Embrace your taper

"I don't feel like myself!"

"I feel so off!"
"I feel so lazy"
"Why do I suddenly feel sick/injured?"

For many athletes, the taper period before a race brings a lot of feelings. Some good and some well, not so welcomed.

You'd think that for any athlete who has endured months of hard training, he/she would look forward to a physical decrease in the training load. Yes, that is often looked forward to but it's actually the feelings, that come along with this drop in volume, that leave an athlete feeling uncomfortable in so many ways.

Think about this....
You've reached a point in your season when you put in countless hours of training and you have covered more miles in a week than you feel comfortable driving in a car (who wants to sit in a car for 100+ miles???)  and you have accomplished one too many "impossible to finish" workouts.

Here you are and the only thing between you and putting all that training to good use is ~2 weeks of a drop in training volume to finally let your body recover and heal. 

What's not to love about taper?
Taper means it's almost go time! 

Oh, that's right....
Your "normal" routine changes and that another reason why taper is so terribly uncomfortable. 

It's important to understand that every athlete handles their taper differently - and depending on the athlete, the race distance/goals, previous training and racing intensity, there are many different types of tapers. 

To help embrace and properly execute taper before your next race, here are a few of my taper do's and don'ts.

TAPER DO and DON'TS

Do not rest too much, especially on race week. A drastic drop in mileage and intensity can leave you feeling sluggish, stiff and all-around "off". We prefer to have our athletes "recover" from their last peak week of training for 3-4 days as a "taper" and then sharpen the body for race day with ~1.5 weeks of workouts that help wake-up the body for race day. This helps reduce the chance of the sluggish feeling that many athletes experience by resting too much all the way until race day.

Do lower your training volume relative to your peak training. A proper taper helps you recharge and sharpen but if you are putting out too much volume (especially due to "fear based training" or validation, race-ready efforts) you will go into your race feeling exhausted.

Do not race your workouts. Save your best performance for race day. 

Do not worry about your weight. You are not getting ready for a fitness pageant where you are being judged for what you look like. You are being rewarded by what your body can do and you can do a lot with a well-fueled, nourished, strong and resilient body. 

Do not focus on your body composition during your taper. Do not weigh yourself, talk about race weight, compare yourself to other athletes or bash your body.

Do thank your body for getting you to your start line - regardless of your current level of fitness. Be proud of what you were able to overcome before race day and bring a high level of gratefulness to race day.

Do focus on a healthy, well-balanced diet until the 72 hours until race day. Then reduce the fiber/fat to help optimize digestion while minimizing gut residue.

Do not do fear based workouts or any validation-type efforts to "see" if you are race ready. 

Do trust the work that you did to get to where you are right now. Feeling undertrained is 100% better than being overtrained. Most athletes who feel underprepared are many times, very prepared.

Do not give your best effort in training, when no one is watching. Be willing to go there and dig deep on race day.

Do bottle up your building energy and visualize yourself succeeding on race day. When training volume decreases, increase your mental strength skills.

Do not change your daily routine too much. Aside from getting a bit more restful sleep, try to keep your body on a similar schedule.

Do write out an itinerary for yourself in the 24 hours before your race and then continue your planning through your race day. Write out your plans for travel, eating, fueling and any other details that will make for a smooth race day experience in the 24 hours before and on race day.

Do not change what has worked in training. Trust what has worked and don't try anything new on race day.

Do be open to being flexible on race day. Understand the demands of your race (terrain, weather) and recognize what strategies will help you overcome the obstacles that may come your way. Consider working with a sport dietitian and a mental skills coach/sport psychologist to help navigate through these unknown situations so you have a game plan for the "what ifs". 

Do not go into a race being metric driven. Finishing the swim in x-time, holding x-watts or mph on the bike and then running x-min/mile does not mean you will have the best race possible. The fastest athletes (and those who can put together a successful race) on race day are those who slow down the least and can trouble shoot situations while staying proactive throughout the entire race. 

Do not become a non-athlete during taper. Do not voluntarily become a carpenter and start working a house project that you have been putting off, pick up a ball sport (I can't tell you how many athletes I know who have sprained an ankle by "playing" with friends/kids), make a major life change, put extra work projects on your plate or overwhelm yourself with stressful to do's.

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Your taper is the culmination of many months of training. It is a very critical time in your training plan where you intentionally change up your normal training regime.
The workouts during taper are very important.

Athletes who embrace taper (after months of consistent, smart training) are focused, confident and determined to succeed.

No matter how you feel your training during taper, trust that you will be just fine on race day.
Yes, even if you feel absolutely horrible in the 48 hours before your race, you WILL be able to perform well on race day. 

IM Kona - 12 days out

Always a great feeling when the hard work is done after a hard (4.5 hour) workout.

There are many methods and thoughts regarding how much “rest” is needed by athletes, before going into a major competition. Some athletes will train high volume until 7-10 days from an Ironman whereas other athletes will experience a massive drop in volume 21 days out from an Ironman.

Ultimately, when done correctly (and only a few times per year), tapering sharpens your body and mind so that you are prepared physically and mentally for your upcoming competition.

Tapering is defined as a short-term reduction in a training load before an important athletic event.

When you train consistently, you are placing a lot of intentional stress on your body. You know this feeling well as you are carrying around a lot of residual fatigue, which makes it difficult to feel fresh and energetic for all of your workouts.

However, you need to train through fatigue so that your body can adapt in order to gain the necessary physiological adaptations to help meet the physical demands of your upcoming event.

During your peak training, you never have time to fully recover between your workouts. You are always bringing fatigue to the next workout. 

Even with the occasional rest day and EZ workouts inserted into your training plan, your body is never completely repaired from the previous hard workout(s).

While you can use sleep, mobility, recovery gear, diet and massage to encourage quick recovery, taper finally gives your body the chance to heal from the destructive process that we call training.

Whereas you spend many months making physiological investments to gain fitness, it's only on race day (for your key race) when you finally “cash out” with your accumulated fitness gains.

Tapering also provides a necessary mental relief from the emotional toll that training has on the body. Through taper, you can improve your mental energy to prepare psychologically for your race (insert: train your mind to be willing to suffer on race day).
It is important that you limit the validation of fitness/readiness-type workouts (ex. race simulations, obsessive race pacing with heart rate, speed or power, etc.) during taper as it may physically make it hard for your body to perform well on race day but it is emotionally exhausting to do a "race effort" more than once.
You only need to dig deep and prove you can do it once....on race day.
Don't race your workouts!

Aside from the obvious benefits that you feel when tapering before a major competition, your decrease in training load will boost muscle glycogen levels, increase aerobic enzymes, repair micro-tears in muscle and connective tissue (which can help improve power, speed and endurance), increase blood volume, improve neuromuscular coordination and boost mental focus.

Be mindful that tapering does not result in detraining but improves your ability to race as it helps reduce the accumulated effects of fatigue and muscle/tissue breakdown, induced by heavy training.

Tapering will not set you up for a great race day performance if you do not put in the necessary work to physiologically prepare for your upcoming event.
Following a haphazard training plan or only doing only a handful of workouts in the 8 weeks before an Ironman (because life got into the way or you are overcoming an injury) does not warrant a long extended taper (it can actually do more harm than good).

Because too long and too much of a taper can make you feel out-of-shape and off your normal routine, sharpening with just the right amount of a drop in volume, with adequate intensity and recovery, as you stay committed to your mental strength skills, will help you gain an athletic advantage as you will be training just enough, at the right intensity and volume, in order to perform at the highest level possible on race day.

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Drafting behind Karel on my road bike (double hard work fro me not being aero!) during his ride on Saturday.

Karel's week started out easy with 3 days of frequent, low intensity workouts to help with recovery after the past 3 weeks of intense and long training.
Karel felt "off", which was to be expected, as his body was doing some massive recovering and repairing.

The intensity increased on Thursday with a healthy amount of IM training volume over the weekend.

Here's how the weekend looked just 2 weeks out from IM Kona (Karel's 3rd IM since June).
(Karel is coached by Matt Dixon of Purple Patch Fitness)

Saturday: 
4 hour ride + 30 min run
Bike:
Main set:
60 min, 45 minutes, 30 minute at IM effort w/ 15 min Z1/2 effort in between each IM effort.

Run off the bike:
10 min below, 10 min at, 10 min above IM effort

Sunday: 
80 minute run
Main set:
2 x 20 min Z3+ w/ 10 min Z2 in between

A well-executed Ironman taper - 3 tips

Taper is an interesting time for an Ironman athlete.

And for most "easy" and "taper" are never spoken in the same sentence.

Physically, taper is a needed time for endurance athletes to ensure that the body is rested and well-fueled for the upcoming long haul. A drastic drop in training allows the body to recover from all the previous stress. Nearing race day, intensity can be added to "wake up" the body while volume is still kept low. This allows an athlete to feel sharp, fresh and hungry for race day. 

Of course, the style of tapering may differ between athletes, depending on fitness ability, race priority and prior taper experience. 

Emotionally and mentally, taper can be rather difficult. On one end, you can't wait for the first day of taper when you have a sigh of relief that the end of "training" is near but on the other end, a change in schedule, appetite, structure, etc. can makes you feel a bit "off."

Regardless of the taper, you have to learn how to embrace your taper for without it you may arrive to race day sore, exhausted, mentally checked-out and unable to perform. But taper too much, and you feel flat, exhausted and unable to perform.  

As you can see, tapering is an important time and every athlete needs to learn how to properly execute tapering before an endurance event.  

Many athletes go into taper seeing it as a horrible time. Appetite issues, sleep issues, random aches, fatigue, mood changes, uncontrollable nerves, extra time (not sure how this is a bad thing for an age group athlete). These are a few of the many complaints that athletes describe when it comes to tapering. 

Although some of these may occur, I do believe that athletes need to learn how to have a healthier relationship with taper in order to enjoy the time before race day for it is necessary and beneficial. 

A well-executed taper tips

Enjoy your new normal

There is absolutely no reason to be inactive during taper and if anything, you do not want your body to get lazy. However, do not use your free time to pick up a new sport like soccer, basketball, rock climbing or water skiing.  It is important to give your body a few days of a very light load of workouts (or a few off days from working out - not necessarily in a row) after your last big block of training. However, once you feel like the body is rested and refueled from those workouts (at least 3-4 days), then you want to continue to exercise in order to keep your body fresh. On race week, your body may crave or reject the desire for intense intervals for the first two or three workouts that you doing or perhaps in just the first few minutes of a main set but the added intensity is needed. You gotta wake that body up so that it knows a race is coming.

(If you feel you are burntout or overtrained, this needs to be discussed with your coach for this is very serious to your health and can affect race day execution).

Be smart with your new normal

You should avoid any type of "testing" workouts, especially if you are injured. If your body is injured but you just want to test it, you need to give yourself at least 48 hours after the moment/day you feel "healed" to ensure you do not backtrack. Consider that 1 day too soon testing your body after an injury can put your back 3 days or a week or more. It is absolutely not worth testing your body with fear-based training, just to see if you can do "it." Save your best performance for race day. 

You should never compromise sleep during your taper. Whereas long workouts are often done early morning on the weekends to avoid hot temps later in the day (and perhaps to accommodate family schedules) this is understood. But the shorter volume workouts during taper should allow you to not be so rushed in the early morning. Athletes who continue to wake up at 4:30-5:30am on the first weekend of taper (assuming this follows 4-6 days of waking up at 4:30-5:30am to work out before work) is not an ideal way to take full advantage of taper. Unless you are getting at least 7-8 hours of restful sleep at night, allow your body to sleep without waking up to an alarm. Sleep will not only help repair and rejuvinate your body but it will help with appetite as well and reset hormone levels. 

You are not lazy. It is important that you do not see taper as a negative experience for your body in that you are losing fitness, gaining weight or being too sedentary. Hopefully, you are not sedentary and are still maintaining a swim-bike-run lifestyle BUT with a reduction in volume and intensity.  Accept that you needed to put in the work to train your body but now you need to rest it through a lighter load. When your "workout" is over, find ways in your life that you can keep your body and mind healthy and happy. Explore new places, spend time in the kitchen, catch up with chores/to-do's, volunteer, go for long walks, etc. there is so much you can do with your extra time that no athlete should ever feel bored, antsy or upset with having extra "free" time. Just be sure you are not compromising your health by putting yourself into situations that could risk injury or sickness.

Maintain a healthy relationship with your body

I believe that athletes need to prioritize this tip for it is extremely important in feeling confident with your body before race day. In the 2-3 weeks before a race, this is not the time to make "race weight". Your body may feel different and it may feel tired. Coupled with a drop in volume and a change in routine, this can cause an athlete who feels insecure with body image to feel uncomfortable in their own skin. We must change this thought process immediately. Many times when athletes feel vulnerable, they want to immediately fix a situation. What ends up happening is the need to do something extreme/drastic with the diet/exercise routine during taper like underfueling, intentional dehydrating (or fasting/detoxing) or overexercising. All of this is not advantageous to a great race day experience.

If you struggle in this area, you must focus on what your body is capable of doing on race day. When was the last time you thanked your body for allowing you to train for your Ironman distance triathlon? Direct your energy to how amazing your body is and where it was (fitness-wise) when you started training for this upcoming event and where it is today. What are you able to do now that you once couldn't? What is your body capable of on race day? What is it that you want from your body on race day?

Keep in mind that you are not racing for the ideal body image on race day. Your fans, fellow athletes, teammates and spectators are watching what your body can do on race day and not what your body looks like.

In addition to these 3 tips, a change eating is often necessary to accommodate the change in training volume. I will cover this in another blog as well as some ways to reduce cravings and to minimize hunger during taper. 

Have a happy and healthy taper!

Ironman fueling - happy tummy Trimrni creations

We are off to Madison, Wisconsin tomorrow!! 

The weather is looking GREAT for race day and our bodies are feeling healthy thanks to a lot of great, delicious, real food!

I thought I'd share a few yummy creations that we have enjoyed over the past 2 weeks. 

Don't forget to yum!

Chia crepes and egg and kale omelet

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup skim milk
2 tbsp chia seeds
1/8 tsp salt

Dash of cinnamon
3/4 - 1 cup water

1 egg

Olive oil

1. Mix ingredients in bowl for crepes until thin consistency. 

2. In a medium skillet on low heat, drizzle olive oil to lightly coat bottom of the pan. 

3. Pour crepes (around 1/3 cup) in middle of skillet and spread to make a large, thin pancake with back of spoon (you need to do this quickly and your pan can not be hot, it needs to be on the low setting. You may also use this batter for pancakes). 

4. Cook for 1-2 minutes until firm on edges, then flip and cook for 1 minute. 

Omelet
1 egg white + 1 whole egg
Kale
Cheese (Cabot Sharp cheddar)

1. Add eggs (scrambled) to small skillet and then add chopped kale.
2. Flip omelet to cook the other side. 

3. Remove from skillet and fold. Top with cheese. 

Berry Yummy snack!

Snacks on the go!
Peanuts, strawberries, banana

Tomato soup with basil, mushrooms and rice

Combine cooked rice/whole grains, sliced mushrooms, corn and garlic with 1 can tomato soup + 1/2 cup water in large pot. 

Cook for 15-20 minutes and top with basil. 

Mushroom and corn tomato soup

1 box low sodium tomato soup (I use Trader Joes brand)
1 package mushrooms

1 cup corn
Garlic, basil, pepper

Mashed cauliflower and egg veggie hash

Mash 1 head steamed cauliflower and combine with 1 cooked potato (with skin). Season with parsley, a little salt/pepper

Stir fry: eggs, veggies to your liking. Saute veggies with a little olive oil and then scramble eggs with veggies. 

Mellow Mushroom - create your own salad

Out to eat in Jax with friends (Karel did RETUL fits at Open Road Bicycles last Mon - Wed)

Bed of greens
Tempeh
Artichoke
Sundried tomatoes
Cheese
Dressing on the side

Cauliflower "rice" 

Marinated Tofu Steaks

Raspberry pistachio salad

Raspberries

Cabbot sharp cheddar

Pistachios
Shredded carrots
Green pepper

Mix greens

Kale and tempeh stir fry

Cabbot cheese

Sauteed kale, mushrooms and tempeh (in olive oil)

Rainbow salad

Mixed greens

Tomatoes
Apples
Kiwi
Dried blueberries and cranberries
Broccoli
Carrots

Tofu salad

1 package tofu (grilled on skillet)
Sliced celery, tomatoes, leeks
Parsley
Salt/pepper to taste

A few spoonfuls Greek yogurt (Fage 0% plain) to taste
1-2 tbsp mayo
1 tbsp spicy mustard

Tuna salad

2 cans tuna (packed in water) - drained
Sliced celery, tomatoes, leeks
Parsley
Salt/pepper to taste

A few spoonfuls Greek yogurt (Fage 0% plain) to taste
1-2 tbsp mayo
1 tbsp spicy mustard