Race Meet Preparation

• Gradually reduce your intake during the tapering phase as training will be less intensive and you won’t burn off excess carbs.
• Wholemeal pasta and brown rice are far better than standard pasta and white rice. Avoid copious amounts of mayo or sauces that make you feel sick. Oats and wholegrain are also very good sources of carbs.
• Skinless chicken breasts and fish together with fresh vegetables are ideal for a main meal.
• Consume moderate quantities, not huge portions, of carbs for several days prior to the meet, little and often, do NOT overload yourself the night before the meet.
• Do NOT skip breakfast, get up in plenty of time, eat slowly, little and often, cereals, smoothies, bananas, milk or fruit juice.
• Bring at least 1 banana to consume 1 hour before the start of each session and snacks such as cereal bars, dry fruit, seeds.
• Do NOT eat jelly or high sugar content snacks as these can cause your energy levels to spike and crash.
• Bring PLENTY of water, do NOT overload on energy drinks like Lucozade Sport.

Kit

• Ensure you have a spare costume and spare goggles.
• Ensure sure your goggles fit properly during warm up.
• Ensure you have a club hat to wear.
• Ensure you have the appropriate club kit to wear poolside.

Race Meet Warm up Routine

Please ensure you perform this warm up routine without prompting from your coach.

Part of the learning process is to take responsibility for your own preparation before and during a meet.

Warm up is your responsibility not your coaches, if you have prepared correctly during the training cycle there should be no need to "practice" or "tweak" anything on race day during warm up.

Land warm up

• Head & Neck Flexibility – 3 minutes
• Arm Flexibility – 3 minutes
• Trunk Flexibility – 2 minutes
• Leg Flexibility – 3 minutes
• Very light jog on spot – 1 minute
• Very small / light jump on spot - 1 minute
• Skipping or simulate skipping – 3 minutes
• Total 15 minutes

Swim warm up

• 200 FC
• 50 FC Kick – no boards
• 4 x 100 FC Build 50 Easy, 50 Fast (85%) – 5 rest
• 50 BC Kick (can be replaced with BRS if swimming it that session)
• 100 BC EASY
• 3 starts, 15M MAX swim, 10M easy
• Total 15-20 minutes / 875 metres

Finally

No pull out's from any event without prior coach consent unless you are injured or ill, in which case you will not be able to swim any more events at the meet. If you have entered you swim unless otherwise agreed with your coach.