Effective taper tips (and what not to do)

We all have our own ways of tapering so it would be a mistake to say that there is one "right"  way to taper for an upcoming event. As we develop our fitness and skills, our ideal taper methods may change. However, it's a common mistake to assume that tapering = resting.  Tapering is defined as a short-term reduction in a training load before an important athletic event.  While you may not be accumulating as many weekly training hours during your taper, a short-term reduction in load can occur in many ways. As an example, your typical long ride of 2-2.5 hours can still be done 6-8 days before your upcoming event so load as you reduce the overall "stress" of the workout. By fueling smart, allowing ample recover between any intense intervals and not chasing any paces/watts, you can still ride "long" and feel rested without a massive drop in training volume. Certainly, your taper is dependent on the training that you did and didn't do in the months leading up to your upcoming event. When you train consistently for months/weeks at a time, you place a lot of intentional stress on your body. You may know this feeling well because as your training ramps up, it becomes more difficult to feel fresh, light and energetic for all of your workouts. You never have time to fully recover between workouts and even with the occasional rest day, bridge session and easy 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 stimulate recovery, taper finally gives your body the chance to recover from the destructive training process. Because you need your healthy body to train through fatigue in a smart training plan, this allows you to adapt in order to gain the necessary physiological adaptations to help meet the physical demands of your upcoming event. Come taper, you can finally maximize those adaptations and "cash out" on all of your training investments. Tapering also provides a necessary mental relief from the emotional toll that training has on the body. Because racing is mentally exhausting, it's important to give time to yourself on race week to improve your mental energy to feel psychologically and emotionally ready for your race. There are many methods and thoughts regarding how much “rest” is needed by triathletes before a race. Is it one week, a few days, two weeks or three weeks? Ultimately, when done correctly, tapering sharpens your body and mind so that you arrive to your race prepared physically and mentally, to perform at your best. Understanding that tapering does not result in detraining, a reduced training volume allows the body to recover from the accumulated effects of fatigue and muscle/tissue breakdown, induced by heavy training. Make note that an effective taper comes after consistent training. Tapering will not set you up for a great race day performance if you do not put in the necessary work to physically prepare for your upcoming event. What can you expect during taper?  Because too long and too much of a taper can make you feel tired and off your normal routine, your taper should sharpen your body, mind and skills for race day. During your final 1-2 weeks of training, you should include a nice mix of intensity, recovery, a sight drop in overall volume and a lot of frequent workouts to keep you fresh for race day. You must trust this process as it’s not about resting but priming your systems to help you gain an athletic advantage to perform at your best on race day. Avoid the taper funk  Taper can be a long-awaited yet uncomfortable time for triathletes. During the first 3-7 days of taper, athletes will often complain of feeling overly sleepy, walking around with heavy legs, noticing a drastic change in appetite, noticing new niggles, aches and other phantom pains, feeling run-down or sick and moody, losing motivation to train, lacking energy during workouts, not feeling fresh or sharp and feeling worrisome that fitness is lost. However, every athlete responds differently during taper. When you are so comfortable to doing things a certain way for many months, and then you suddenly change that routine, your mind and body can become very confused. You may become oversensitive to any body issue/niggle and start to freak out. When you have been training through fatigue for many months and then you progressively let your body recover and heal, the repairing process can make you feel weird, tired and even out of shape! Do’s and Do not’s during taper Do not freak out if you are feeling off. The only day that matters is race day and on race day your body will know exactly what it needs to do.   Do not train with fear or try to prove your fitness during taper (ex. fear you won’t be ready unless you do x-miles/distance workout). You cannot gain any fitness during taper or make-up for missed/bad workouts but you can lose your readiness to perform by doing too much volume/intensity during taper.   Do not get off your normal routine. While you should try to go to bed earlier and sleep in on the weekends, try to keep yourself on a similar routine as to when you normally workout.   Do not be scared of intensity during taper, just be sure to follow the recommended recovery between sets/intervals and don’t go harder/longer than advised. Do not do nothing on race week. It is very easy for athletes to assume that they can skip or reduce the volume of workouts on race week because they are tapering, traveling or because life is keeping you extra busy  You must follow your taper plan which includes frequent, low volume workouts. If you skip workouts and rest too much, the body will get lazy and it will be difficult to wake it up on race day.   Do not fill in your free time during taper with housework, chores, outside activities (ex. soccer, Frisbee) or other strenuous activities. While you don't have to be sedentary, you need to be extra careful with how you spend your energy. Use your free time to visualize, relax, cook or read. We have had several athletes get injured during taper due to accidents thanks to too much free time.   Do not try new things during taper. However, taper is the time when you can sharpen your skills (swim, bike, run) and practice the little details like u-turns on your bike, swim starts/finish in open water, transitions, grabbing and rotating bottles on your bike and hydration belt and anything else that will help you feel more prepared for race day. Always be careful and cautious during taper – many accidents happen during taper because athletes become careless with everyday activities.   Do us similar gear in training as you would on race day and rehearse your race day skills, clothing and tactics. Race wheels, helmet, goggles, gadgets, clothing and anything else that you plan to use on race day should be used in training, several times, in the 2-4 weeks before race day.   Do arrive to your race as early as possible to avoid feeling rushed before a race.  Do make yourself workout the day before your race, within 90 minutes of waking. We do not believe in having the day-off from training on the day before a competition. This pre race workout should last 45 minutes to 90 minutes and should include biking and running. We leave swimming as optional, but recommended if water conditions are safe, weather is ideal and you are not rushed.   Do not spend too much time outside in the heat or on your feet during race week.   Do put yourself first on race week. Communicate with your family as to your needs and expectations on race week so that you can get yourself and keep yourself in the zone.   Do not try anything new during taper unless you have discussed with your coaches. If you are considering trying something new on race day, discuss with your coaches.   Do visualization and mental strength activities every day on race week for at least 10-20 minutes.   Do write out your race strategy/execution plan and travel itinerary on the weekend before race week.   Do not “race your workouts” or try to validate your fitness or readiness in training. Save your best performance for race day.   Do not hang around energy suckers. Surround yourself with energy givers. Limit your time on social media. Do not make excuses before the race or go into the race with low expectations.   Do minimize/remove yourself from social media and reduce work/family obligations so that you can stay within your own thoughts and not worry about what’s happening in the world, feel stressed out or compare yourself with other athletes.   Do go into your race slightly undertrained than overtrained. No matter what obstacles or setbacks you had to overcome in training, you can only race with your current level of fitness.   Do focus on good nutrition throughout taper. You should only modify your diet in the 48-72 hours before your race by reducing high fiber/fat foods and slightly increasing carbohydrates.   Do stay well-hydrated and fueled during taper.   Do not bash your body, diet or worry about your body image during taper. Be proud of your body.   Do focus on really great sleep, lifestyle habits and stress management. Tapering is not just about reducing your training load and enjoying free time but focusing on the many ways that you can stay healthy, fit and fresh for race day. Do not race if you are injured or sick. Consider the outcome of your choice as well as your long term health and training/racing goals before the instant gratification your ego may feel when consider toeing the start line.  Do get a full body massage on the Sunday/Monday of race week. This should be a flush massage, not spot specific or deep tissue. Your massage should be from someone who you have used in the past, that knows your body well.   Do not focus on what other athletes are/are not doing. Only focus on yourself. Never race another athlete's race or try to follow the diet/fueling plans of another athlete.   Do understand that there is no one perfect recipe for tapering. Your taper response is unique to you and your training background, your event and your physiology.   Do remind yourself that you are ready. Don't worry about the past or the future but focus on the present moment.

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. 

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!

Taper do's and don'ts

"This is so hard!"
"I don't feel like myself!"

"I don't know if I can survive this!"

For many athletes, the taper period before a race can feel harder than any interval workout. You've reached a point in your season when you put in countless hours of training, more miles than you would ever consider driving at one time and have accomplished so many workouts that you termed "impossible" when you started and now, the only thing between you and putting all that training to good use is a week or two of a drop in training volume, less total workouts and more rest. 

Yes, now you can clearly see why athletes dread taper. 

Your "normal" routine changes.......

And we all know that most athletes do not do well with change.  

Some athletes feel they may lose fitness during taper whereas other athletes feel "off". It's important to understand that every athlete handles their taper differently - and depending on the athlete and race distance/intensity, there are many different types of tapers. 

For me personally, I don't mind tapering at all. I love the drop in volume and more downtime in my life. I totally trust the process of tapering and know it works to go into a race fresh, rested, sharp and hungry to race. Overtime, I have learned the best taper for me and my body to ensure that I don't feel flat too close to the race but recovered and rested from many periodized months of training. 

To help you out 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. A drastic drop in mileage and intensity can leave you feeling sluggish and mentally "off". A proper taper helps you recharge. It is not a period of complete rest from removing multiple days of training from your plan (especially on race week).

Do lower the volume (ex. for a half or full Ironman, 2 weeks out from race day) and accept that at first, your body will experience a drastic change in the demands of the body. It's much better to feel a bit flat 2 weeks out from race day than on race week. Nearing 6-7 days out from race day, add a little intensity to your routine (with double to triple recovery time in between short intervals) to wake-up the body and to help you feel sharp. Remember that you are using your taper to fully (for the first time in a long time) fully absorb and recover from all your previous training so you need to find the right balance between rest and just enough time working out to keep your feel for your sport. 

Do not get obsessed with your weight during your taper. Do not weigh yourself, talk about race weight or bash your body.

Do thank your body for getting you to your start line healthy and injury free. Remember, that same body that you may call names because it doesn't look/weigh what you feel is "ideal", is the same body that is going to get you to your finish line.

Do not worry about your diet during taper.

Do eat healthy. Consider the foods that will best prepare your body for your race. Foods that are rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and electrolytes will not only help to energize your body but will also keep your immune system healthy and well. The closer you get to race day, the more you will need to focus on the energy-giving foods that will digest the easiest (low residue/fiber). No need to carbo-load your body for two weeks but instead, maintain a healthy relationship with food so that you honor your biological hunger but also do not overindulge just because you are racing. To avoid feeling "heavy" from a slight increase in carbohydrates, make your morning meal your carb-rich meal and then add an extra snack during your day like fruit, raisins or a handful of granola.

Do not do fear based workouts. 

Do trust your current fitness. Feeling undertrained is 100% better than being overtrained. Most athletes who feel underprepared are many times, very prepared. There is no good you can do by squeezing in one or two more key workouts just to prove you can do a certain distance or pace before your race. You will race with your current level of fitness on race day (regardless of what work you didn't/did do) and that is the day when you can prove to yourself that you can do the distance at the pace that you trained yourself to do.

Do not give your best performance in training, when no one is watching.

Do save your best performance for race day. Avoid "testing" your speed during your taper, joining group workouts (that have nothing to do with your taper) or abiding by haphazard training just because you are feeling good. Bottle up that energy and use it when you get a medal at the finish line. 

Do not change your daily routine too much. 

Do get a bit more sleep, practice your mental skills and lower your volume but remember, your body likes a routine. If you feel lost with your life because your taper plan includes a day off on Friday and you never miss a Friday workout, fill in the gap with something that is productive and makes you feel good but will not affect your taper. Go to the gym and instead of your normal Friday interval run, sleep in and then casually walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes and listen to a podcast. If you no longer workout twice a day and instead only work out once, take an evening (or morning) walk with your dog or neighbor or enjoy your extra free time and do nothing. Rather than doing your normal long run, drive to a new location for your shorter run and enjoy the new scenery. Instead of your weekly masters swim, invite a friend/training partner to join you for your taper swim and then enjoy a cup of coffee/tea after your workout and enjoy your "free" time. 

It's important that you follow your taper plan that will likely have a drop in workout volume and frequency but you can still feel like you have a routine. 

Do not change what has worked in training. 

Do trust what has worked in training. With months of training behind you, you have had many opportunities to dial in your pre and during sport nutrition, gear, race outfit bike set-up (ex. race wheels, helmet, hydration system), run gear (fuel belt, shoes, etc.), practice pacing and build confidence. Avoid energy suckers on social media or forums that persuade you to change what you know works well for you, your body and race goals. On your last weekend of working out, immediately after the workout(s), write down what gear you plan to use on race day and also include nutrition before and during the race. If you never tried the nutrition strategy you plan to use on race day, never rode your race wheels in a long training ride (especially in similar race day conditions), never worn your fuel belt with your race kit on or....you get the idea.....rethink why all of a sudden you are changing what you know works well in training. The fastest athletes on race day are those who are confident in their well-practiced nutrition and pacing plans and feel comfortable in their race day gear and equipment. Karel answers a lot of questions about race wheels and he says that the fastest race wheels are the wheels that that you can ride the fastest in a straight line on your race day terrain/conditions. 

(You've never seen me ride in a disc or deep dish wheel on race day because I've tried in training and Karel knows it would take a lot of extra energy for me to race and control my bike in hilly or windy terrain with that type of wheel set.)

Do not become a different person during your taper. Do not voluntarily become a carpenter and start a house project, make a life change, put extra work projects on your plate or overwhelm yourself with to do's.

Do wrap yourself in bubble wrap, lock yourself inside your house and do not step close to anyone who is breathing. Only kidding - well, kinda. With all your extra time, it's very easy to take on responsibilities around the house or work that could cause injury or sickness. Or you may be seeking ways to fill in your free time and find yourself becoming extra social, in settings that your body is not use to. Be smart with your available time and seriously, just be ok with doing nothing. Your race is coming and you will have many hours to do something with your body in a week or two.

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The most important thing to remember is that your taper is the culmination of many months of training. It is a very special time in your training plan when you get to intentionally rest your body. For months, you likely only had an intentional rest day (or active recovery day) once a week. That's only 4 days a month or 24 days of rest in a 6 month time frame!!
Whereas your training helped you gain fitness, your taper will allow you to best use that fitness on race day.
Above all, a taper is only as good as your trust in your previous training. Athletes who nail their taper have a great ability to stay focused, confident and determined to succeed. No matter how you feel your training went or how good/bad you feel during taper, never ever stop believing in yourself.

You are capable of so much more than what you think you can achieve. 

Get excited for your upcoming race so you can prove to yourself that you now a stronger, faster, healthier, smarter and better athlete than when you started training for your event.