Taper Time

In the lead up to your A race(s) there will come a time when it is appropriate and necessary to reduce the training load and prepare for the race.

Fitness takes time to build, and a surprisingly long time to loose, and it therefore becomes a delicate balancing act between wanting more fitness and needing to be fresh for your race. This is one of the reasons that I bang on endlessly during the year about being consistent with you training, so that you build fitness over a long period and are ready to taper having accumulated an appropriate amount of fitness. The people that worry most about the taper period are those that have not been able to put the appropriate work in ahead of it (for whatever reason) and therefore think they should carry on trying to build fitness until the very last minute. This usually results in injury or a poor performance on race day. It’s tough, but you have to trust the process, believe in the work that you have done and the fitness that you have built, and give yourself time to deliver your race

The taper period, therefore provides a number of benefits:

1) It works in a similar way to recovery weeks, in that it allows the body to absorb the previous weeks of training. The weeks prior to taper are usually the most intense / high volume weeks, so it makes sense that the recovery might be a little longer

2) It allows us to recover mentally from what will have been a very intense period of training

3) It gives us time back to allow us to focus on a number of other things:

a. Sleep…. The most important thing in taper time

b. Race preparation – bike faffing, kit sorting, travel to race venues, pace, power and nutrition planning

c. Body maintenance – massage, yoga etc

d. Giving some time back to those around us, for the pressure we have put them through in the build up

What the taper period is not for:

1) Catching up on DIY projects

2) Moving house

3) Going on holiday

4) Partying

5) Extra hours at work

6) Buying new (and usually unnecessary) new items of kit that you will not have time to try before race day

Nutrition & Hydration in taper periods:

It’s important to remember that you have spent weeks fuelling heavily in training and to support training. As that training volume drops, so should your total calorie intake. There will be very few training sessions that will require fuelling as you have been doing previously, and you won’t be able to “burn off” the treats in the same way. So sharpen up the intake, focus on total calories in verses out and keep them balanced – we want to get to the end of taper at race weight but not starved in any way - balance is the key here

Try to avoid things that dehydrate you – caffeine / alcohol / lying in the sun for hours / saunas, and for whatever you are doing, have a water bottle with electrolytes in with you all day, every day

The length of taper periods:

This is a very individual thing, it depends on your race length, the number of months / years you have been training, how you respond as an individual to rest, but as a rule of thumb, 5-7 days for a 70.3 and 10-14 days for a 140.6.

What training to expect in taper weeks:

As mentioned, this is a delicate balance and will depend on your individual feedback as we get close, but again as a rule of thumb:

1) You will do something most days

2) The sessions in general will be short and sharp, not long and easy

3) All 3 sports will be there, but no strength work

4) The total volume will be in the region of 40-70% of a normal week – depending on the length of taper and your personal feedback

It will all feel very straightforward and relaxed after the previous weeks!

The Lead up to race day:

Depending on your travel plans, this can be quite a stressful time. You will have to fit in:

1) Your last few bits of pre-race training & preparation

2) Travel to your race location and set up / familiarisation when you get there

3) You may be required to attend a race briefing – if not you will need to read the race pack 2 or 3 times

4) You will need to register and collect your race day stuff

5) You will need to prepare your equipment – labelling stuff up, packing it into transition bags (top tip – lay everything out and take a photo of what is going into each bag – that will stop you overthinking it the night before the race)

6) You will need to rack your bike and bags

7) You will need to eat

Don’t under-estimate the amount of time this will all take in the 1-2 days before the race - arrange your life so this is enjoyable – you may well meet people along the way that want to chat….it all takes time! It is important to keep your step count down on the 2 days prior to the race…..I managed to clock up 19,000 steps the day before Ironbourne 140.6 last year – just doing the things above – not ideal!!

Nutrition / Hydration / Sleep in the last couple of days

This is not the time to make major changes, but consider the following:

1) You may not sleep that well before race day, and either way you will be up at 03:30….so front end your sleep, and if you can, nap during the day. Don’t, however, lie in bed till 10:00 every day, gradually try to get your body used to getting up early if it isn’t already….and if it is used to it, go to bed earlier to get extra sleep. 03:30 will be grim, but its less grim if 06:00 is your normal alarm time rather than 10:00 (shift workers – sorry, don’t know how you do it!!)

2) To help with sleep, reduce / eliminate caffeine from your diet. This will have the added effect of it hitting you harder if you take caffeinated gels on race day

3) Take out fibre from your diet – fruits / veggies / salad etc – all the things we are told to eat loads of most of the year, this will help reduce / eliminate potential for GI issues

4) The foods you do eat should be carb dense, simple to absorb, and better in regular, smaller portions. Don’t leave it all until Friday night and try to get a kilo of pasta in!!

5) Hydration – again, all of the time – water bottle with you all day and night

6) Race day breakfast should be something that you have practiced in your various race simulation days – carb based, low GI to last a good while