The issue is that MA’s training approach doesn’t really lend itself to tapering.//
Well tapering is not all physical, the mental aspect of it can be huge in some guys. At any rate, perhaps this is the future of swimming, being able to swim much closer to your potential 10 times a year, instead of just maybe two. If you are a professional making a living swimming every month, this might be the best method… And his time in what amounted to a TT over a body length off the front, would have been fighting for the gold medal without the two best of all time. And he was obviously gassed and stretched after the race(as he should have been) but it just feels like he could get better at distance swimming. So all of that equals a guy with a great shot at olympic medals, today at least…
And about the USRPT and tapering, what if you wouldn’t have gone any faster in a traditional buildup and taper at the end anyway, wouldn’t you rather have swam fast all year too?? We really dont know their is a penalty for this program in the big meets, so to me, if there really is no penalty, I would absolutely rather swim fast all year…
Maybe, but even if tapering is mental then you need to have something to taper from. Like he said n his interview, right now he’s swimming 25’s and surfing.
Personally, I would hate USRPT. I’m at the point where I would rather enjoy training, I only swim a couple of meets per year so most of my time is spent training. I get my kicks out of inventlng new workouts, to be doing the same set if 25’s or 50’s every time would kill my motivation. I rarely repeat the same practice twice.