Summer 2024: Week 7 Conditioning & Technical Focus

Week 7: July 15 – July 19

Technical Focus: Body Position, Speed, Breakouts, Starts & Turns

Conditioning Focus: Drop Taper

Hello Swim Families!

There are only two meets left on our calendar for this season! The Missouri Valley Districts Championships will take place this week, Friday through Sunday, in Wichita. Next weekend, we will finish our season at the Missouri Valley Championships, aka Champs, in Topeka.

To prepare for Districts this weekend, we will decrease our training volume and increase our speed work. We call this “drop taper” as it represents a short and sharp dip in volume and a suspension of dryland training to rest swimmers—those going to Districts only, that is—for fast swimming at a championship meet. That said, many Districts swimmers, especially those ages 14 & Under, don’t necessarily require taper; however, an emphasis on race-specific training and speed in the days leading up to their end-of-season competition has a proven record of producing best times.

Those with Champs cuts, however, will only decrease their training volume slightly, and will also focus on speed and race-specific preparation, including broken swims.

For our technical focuses, we will place a heavy emphasis on starts and turns and breakouts, as well as the ever-important body position.

Congratulations to all the swimmers who have qualified for Districts and thank you to their parents, families, and other supporters for helping them reach this point!

See you at the pool!

-Coach Reid