During the taper :
- Your daily volume should not drop below your expected daily meet volume. That is, if with warm-ups and races and warm-downs you are swimming 3,000-5, 000 meters a day, then the last week going in to the meet should not drop significantly below this on consecutive days
- Although rest is important, do not sleep so much during the day that you cannot sleep well at night.
During the meet
- Don’t change your routine because you are at a major meet – what worked before will work now – just do it better (ex. If you warm-up 1,500 m before a race all year, don’t suddenly drop to 1,000 m at the big meet)
- Don’t be distracted or allow yourself to compromise what you need to do to follow what others are doing or as a reaction to a race performance. An example is stretching – don’t be afraid to leave your friends to take care of yourself
- Follow the meet schedule with your swims – i.e. swim a warm-up a night even if you are not racing. Remain part of the ‘flow’ of the meet always
- Be ready to adapt to changes in situations – whether it be warm-up times, transportation difficulties, missed wake-up calls etc. Things can quite often go wrong or not be to your liking – that is not important at all. What is important is that you can adapt to the new situation in a low-stress manner. This is very important when traveling with large groups where many decisions are made for the whole group, and the individual has little or no say it the decision. If your reaction is to ‘fight’ it you will add stress to yourself, and lose focus on what really matters
- There is a difference between being a qualifier and a competitor. Go the meet planning to compete – whether it be winning heats, moving up in your ranking or scoring. This means being ready to swim best times. You should not be satisfied with simply participating
Remember that your competitors are trying to beat you! Don’t be afraid to make a race personal, or be ‘selfish’ about your needs – no swimmer is going to allow your to win – you have to fight for it
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