The Razor's Edge

Suddenly the high school team I coach and I find ourselves in the final week of practice for the regular season. Our last dual meet is this Friday, with the district, regional and state championship meets following over the next several weeks. But for a number of our swimmers, this is it.

And as such, our head coach is encouraging our male athletes to shave. Yes, to shave. Now, the word "shaving" in swimming actually has a double meaning, but both are in the context of preparing for a big meet. 

In one sense, shaving refers to reducing the number of yards per practice. This is generally done somewhat gradually, and in a specifically timed manner. Throughout the season, swimmers are pounded with yardage in an effort to both continually break down and strengthen muscles, as well as develop a hearty aerobic base. Between hefty practices, their bodies have little time to rest, so many experience soreness, fatigue, even malaise, etc.

But with an important meet nearing, coaches will shave, or "taper" practices shorter and shorter to give swimmers and their fatigued bodies an opportunity to rest and more fully recover. And in essence, because their bodies are in the routine of turning over such great amounts of energy and effort to keep up with the grueling practice regimen, suddenly when less work is required, swimmers experience an overabundance of energy that is then expected to be used to go faster than ever before in the important meet.

There's also a fair amount of excitement over having a two-hour practice instead of two-and-a-half; then one-and-a-half hours, then one. It's mental shaving as well, I suppose.

But there's also literal shaving. As in shaving cream, razors and boys. High school boys will typically get together and shave at least their legs, to complement the shaved practice yards. Sometimes boys will get carried away and do their arms, chests, heads, feet, backs, etc as well. Boys do get carried away at times.

On a basic level, one could make the argument that shaving one's appendages decreases drag (on some more than others) by removing excess hair from the skin. And it's true, the drag coefficient probably does decrease somewhat. But honestly, I think the number is nominal. It's not a big difference. What IS a big difference is the feeling: the tingling, the intangible-tangible sensation of shaved skin against the suddenly much cooler air and water, the tiny cuts made in the skin by the razor exciting surface-level nerves that have been disrupted for perhaps the first time ever.

I say tangible because you can feel the difference between hair and no hair. That's simple - it's there, then it's gone. But "intangible" because you can't quantify how much of a difference it will make in terms of time in the race. Having a shaved body, plus shaved yardage, could drop you half a second in one race. Or it could spark a spectacular meet, a series of sensational swims with huge chunks of time just melting off personal bests like meat off a perfectly slow-roasted pork rib. You don't know. And that's exciting.

So this week at practice will be something of a transition. District's isn't until next week, so we won't get into full-blown shaving or tapering, put sets will become more race- rather than yardage-oriented. And there will be more reminders to stock up on razors and shaving cream. Fun.