With race season in full swing, you’ve likely heard some of your triathlon buddies talking about their taper. No worries—they’re not discussing their enthusiasm for ankle-hugging denim. Taper is a training term referring to the period of time an athlete uses to come down from a high-volume period of training in order to rest and recover before race day.
Tapering can last anywhere from two to four weeks and will vary between different athletes and training programs—but the goal of tapering is always the same: Let the body have ample time to repair the damage that training causes, so it can rebuild to leave you even stronger on race day.
It’s important to note that tapering doesn’t mean you STOP working out in the weeks leading up to your race. There will still be workouts to do that keep your body prepared to swim, bike and run. Whereas peak training workouts are trying to push your limits and summon that grand fatigue that makes you feel like you “really did something,” tapering will feel boring, ineffective and easy—making you feel like you haven’t done enough. This is normal!
You can expect to feel sluggish during your taper, and ill prepared for your race. Your workout time will dramatically decrease, which means you won’t be tapping into the level of intensity you normally do. Enthusiasm will wane. You will be a sad panda, beginning to feel hopelessly out of touch with your body and prior fitness level. Your quads will feel deprived of ass-kicking affection. They may even break pathetically into song…
“You’ve lost that loving feeling, whoa, that loving feeling. You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling, now it’s gone, gone, gone….whooooooah.”
Many athletes feel confused by the lack of intensity in their taper workouts and mistakenly decide to “test their fitness” by adding more to the workout than is prescribed (either by going further or faster than the workout calls for). This is a dangerous game that can lead to overtraining and potentially cause damage to your progress that cannot be undone by race day.
One of the most helpful things to remember during this time is that it’s better to show up to your race under-trained, rather than over-trained. Resist the urge to flirt with disaster and let your taper do its job: recharge all of your systems so you’re truly at your best on race day.
In addition to scaling back on the workouts, you’ll also be scaling back on your calorie consumption. While a half pound of pasta for dinner might be standard operating procedure for you during your peak phase, you’ll want to cut back on that during your taper. Eat balanced meals and avoid extra calories unless you’re truly hungry for them. Watch your portion sizes and make sure you’re drinking plenty of water each day (drinking a couple glasses of water before each meal is a good way to prevent overeating during your taper).
Finally, resist the urge to party like a rock star now that you have all this extra time. Remember that one of the tenets of tapering is REST. So put your feet up, catch up on your Netflix, read that stack of magazines that you roll away from each night in bed and engage in low-stress, laid back activities that soothe the mind and make few demands on the body. This is not the time to start that weight-lifting program you’ve been thinking about, or tackle “Operation Attic Cleaning.” If you must do some form of working out to ease your mind, opt for a yoga class or easy swim in the pool.
One muscle you can keep working during your taper is the brain. Two weeks out from your race is the perfect time to wax nostalgic on your training efforts. Think of what you’ve accomplished and how far you’ve come from the first week of training to the homestretch. If you’re able to drive the course of the race you’ll be doing, get in the car with a friend or play a CD with relaxing music and take your mind through each mile of the bike and run. Explain to your friend what you’ll be thinking and feeling along the course, or if you’re alone use the time to summon inner strength as you weave the visual of each mile together with the sound of the music and the feeling of readiness from within.
Tapering is regarded as one of the most important aspects of training and has been embraced by athletes in all sports as a way to access the best possible person you can be on the day when that matters the most.
Tapering can last anywhere from two to four weeks and will vary between different athletes and training programs—but the goal of tapering is always the same: Let the body have ample time to repair the damage that training causes, so it can rebuild to leave you even stronger on race day.
It’s important to note that tapering doesn’t mean you STOP working out in the weeks leading up to your race. There will still be workouts to do that keep your body prepared to swim, bike and run. Whereas peak training workouts are trying to push your limits and summon that grand fatigue that makes you feel like you “really did something,” tapering will feel boring, ineffective and easy—making you feel like you haven’t done enough. This is normal!
You can expect to feel sluggish during your taper, and ill prepared for your race. Your workout time will dramatically decrease, which means you won’t be tapping into the level of intensity you normally do. Enthusiasm will wane. You will be a sad panda, beginning to feel hopelessly out of touch with your body and prior fitness level. Your quads will feel deprived of ass-kicking affection. They may even break pathetically into song…
“You’ve lost that loving feeling, whoa, that loving feeling. You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling, now it’s gone, gone, gone….whooooooah.”
Many athletes feel confused by the lack of intensity in their taper workouts and mistakenly decide to “test their fitness” by adding more to the workout than is prescribed (either by going further or faster than the workout calls for). This is a dangerous game that can lead to overtraining and potentially cause damage to your progress that cannot be undone by race day.
One of the most helpful things to remember during this time is that it’s better to show up to your race under-trained, rather than over-trained. Resist the urge to flirt with disaster and let your taper do its job: recharge all of your systems so you’re truly at your best on race day.
In addition to scaling back on the workouts, you’ll also be scaling back on your calorie consumption. While a half pound of pasta for dinner might be standard operating procedure for you during your peak phase, you’ll want to cut back on that during your taper. Eat balanced meals and avoid extra calories unless you’re truly hungry for them. Watch your portion sizes and make sure you’re drinking plenty of water each day (drinking a couple glasses of water before each meal is a good way to prevent overeating during your taper).
Finally, resist the urge to party like a rock star now that you have all this extra time. Remember that one of the tenets of tapering is REST. So put your feet up, catch up on your Netflix, read that stack of magazines that you roll away from each night in bed and engage in low-stress, laid back activities that soothe the mind and make few demands on the body. This is not the time to start that weight-lifting program you’ve been thinking about, or tackle “Operation Attic Cleaning.” If you must do some form of working out to ease your mind, opt for a yoga class or easy swim in the pool.
One muscle you can keep working during your taper is the brain. Two weeks out from your race is the perfect time to wax nostalgic on your training efforts. Think of what you’ve accomplished and how far you’ve come from the first week of training to the homestretch. If you’re able to drive the course of the race you’ll be doing, get in the car with a friend or play a CD with relaxing music and take your mind through each mile of the bike and run. Explain to your friend what you’ll be thinking and feeling along the course, or if you’re alone use the time to summon inner strength as you weave the visual of each mile together with the sound of the music and the feeling of readiness from within.
Tapering is regarded as one of the most important aspects of training and has been embraced by athletes in all sports as a way to access the best possible person you can be on the day when that matters the most.
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