Tapering tips?

Hi all,

So what kind of tapering strategies do you follow in the week leading up to a race? I don't really taper much for sprints; my usual workout plan involves two off-days per week anyway, so I pretty much just try to dial it down a little, do one brick workout midweek, and get a massage on Friday night :D.

This coming week, before Accenture, I'm thinking of doing three 1500-yd swim workouts as my primary workouts, and a short-ish brick one day.

I'd love to hear what the rest of you do to try to hit the peak on race day.

Thanks, Lynne

Ah Lynne - I have an ITT this weekend that I have been training toward and I woke this morning with the same question - I need to taper this week...

I'm new to this, but I think I'll be having a fairly light week. I had a race on Saturday, and did a mini 15km TT yesterday. I'm not riding today and then I'll have light, low heart-rate rides on Tues, Wed and Thurs I think.

A rest day again on Friday and the TT on Saturday.

I know its not a Tri I am training for, but I guess pulling the throttle back in the few days before the event is a fairly generic way to taper?

Good luck, anyways
Rave

Hey Rave,

Here's what I've been thinking re. bike tapering: if you monitor cadence, would it be enough tapering to cut back some mileage and change your rate from 90 rpm to 95 rpm? I just got a cadence computer, so I am playing around with that a bit.

I also checked out a tapering thread archived on Beginner Triathlete, and the punch line from the folks there is that for a sprint, taking off the 2 days before the race should be taper enough.

I'm in no way an expert at this, but this is what I do.

The Sunday before a tri, I do a hard brick of at least the distance that the race is.

On Monday I do a hard swim, usually one go at the distance for the tri, then a few sprints afterwards.

Tuesday is rest day, usually do a little stretching, not much else.

Wednesday - light workot for what ever I feel like doing.

Thursday - another rest day.

Friday - I do a quick run to get my legs and lungs working again, enough to get my heart rate up but not enough to tire myself. For example, a 2mile run at a slightly faster pace that what I'm going to race at. (you can also do this on the bike or swim, whatever works best for you).

Saturday - race day!

Basically, I'm trying to get to Saturday rested, but with my body ready to go.

I would strongly recommend that you do not change your cadence - changing that and messing with what you have been training at or most comfortably ride at is asking for an injury.

Please just ride at your expected cadence. AFTER the event when you are building for the next event is when you want to experiment with increasing your cadence.

Ideally, the week before (I have been discussing this with my family and other training partners) you should be doing less mileage at a lower intensity.

It seems doing short intense bursts of speed can be part of your tapering, but short bursts and not too many ...

Heres what I did today as an example... I went on a 50km ride, for most of it I tried to keep my HR at 125-130bpm - that translates to about 24kph

I did a couple of intervals. My partner paced me and I drafted so I could ride at a fast pace without reacing my LT. I rode at 150bpm for about 6 mins each time - that translated to 34-42kph.

So I didn't reach my LT - so the 2 hour ride was relatively low intensity, with 12 minutes of medium intensity, plus the hills to get home (we live 300 metres above the sea level that most of the training today was at).

Yesterday I rode on the indoor bike for 45 mins at a HR of 110-120bpm
Tomorrow I shall do another session indoors
Friday I will rest
And hopefully on Saturday I will blitz my goal for the 25km TT



BT... I find it interesting that you do a run the day before the race. The whole concept of triathalons just totally impresses me now I know what it takes to get better in one discipline. And you gals are training to improve in multiple disciplines.
Just completely impressed!

Hi RR,

Let me be more specific about what I mean regarding the cadence. Getting the cadence computer showed me that on my usual 30-40 mile rides, my typical pace has been about 95 rpm. I thought I was closer to 90, but I was being too easy on myself :D and riding in a lower gear. To get to 90, I've had to shift my median gear up one, so I'm generally riding harder in a higher gear. Thus I think of the 95 cadence pace as one in which I am riding in a lower gear, generally spinning more at a lower speed. That's the sense in which I thought of it as a way to lower the intensity of the ride.

I agree that I don't want to try keeping my new gear targets and raise my cadence! As you say, I may play around with it for training purposes in a couple of weeks. But this week, it's lower-intensity riding for me. Today I'll do a 30-mile ride (divided into two parts, 22 mi and 8 mi, so I can stop at my office and do some work there on the way home!), and then a 5k run.

Boy do I hate bricks. But it's so satisfying when you get out on the run and don't bonk.