Taper Time: How to Train Smart Before Your Big Race

Autumn in South Africa is a time of big events. Whether we are running, cycling, swimming or combining all three, this time of the year tends to be taper time. Tapering for endurance events is probably the most misunderstood training period amongst amateur athletes. Even the ones who take things very seriously. The goal behind tapering is obviously allowing the body time to recover from the rigours of hard training, so that we arrive at the start line ready to get the most out of ourselves and to show off the results of the hard work that we have done. Just like training, tapering is specific to each athlete and there is normally a bit of trial and error before we find our own ‘best practice’ but there are some fundamentals that apply, no matter who we are.

It is not simply resting – After hard training there is micro-damage that occurs in the muscle fibres. The repair job is started as soon as we end our session. If we don’t do any training for a day or two the muscles are repaired but, without more training in that recovery period to stretch and keep the muscles supple, they will tighten up during the recovery process. Then, when we hit the accelerator on race day, it can be fairly traumatic at the micro-fibre level and the muscles will take a while before they are operating at their optimum. The body wants to protect itself at all costs and suddenly stressing a tight muscle feels dangerous to the brain and it will limit the muscles performance in order to not let it contract or stretch to its full potential. Often we will feel little micro-cramps at the beginning of the first hard session after a few days of no training. Even if we can ease our way through that uncomfortable moment on race day, we will not have been able to perform at optimum levels right from the gun, and that is not what we want at the start of a big event.

Cut duration but not intensity – Hours and hours of endurance training are what really takes the body a long time to recover from. Even though an intense session may feel super-hard while we are doing it, the body recovers much quicker than it would from the long stuff. The type of conditioning that results from intensity is quick to build but also quick to lose, while endurance is hard-earned but easily maintained. What all of this means is that we should keep some interval training in our taper week. An interval session 3-4 days out from our event can still have positive effects on the race day outcome but a long session that close will only serve to make us weary on race day. Not only are we adding some positive load to our system but we are also keeping the muscles primed and ready for action on the big day.

Don’t get carried away fuelling and hydrating – We want our fuel tanks to be full on race day but we don’t want to be stashing any long term reserves (weight). Generally the cutback in the volume of our training should mean that our normal eating will refuel and ‘brim’ our tanks before race day without the need for adding more calories than we normally find on our plates. If a hot day is expected on race day and we feel the need to increase our hydration in the days leading up to it, that is fine but we also need to take into account that the increased water through our system can also lead to a depletion of electrolytes. So, we need to make sure that some of the liquid that we drink in the days prior to our race include the essential electrolytes.

Have a day off but never the day before – Many professional athletes never have a complete day off from training but most amateurs feel that they need one. This should never be taken on the day before the race however. We want to be loose and primed and ready to rumble when the gun goes off, not sluggish and tight. So, the day before a big race should always have some light training to not only keep the body idling nicely but also to pull the nutrition and fluids through the system. Our bodies get used to the constant training and, although a complete rest day might be enjoyable, it can almost be a shock to a well-trained system.

Chill out – One of the most difficult aspects of taper weeks are nerves. If it is a big event that we have dedicated a significant portion of the year to preparing for, we have probably sacrificed quite a bit. When the moment finally arrives and we start to taper, the nerves start kicking in. Amateurs feel just as much pressure to perform as professionals because we want to justify those sacrifices and the time and money that we have invested in being the best we can be on race day. As our energy levels rise through the taper week, so will the nerves and the thing that suffers the most is sleep. Not only the amount of sleep but the quality. In the last two days before race day it is advisable to limit the amount of contact we have with the race itself and the people involved, in order to take our minds off what is to come. A little bit of self-isolation is not a bad thing. Obviously there will be registration and number collection but other than that we should be feet up and chilling somewhere removed from the race venue and that includes social media where all and sundry will be posting their pre-race selfies and gear pics. There will be plenty of time afterwards to crow about our performance, not before. That just adds pressure.