Taper time is a well thought out process of preparing your swimmers for championships. Taper means QUALITY work and QUALITY recovery just to begin. Race Pace, Variable Speed swimming and kicking, Understanding the process of resting legs, etc are huge components of this 7 week preparation. The outlines will spell out exactly what distances to swim and kick, effort level and rest intervals needed for each set. During taper an athlete is able to increase and maintain aerobic conditioning. This is the time of the year to emphasize exact race pace speed needed for the big swim.
I have included a few videos to help you through the process. Heart rate is a great tool to establish what your swimmer needs. Tarzan is used to spark the nervous system and work the fast twitch muscles of the whole body as well as Overspeed work.
This process and all information is spelled out on the weekly outlines included in the Faster Swimming, 23 and 14 week books. The 23 and 14 week book include the exact swim and dryland workouts throughout the taper process.
To view the videos below, please copy and paste the link into your browser.
Heart Rate Set Explanation
http://www.viddler.com/explore/FasterSwim/videos/146/
Heart Rate Set Swimming
http://www.viddler.com/explore/FasterSwim/videos/147/
Tarzan
http://www.viddler.com/explore/FasterSwim/videos/78/
Overspeed with cords
http://www.viddler.com/explore/FasterSwim/videos/111/
Pulling Cords
http://www.viddler.com/explore/FasterSwim/videos/112/
Overspeed Drag and Pull