General Discussion Triathlon Talk » I hate the taper! Rss Feed  
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2014-08-29 7:08 PM


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Subject: I hate the taper!
I haven't ran or rode my bike in several days. This bites. I race tomorrow though. How much time should I lay low before a race??? I was thinking 4 to 5 days. If I race in 5 to 10 events a season, that'll be a lot of "can't ride my bike' time. I'm new to this so any help is appreciated.
Thanks!


2014-08-29 8:00 PM
in reply to: #5045078


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Subject: RE: I hate the taper!
It depends on your definition of "lay low" if I race on Saturday the latest I will do any sort of hard-ish workout is Tuesday. I like to take Thursday and Friday off completely before a Saturday race but I have read it's good the day before a race to do a workout for 15-20minutes and get a good sweat going. I just feel like the week of a race I'm not going to make significant performance gains and my body needs to rest more than anything
2014-08-30 7:11 AM
in reply to: respro


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Subject: RE: I hate the taper!

What you can do is divide your season up and categorize your races based on "importance."

You might have 2 or 3 races that you consider the most important. These are your "A" races. You can but your next batch of races in category "B," and the least important in category "C."

Generally you will be training the hardest prior to your "A" races, and for those its best to have an actual taper. For the "B" races, you may want to "train through," but perhaps build in a recovery week into your training plan as a "pseudo-taper," and not schedule your most difficult workouts just prior to the race. For the "C" races, you can just consider them as hard workouts.

And tapers themselves are a bit tricky. It depends on the volume of your training and distance of the event, but also depends on the individual to some extent. Tapers are also not about "laying low." Tapers are a scheduled reduction in volume over a period of time, not just stopping training a few days before a race.
2014-08-30 12:13 PM
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Subject: RE: I hate the taper!

Doing nothing several days before a race can lead to feeling kind of stale on race day, at least for me.  I've tried a lot of things and seem to do best if I do some very short workouts towards the end of the week.  I think everyone is different as to what works best.  Keep track of your taper weeks so you can look back at what worked and what didn't.  



Edited by popsracer 2014-08-30 12:14 PM
2014-08-31 11:10 AM
in reply to: respro

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Subject: RE: I hate the taper!

Originally posted by respro I haven't ran or rode my bike in several days. This bites. I race tomorrow though. How much time should I lay low before a race??? I was thinking 4 to 5 days. If I race in 5 to 10 events a season, that'll be a lot of "can't ride my bike' time. I'm new to this so any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Why aren't you biking or running??

For most people, the optimum taper involves continuing to train near planned race intensities, with just as much frequency as the weeks leading up to taper, but sessions that are shorter in length.

IME, when done well, most people love tapering, because they finally get some rest, and arrive at race day feeling like a super hero.

 

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