Time to Taper - by Andy Baldwin

Tapering is on my mind right now as I am less than three weeks away from running the longest distance I’ve ever run – 56 miles at the Comrades Ultramarathon in South Africa:  www.comrades4thekids.org.  I’ve been logging close to 100 miles a week, have run 10 marathons over the past 5 months, and recently ran the longest I’ve ever run (thus far) – 40 miles in Nashville.  I’ve worked my body hard and now have entered the Taper phase of my training.

So what is a Taper?  And what is the key to an effective one?  Most people hear Taper and they get excited thinking, “No more hard, long workouts!”  Others cannot stand the thought of not working out hard and proceed to train at full intensity right up to race day, and then bomb on the race course (don’t do this).   The truth is that Taper is a highly individual process and each person over time needs to learn how their body recovers, reacts, and feels during a Taper period, as well as how their psyche deals with the decrease in training intensity.  There is no perfect formula, but there are key principles to follow during your Taper.

So here are some Taper tips from me on what I’ve learned over the years of training and racing:

•    Gauge the amount of time you should taper by your race distance.  For a marathon or an Ironman triathlon, I usually taper for two weeks.  For a ½ Marathon or ½ Ironman I usually taper 1 week.  For an Olympic Distance triathlon or 10k run I taper for 5 days.  For a Sprint Triathlon or 5k I taper for 3 days.

•    The word Taper itself means to gradually decrease.  Remember that.  It does not mean to train, train, train, and then when you hit Taper time you STOP training. No, if you are running 40 miles a week, decreasing to 30 miles a week the next week, then 20 miles the next week, and so on and so forth.  That is tapering.  And remember, it takes your body some time to regenerate so don’t worry if you’re not feeling fully energized 5 days into your taper.

•    Expect that during the first phase of your taper, you will feel … sore, sluggish, tired, and hungry.  You’ve just put your body through weeks and weeks of intense training and you’re finally starting to give it a slight break.  Keep the faith.  Be patient.  Resist the urge to jump back into heavy training.

•    Taper time is not a time to let your healthy lifestyle discipline down. Just because you have free time all of a sudden doesn’t mean you should start partying, eating unhealthy foods and staying up late.  This is the time your body needs rest.  The taper phase is when your hard training gains will be realized and your muscles repair and grow stronger.   Try to get two more hours of sleep per night than usual.

•    The WORST thing you can do during taper is to eat unhealthy and to continue to eat the way you were eating at your peak training effort.   With a decreased training schedule you are not burning as many calories and have less demand for carbohydrates.  Instead you should take in as much protein and nutrient dense foods like fruits and green vegetables.  Your body is recovering and needs these types of foods for your muscles to repair and regenerate stronger.  By watching your diet closely during taper time you will ensure that you maintain your lean and ideal body weight.  Drink a lot of water!  No beer and soda!

•    Mental visualization is powerful.  Simulate racing both in your mind and on in your final training efforts.  Close your eyes and visualize yourself at the race course, go through each step of your race.  When you do your final training efforts, wear your race outfit, practice your nutrition and hydration plan, line up your transition area, and practice going through the motions.   Stage mini-triathlons for yourself.  I used to do this all the time in Hawaii. Leading up to Ironman, every workout I did was a mini-triathlon of an hour or less.  These quick, short spurts get you in the rhythm, and ready to go fast.

•    Warm up for all of your workouts and cool down properly.  This is really important especially during the taper phase as you are so close to race day and you don’t want to pull a muscle at the last minute because you didn’t warm up properly.  STRETCH a lot.  Cross train with low impact activities like swimming, exercise bike, elliptical machine, and yoga.  Yoga is great!  STRETCH some more!!

•    Be the Taper.  Enjoy it.  Play the part. When I swam in high school we had a saying “Shave, Taper, Put on the Paper”.  It meant we shaved all the hair on our bodies, tapered, and wore a tight, race SPEEDO to be as stealth and fast as possible.   I like to do this type of thing leading up to a race.  Well, I don’t wear a SPEEDO, but I do get a buzz cut.  High speed, low drag.  Wear your running shoes everywhere you go.  Tell your family and people at work about your race, listen to Metallica, watch Hoosiers, and get excited!

•    Finally, and most importantly, remember, it is FAR better to go into a race undertrained and over-rested, than over-trained and under-rested.

Taper well.  Taper smart.   Stay tuned for my next blog – Race Day Prep.