race he will be down to one rep at 80 percent max weight.
The high intensity and low frequency method is the most common form of taper. A study conducted by a Canadian research team at McMaster University in Ontario, compared three different tapers for endurance runners. The first taper was a complete drop in training, the second was long runs at a slow pace, and the third was short runs with built in sprint sets. The third group showed the greatest improvement in speed by following the high intensity and low frequency taper method. Group three also saw improvements in comparison to the other taper groups with higher glycogen levels in the leg muscles, increased density of red blood cells, and increased blood plasma, which are all contributing factors to an athlete’s performance.
Training plans are not the only adjustments made by a swimmer to optimize their performance during a taper. Other factors include diet, sleep, and daily activities. Taper is a very important time for any athlete looking to perform at their absolute best. Simple slip-ups, like falling off a skateboard, can ruin months, even years, worth of training.
Adrian makes sure he stays consistent with his food intake, eating every 30 minutes to an hour and avoids pointless energy expenditures, like stairs. In preparation for the Olympics, Adrian noted that it was very important that he keeps walking to class and to the pool. The Olympic Village is a large venue and oftentimes athletes become sore from all the extra walking.
Another one of Adrian’s taper tricks is buying himself a taper gift. Adrian’s rigorous training schedule is exhausting and typically requires him to use his spare time taking much needed naps. During his taper, he experiences a significant increase in his energy level, but following coach’s orders, he needs to continue to rest. Adrian will buy a toy to keep himself entertained during his newly required free time. Toys in the past have been remote control cars, kites, and video games.
Training hard during the season is like making a deposit to a bank account. If you've trained hard, by taper time you'll have a lot to withdraw. A swimmer with an extensive resume like Adrian’s will be able to make significant withdraws during his taper and he hopes to do so this year for the Olympics. When Coach Neff’s younger swimmers have developed more within the sport, they too will have similar tapers like Adrian. Maybe even one day, hitting a taper perfectly to land themselves a spot on the 2016 Olympic team.