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Tapering...think I did it wrong? |
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dl_buffy 
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 Topic: Tapering...think I did it wrong?Posted: 6/01/12 at 12:52pm |
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I have had a general understanding of tapering for a while now. Def - Taper = kinda do less than you were to save energy.
 Well going into Masters I really wanted to make sure I had all the energy I could and I planned out a (kinda) taper but my results show that I must have done it wrong. Eight of the nine events were all average throws for me. The problem is that my practices for the weeks leading up ALL had practice PR's and I was stoked to set some new ones if I rested right.
(I keep practice PR's because my home made equip is nothing like throwing equip so numbers different...example: LH Practice = 103, Games = 110.)
Sarting at 6 weeks out...my training for month or so leading up was Matt's speed lifting block. Deload was set for week 5 before games. I threw twice a week for all the weeks (1-5) leading up and did one extra night of footwork drills on weeks 3,4,5. I started intense foam rollering on week 5 and kept that up on week 6. Week 6 had no lifting, a light footwork drills on Tues. Stretching and foam rollering was most of week 6.
Then on week 6 I flew to the games on Thurs in order to not be traveling on Friday.
Sat I felt flat. My form was good and I was happy that what I had been training stuck around. My weight for distances turns were pretty good, my stone glide was close, my hammers were right, etc. But I had NO umph. None. It wasn't until WOB that I managed to find some extra and tweak my form. So while I had a good games result, I am unhappy that my expectations of the throws weren't met and I felt off.
What did I do wrong? How should a real taper work? I am resetting my training to aim at Duncan's games in Oct. That should give me time for inseason strength, strength speed, and speed. I would really like to get the taper better and then have it right for next year's Masters.
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I have very few social interaction skills, so I just throw stuff instead. |
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Sean
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9th Best in the World - 2010 Joined: 12/05/06 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 3759 |
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Posted: 6/01/12 at 1:34pm |
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Look at it this way: What were you doing when you were setting practice PRs? Are you not lifting? Of course not.
People overthink the taper process too much. If you train 3x/day and are gearing up for the olympics, you might need a 6 week taper.
If you've got a major comp, you might want to have the last big throws session a week out, do some light lifting on Monday and maybe some drills or something on Tuesday.
If you're competing in a regular games on the weekend, you might want to skip your Thursday and Friday training. Might. If you're feeling a little worked over.
The other thing to consider is your mindset walking into the games vs practice. In practice, most of us try to throw BETTER. In comp, many try to throw HARDER.
Always try to throw BETTER. It will then go FURTHER.
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KiltBill
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Posted: 6/01/12 at 4:44pm |
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Do not underestimate the heat and the humidity, it sapped everyone.
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Remember Kay Cummings, Father of the Highland Games in the Southeast and my friend. Lets Go Run With The Big Dogs!
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M-BAAB
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Posted: 6/01/12 at 4:50pm |
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Buffy - go check out my training log for the taper that Don Stewart gave me that he has beaten me w for years.
It was waaay less than I usually do and I got to MWC ready to eat cabers and had a good day.
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51 , 72 and 15 at 50
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Alan H
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Posted: 6/01/12 at 6:17pm |
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I had a killer fast lifting session about 10 days before the MWC, then backed off... couple of easier throwing sessions, one hard one with Rusty Price a week out, and then didn't do a damn thing for 5 days beforehand. I ate right and got tons of sleep all week. I also flew on Thursday so that I'd have a day to recover.
Big clue for me....we hit the HWFD at about 5:00. I had nothing. Zip. Nada. Then about 5:40 we got to the 28'er. By this point I was lying on the high jump pit between throws with my eyes closed wondering what the HELL I had been thinking. My second throw was spot-on, though. It felt great, everything clicked. I was SURE it was respectable at 48 feet at least, and probably knocking on the door of 50. Imagine my surprise when the tape said 43. The exact same thing happened on Sunday. I clocked one....and the tape said 44. I know the weights/chain feel different from what I'm used to , but come ON. I think that by the late afternoon, there just wasn't much of anything left in the tank. I pisses me off, honestly. I throw for many hours at a time specifically to develop the grit to still throw hard even when I'm tired. That sure didn't work out on Saturday. |
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dl_buffy
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Posted: 6/04/12 at 8:14am |
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Hey Mike, found it, will have to plan it that way next time and see what happens. Alan, totally get what you are saying. My form never seemed horrible...well until caber but that was different story.
Live and learn and come back again...right? :^)
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I have very few social interaction skills, so I just throw stuff instead. |
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Pingleton
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Posted: 6/04/12 at 8:40am |
Don is smart and experienced and this is no doubt a great template to test out and with which to experiment. However, the problem with how effective ANY tapering plan is going to be is that what is "best" depends on how much and how hard you have been training for the previous few weeks and how tired you are at the start of the taper, both physically and from a CNS perspective. If you really have not been training all that much or extremely hard over the preceding weeks, you might find that just 2-3 days of extra days of rest is all you really need to be fresh and explosive on Game day. What a lot of people forget is that you can get TOO much rest and be stale, which is almost as bad as being a touch tired. Of course, if you have been putting in a lot of time training and really pushing the intensity for a while, you might need a gradual taper over 2-3 weeks to maximize your performance. The bottom line is that tapering is complicated and depends significantly on the demands of your training program. The general recommendation is to significantly reduce volume but keep the intensity fairly high, especially for the throws and quick lifts. Heavy deadlifts and max effort back squats should generally be avoided for at least three weeks prior to a major comp. YMMV. |
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We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing. - George Bernard Shaw |
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stormer
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Posted: 6/04/12 at 1:02pm |
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Guys,
Just a quick note ,if your training and not being strict with your measuring from behind a trig, then that might be where your losing some distances?!
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dl_buffy
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Posted: 6/12/12 at 8:33am |
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Wanted to follow up on this thread after I saw it mentioned in Dunc's log.
Last Sunday I threw in KC. This time I deliberately didn't do any taper, in fact I was just starting out a heavy strength cycle from Matt's book. The overall picture is I want to run through all three stages to aim at some later in the year games. Also, I wanted to test no taper in KC since that seems to be the baseline...right?
(Basically Sean says this above, and has repeated it other places, but it was a point that stuck with me...Look at it this way: What were you doing when you were setting practice PRs? Are you not lifting? Of course not. )
Tues - Deads, OHP, plyo pushups
Thurs Morn - Squats, DB Bench, Snatch
Thurs After - Throws, about four/five events (forget now)
Fri/Sat - Mobility stretching and some roller (no other rehab)
Sun - Throw.
This was an intense week for me and Friday morning I felt like my hip sockets were just going to pop because of the intense beating all the stabilizer muscles took. I have seriously never thrown that wore out and dang did all the little muscles have to take up the slack of the tired big ones.
Sunday I was finally over the DOMS and my throws were not horrible. In fact it was only my form in certain places that kept my distances down not my energy so much.
So...for me...it seems no taper leaves me...average. So I'll try that again on the backyard games and see. Then I'll modify to maybe take out Thurs to see if I can get that 'more' energy place between 'average' and 'flat'.
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I have very few social interaction skills, so I just throw stuff instead. |
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dl_buffy
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Posted: 6/12/12 at 8:37am |
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Stolen out of Duncan's thread to put the info in here....
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I have very few social interaction skills, so I just throw stuff instead. |
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dl_buffy
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Posted: 6/12/12 at 8:38am |
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Also stolen from Duncan's log, Dickens' tapering...
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I have very few social interaction skills, so I just throw stuff instead. |
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dl_buffy
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Posted: 6/12/12 at 8:39am |
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Don Stewart's post in Baab's log, stolen and plagerized...
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I have very few social interaction skills, so I just throw stuff instead. |
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mthompson33
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Posted: 6/12/12 at 10:23am |
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Definitely do SOME lifting the week leading up to a game (If you have been lifting in the weeks leading up to that). My best results so far came at Iron thistle this spring, I was on week 4 of the "Peak Season" lifts, but only doing Bench, Front Squat, Deads (Light & fast), and high pulls. 2 days of lifting and a couple days of throwing. I think Arlington would have been good if it hadn't been my 3rd straight weekend.
KC was an experiment in doing basically nothing leading up to the games. Meh... But my Hammer felt the best it has to date. The soreness afterward has been incredible though...
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Matt Thompson
"If you wake up and you're not in pain, you know you're dead." -- Russian Proverb |
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