Tapering For The Peak Of Your Race Season
Tapering For The Peak Of Your Race Season
Race day you want to feel prepared physically and mentally knowing you have trained wisely. There may have been missed workouts or weekends your eating wasn’t so good. Try not to sweat it. Hopefully you’ve given it your all and well on your way to having a great race experience. Tapering for your big event should take as much priority as the months you have worked hard during your training.
Not every race needs a true taper, but your key races of the season do. The distance and demands of your race will determine the length of time needed for a proper taper. Try viewing the taper as a mini vacation. Embrace the feeling of being a slug knowing your body needs it. Your body has been pushed building a solid base of endurance and powerful speed. The taper phase allows the body systems to rejuvenate after being broken down.
For many of us it is difficult to rest for very long. We negatively associate rest with time off for injury or laziness. Fight the desire to break away from your taper plan if you get the itch to go out for a quick workout. You may even feel extra fatigued even though you are getting more rest. That blah feeling is normal. Your body has a lot going on behind the scenes that you may not be aware of. All the repairs going on internally are actually pretty taxing.
Phases of The Taper
The tapering phase of your training can actually be broken down in to sub phases. The first few days you may be thankful for the extra time in the day to sleep a little later and take it easy. Most likely you will feel good and filled with energy. Have you ever been on vacation and felt like it took a day or two to settle down to enjoy resting? Your body is experiencing a similar phenomenon. You’re still fully revved up from high intensity training.
Your body will begin to recognize the lowered volume and intensity and begin to slow things down during the second phase. This period of time is the most difficult to get through mentally. You may fear that you are declining in fitness. I promise - you’re not! Hang in there during this blah phase. Your legs may feel like lead. You may even feel winded doing something that would normally be easy for a trained athlete. Trust in your plan and stay on course. This is not the time to prove anything to yourself. Let you, the machine, rest and rebuild.
The next phase of the taper will come with welcomed added energy. All the training and tapering will pay off and you will feel anxious to get the race under way. As the mental fog clears begin making your final preparations for the race. Pack your gear bags and plan out your pre-race to race day nutrition. Do this with time to spare so you aren’t stressed last minute.
The details of your taper will vary depending on the demands of the race and your overall condition going in to it. Age is also a factor. I may think I’m still 29, but when it comes to planning my race I have to be realistic. An older body simply does not recover as quickly.
Tapering In short:
Listen to your body.
Rest more with longer sleep and naps when you can.
Fuel with clean eating.
Mentally prepare with visualization for your perfect race.
Give me a shout if you need help with planning this important aspect of your season.
Heather Hagan, CSCS
Entelechy Performance Coaching