Good recovery between prelims and finals sessions at a meet has a huge impact on how you race in finals. The second half of the day demands much more energy, excitement, and, most importantly, mental and physical preparedness. To be at your best when it matters the most, here are three ways to maximize your recovery between sessions.
1. Refuel with Food and Fluids
When prelims are over, you’ll need to eat a substantial lunch with carbohydrates to replenish glycogen stores in muscle (the stored energy that is released upon exertion), as well as protein to sustain your energy throughout the day. With only 4-6 hours between sessions, you will need primarily carbohydrates and fluids for quick access to energy. Within 20 minutes of your last race for the session, you should eat a 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio to kick-start the recovery process. Examples of lunch items include sandwiches with lean meats and grain bread, Greek yogurt with granola and fruit, small salads (side item) with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and nuts or trail mix. You may sweat more than you realize during a prelims session, so it is important to drink fluids that will hydrate you and replenish your electrolytes. Hydration will facilitate blood circulation, and ultimately lactate clearance from muscle.
2. 10-minute Massage for General Flush
If this is an option, hop on the massage table after your warm down to receive a light flush from your masseuse. This 10-minute massage is not to be used as a deep-tissue massage or to focus on any particular body part for risk of soreness and pain. Complete your warm down as usual, and use the massage as a supplemental way to accelerate lactate clearance from the blood following each session. The applied pressure will release fascia from the muscle and boost circulation. Alternatively, foam rolling can give you a similar release if your team does not travel with a masseuse or athletic trainer.
3. Nap (optional…)
Napping provides the athlete with an opportunity to physically recover and mentally reset before finals. It also creates a natural break in the day so each full day feels more manageable. Even if you cannot fall asleep completely, lying down and closing your eyes can help your body relax. For those swimmers who do not like the grogginess associated with waking from a nap, known as sleep inertia, even a 20-minute nap will confer physiological benefits without the lethargic feeling upon awakening. Naps lasting 30 minutes to 1 hour will have longer lasting benefits, but make sure to give yourself enough time to fully awaken before returning to the pool (this time varies depending on the individual).
BridgeAthletic works with elite professional, collegiate, and club swimming programs to provide a turnkey solution for dryland training. Led by Nick Folker, the top swimming strength and conditioning coach in the world, our team builds stroke-specific, custom-optimized dryland programs for each of our clients. The individualized workouts are delivered directly to athletes via our state of the art technology platform and mobile applications. Check Nick and BridgeAthletic out as recently featured in SwimSwam.
Nick Folker is the Co-Founder and Director of Elite Performance at BridgeAthletic. Nick’s roster of athletes includes 35 Olympians winning 22 Olympic Medals, 7 team NCAA Championships and over 170 individual and relay NCAA championships. Megan Fischer-Colbrie works as the Sports Science Editor at BridgeAthletic. Megan was a four-year varsity swimmer at Stanford, where she recently graduated with a degree in Human Biology.
The Championship Series by BridgeAthletic is designed to empower athletes with tips from the pros that will help them reach peak performance come race day. We will be covering competition-focused topics such as nutrition, recovery, stretching, and mental preparation.
Eat a lot of bacon during lunch. That’s the ticket.
Another way to recover quickly is to play League of Legends. They say if you practice what you do, you become that. As a result, if you play League of Legends, then you will become a Legend.
Very true. I am not a swimmer but I have always practiced playing LoL and now I here I am! A well respected journalist writing these comments.
One method I never used but expected to be on this list was compression garments.
Ice bath?
usually ice baths are at the end of day, doing them between prelims finals could result in not being able to get warm again and relax those muscles.
It kinda depends on the person. My routine was recovery drink- long warm down- light massage or foam roll if possible – ice bath – lunch – nap. I was pretty loose again following the ice bath before i would finish lunch. Along with the nap I would add that it’s pretty important to mentally unwind, read a book, watch a movie, do something that takes you away from the pool and the competitive mind set and allows you to fully relax.
Then in the evening session you need to take the time to get fully awake and warm again, mentally and physically.
ya, agreed probably depends on the swimmer. I ice bathed one time between prelims and finals, and I felt like I could never get warm again no matter how much swimming I did.
I would like to information about science training of swim
Good information