Taper methods

Dave said:

My aim this season is to do about one sprint distance tri every 4 weeks. Given that my main aim is
to not come last (and succeeded so far but it's been close) I want to continue improving times
through the season. So my plan to increase my fitness has been: week 1 Recover for the first couple
of days from the previous tri, and then increase at the end of teh week Week 2 Go Hard Week 3 Go
Harder Week 4 Ease up to about half a hard week, with just some walking or light cycling at the end
of the week, leading into a race on the Sunday.

The problem is, at the end of Week 3, I'm stuffed (which is the aim) but I still don't feel at my
peak when the race comes around. Am I expecting too much? What do others out there do in terms of a
taper when they are continually racing during a season?

Dave.

IMO and experiance, the taper is generally not just rest. The intent of the taper is to drop
the volume and hold and or increase the intensity to race or near race values. In my
experiance this helps to ready the body for the race without fatiguing it with large
volumes. I generally do repeats, losely based on race distance, in all disiplines. Of course
you'll have to experiment and find out what works for you. I just got done reading Friels
and ? (can't remember) "Going Long" and although they seem so have a similar approach, I was
somewhat shocked by how much and how close to the race day they do the workouts. Some
included 60-90 minute workouts a couple days before the race. Ganted this is IM distance,
but that still seems like alot to slug like me. In my experiance if I just rest the week or
half week before a race, I end up going into the race flat. Not bad I suppose for longer
distances, could be devistating for sprint distances though. Just curious as to why do you
want to do a race every four weeks?

~Matt

Dave <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

My aim this season is to do about one sprint distance tri every 4 weeks. Given that my main aim is
to not come last (and succeeded so far but it's been close) I want to continue improving times
through the season. So my plan to increase my fitness has been: week 1 Recover for the first
couple of days from the previous tri, and then increase at the end of teh week Week 2 Go Hard Week
3 Go Harder Week 4 Ease up to about half a hard week, with just some walking or light cycling at
the end of the week, leading into a race on the Sunday.

The problem is, at the end of Week 3, I'm stuffed (which is the aim) but I still don't feel at my
peak when the race comes around. Am I expecting too much? What do others out there do in terms of
a taper when they are continually racing during a season?

Not much of a tri pro...but I've been racing most of my life. Assuming you are not overtraining
during your 3 week interval, this is my advice on the taper. I'm assuming a Saturday race in the
below discussion

Definitely keep your cardio up as you enter your taper. Don't go more than 2 days without a serious
cardio workout. So go for that hard Monday OR Tuesday set. Take Wednesday as a recovery. You want to
go for a long, cardio strong set on Thursday. You are looking to hold 75-80% heart rate for an
extended period of time.

You also definitely want to increase your mental as you ease off your physical. This means taking
time to do some relaxation followed by guided imagery. This is going to make your race better and if
you do it well, it may translate over to better practicing the following week as well. I would go
make time for this on Thursday as well as Friday. See your perfect race, know how you will be
feeling at each point and then turn that into a positive. (For some people, this means telling
themselves exactly how much it's going to hurt at each stage...that doesn't work for me...but it
works for them).

There are a bunch of good resources on guided imagery. Basically, the more detail the better.

Friday before your race, the light biking is probably appropriate. Be very mentally engaged while
you are out there though. Go for a nice long, slow warm-up. Go through your form, think about what
you will be doing at your transitions, think about your pace. Really focus on perfect form. Then do
a series of short sprints to get your heart rate up, with calf stretches to get ready for the run.
These are your hard pushes and your finishes into transition.

Make sure you are increasing your sleep on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as well. You may feel edgy
or nervous with so much sleep. Use your mental focus to focus that nervous energy into your race.

Quoted message said:

Dave.

Dave <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

My aim this season is to do about one sprint distance tri every 4 weeks. Given that my main aim is
to not come last (and succeeded so far but it's been close) I want to continue improving times
through the season. So my plan to increase my fitness has been: week 1 Recover for the first
couple of days from the previous tri, and then increase at the end of teh week Week 2 Go Hard Week
3 Go Harder Week 4 Ease up to about half a hard week, with just some walking or light cycling at
the end of the week, leading into a race on the Sunday.

The problem is, at the end of Week 3, I'm stuffed (which is the aim) but I still don't feel at my
peak when the race comes around. Am I expecting too much? What do others out there do in terms of
a taper when they are continually racing during a season?

Dave.

Dave, last summer (stateside) I had a similar schedule. I would recommend that you keep weeks 2 and
3 roughly the same on volume and intensity. Do your last intense session on Thursday or Friday of
week 3, last long session (lower intensity) on Sat or Sunday of week 3. Then if your race is on
Sunday: M off T light, W-Th moderate duration with short bits of intensity (say 15 min bike or 3-5 x
2 minute on run) F-Sat light, a few accelerations Sun race

bump the days for Saturday races..last long sess Sat prior, Sun off, M light...good luck

Marty