Taper Anxiety!

Let the madness begin.  Nothing like a taper to start playign tricks with your mind.  After doing tapers for a number of marathons, I still get those same feelings: am I losing fitness, what's that twinge, am I getting an injury, is that a sniffle I feel coming on, etc.  You definitely lose your fitness.  The taper allows your body to rest and store up extra energy.  The best tip I got for taper was to decrease the duration, but keep the intensity.  So shorter, similarly hard workouts.  I wouldn't change your nutrition at all, except in the last few days before the event.  The last few days, up your carbs, make sure you stay hydrated, and if you are expecting a warm race, you might want to increase your salt intake.  You may find in the last few days that you put on a few pounds, but that's only because your increasing your stores of glycogen which will also retain water.  But don't worry about it, you'll need it for race day.

Last words of advice...Trust Your Training.

Chris

From a fellow taper-phobic person, I'll share a combination of some advice I've been given and some experiences I've had.

1)  You have done your training.  It's 1-2 weeks before your race.  There is nothing you can do now to make yourself stronger or faster for this race.  All you can do is make sure that you're rested and ready to go.  Working out more now will only risk your being fatigued on race day.

2)  I always feel bloated and restless during my taper.  Short workouts make that feeling go away temporarily.  I've come to accept this feeling as my body being well rested, stored up with energy and ready to race!  The feeling always goes away as soon as the race starts.

3)  I load carbs and hydration for a few days before the race, the bloated feeling gets worse.

4)  Remember, your training is like money in the bank.  Have conficence in it; it will be there when you need it.  Spend it all on race day.  Have fun