Tapering tips?

[RoadRaven]

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!

[LynneK]

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 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.