I have been having quite a few parents ask about “taper”.  Some parents have a general idea, some parents know a great detail of what they used to do as swimmers, and some have no idea.  Either way, it is a good thing for all parents to understand what taper is, and what type of taper we (the Hamden/North Haven YMCA Typhoons) use.

First and foremost, taper is the significant decrease of yardage per hour while maintaining intensity within the practice sets.  So, while we will practice for relatively the same amount of time, there is more purposeful (and fast) swimming with more rest after each swim or set.

With that said, let’s take a look at the three different types of taper:

1. Step Taper — This is where the yardage per hour for practices drop in a step direction.  So, the first week of taper will yield a specific amount of yardage that will stay throughout that entire week.  The second week of taper will step down to a lesser yardage and maintain that specific yardage throughout that week, etc.  So, if you were to graph out the yardage per day it would look like steps going down.
2. Linear Taper — This is where the yardage per hour is dropped consistently per day of training.  So, for one day it will be 2000 yards per hour, the second day is 1900 per hour, the third is 1800 per hour, and so on until the final day of training.  If this were to be graphed out, it would be a straight (diagonal) line down from upper left to lower right.
3. Progressive Taper — This is a combination of step taper and linear taper where the yardage is exponentially and mathematically decreased each day to look like a ski slope that plains out at the end of the training (if it is graphed).  This has been scientifically proven to be the most efficient form of taper through a 14 – 21 day taper process.

We utilize a progressive taper with our Juniors and Seniors as we typically plan for a 14 day taper period.  Again, this has been scientifically proven to be the most effective form of taper throughout several studies which involve highly trained athletes.  Typically, sprinters will see a decrease in time of 3% to 6% while mid-distance and distance swimmers will experience a 2% to 4% decrease in time.

For the Silver and Gold groups, we do more of a steep step taper where we will decrease the yardage within the last week of training to a significant exponential amount.  This allows swimmers (and coaches) to focus strictly on race technique, starts, turns, and breathing patterns.

Hopefully this helps our parents a bit in understanding what taper really is along with which kind of taper we use throughout our seasons.  However, if you do happen to have any questions, comments, or feedback just leave a comment below.