After twenty years of fencing I definitely know how to prepare for a competition, but....
I have to admit that the concept of tapering or "reduced training during the time frame directly preceding an athletic event" has always alluded me. I am not sure if I know how to reduce the amount of workload-I love to train and workout.
Many studies have been done on how much time an athlete should spend working out and physically preparing for a competition. Most of the studies that are done are sports specific or more specific to endurance competitions.
Take for example a marathon runner-since the Boston marathon was just completed. (By the way, what's with the female astronaut running for four hours along with the marathon? Let's talk about overachieving.) A lot about the marathon isn't a mystery-you know exactly how much time it takes to win, you know the track, you know what you feel like when you run long distances, you know how fast and how far you need to run each day leading up to the competition. I bet other long endurance races are similar in that there aren't a ton of mysteries about the race and therefore you can plan your training regimen right up until race day.
However, for sports like fencing where there are a lot of unpredictable factors during competition. The known entities for the fencer are the start time and the weapon they fence, but beyond that there aren't too many certainties about length of competition, who you are going to compete against, and what type of conditions exist at the fencing venue. The most important factor that takes a lot of time and experience for a fencer to figure out is how much should I, personally, train up until the tournament? The Japanese team does footwork in the hallways of the hotel before a world cup and one of my teammates does next to nothing a week before competition. They both do reasonably similar.
From my own twenty years of experience, the week before a competition isn't crucial for learning new things, let alone doing footwork in the hallway of a hotel. To me these types of things are like cramming for a test, it doesn't do anything but make you more nervous. For me, the week before a competition is crucial for mental preparation-of course you can't stop working out altogether, but your mind is the most important factor. If you don't feel like you have the right state of mind going into the competition it may be hard to pull yourself into a positive "in the zone" state once you are in the competition. (Although I have done that in the past as well.)
Again, it's not always easy to gauge exactly what you need before the competition to create a sense of readiness and sometimes you have to just rely on feeling. When I was younger I used to get so stressed out that I would often break down in tears at practice prior to the competition. Before I won cadet world championships at the age of 14, I spent one night after practice crying and sitting by my locker with my teammate Suzie Paxton. And although I don't remember this, Nat told me that I would often take Pepto Bismol before each competition-I must have blocked out that memory.
First of all I am too old to break down in tears anymore and there are better ways to handle mentally preparing for a competition besides breaking down. After working with a sports psychologist for the past few months and experiencing fencing as a "new me", I have come up with a few ways to put myself in a positive state of mind. It's important for me to feel happy and ready for the upcoming challenge. In other words, the more I look forward to being there, the better prepared I feel. This is not an easy concept for me since I was always filled with such dread before each competition-what if I don't win, what if I don't perform or do the right things, what if, what if.
The thing about veteran athletes is that they don't believe in the what if's and the second guessing. They just believe in themselves and aren't afraid to face competition and any of the uncertainties that come with it. Casey once told me something along the lines of, "At competition all the work is done and all that is left is to let yourself enjoy the experience."
So, here is to enjoying the experience and taking some time to rest/relax and blog.
An aside:
By now I am sure that everyone has been inundated by stories about the senseless acts that happened at Virginia Tech
yesterday morning. I would like to send out my condolences to the students, staff, family, and friends of the students of the University who had to experience this tragedy.
