by If you look online most weightlifting programs have a deload week every 4-8 weeks to allow the body to recuperate. However most elite-levels lifters who know their bodies much better, don’t take deload weeks in a strict schedule but instead listen to their bodies and take them when they feel it is necessary.
Let’s see how this idea can be transferred over to swimming.
To avoid overtraining, every coach will usually have 1-2 easier workouts a week to let the swimmers recover. However the coach can’t read your mind.
Imagine a day, where you for some unknown reason, feel terrific. You just woke up on the right-side of the bed and you feel like crushing it at practice today. However you show up on deck and you see that today’s practice that the coach wrote up is an easy recovery practice. What should you do??
I recommend talking to your coach and ask if he/she can write you a harder practice. Maybe you can find a few of your teammates who are motivated and also feel great to join your lane.
There are two benefits from doing this
-instead of wasting a great day, you murder a hard workout
-since you voluntarily did a hard workout, if there is a day in the future where you feel really under the weather for some reason, your coach might be more willing to give you an easier workout.
Conclusion: The next time there’s a recovery workout on a day you don’t feel you need it, SPEAK UP!