Tapering well
WHY?
Tapering is designed to be like a recovery week for your body to build muscle, blood volume and rest. However, Taper should also be a week of thoughtful preparation for your race. Visualization, good food, some reconnection with friends and family that you have been unable to do with all the training, enjoyment of sunshine and outdoors...basically resetting your attitude to a positive, happy one and preparing for the demands of the race.
Unfortunately, traithletes often use taper for eating all the things they missed, watching more TV and less exercise and sometimes spinning their minds up with fear and anticipation for a race. Pumping up your fear does not help you do better in your race.
Adrenalin can mimic fearful feelings, higher HR, some stomach issues, some repetitive thoughts...try to recognize that this is happening and turn that adrenalin into positive activity. Use repetitive thinking to visualize your successful race over and over instead of fearing all the things that can go wrong...or just fearing failure. Set your goals to succeed, but acknowledge that sometimes things go wrong. What can go wrong...make a list and plan your response to each of these. Making problems into action plans reduces their impact on you and reduces the fear.
Eating the right foods will help you arrive on race day with plenty of energy, glycogen stores and feeling well. I'm no angel and I love chocolate, but focusing on good vegetables, plenty of protein and rest will help you to have a much better race. A rule of thumb from a friend about drinking goes like this: "Three beers, three days before a race, two for two days before and 1 for one day before" If you really need to drink, try this formula! Beeer does have plenty of carbs and vitamins but alcohol has a dehydrating effect and taxes your liver...I'd avoid alcohol on taper week but that's me.
Training in taper week is often far fewer hours but high intensity. Know that running takes the longest to recover from so only run early in that week, then only short distances with easy paces closer to the race. Biking is easier to recover from so you can bike later in the week. Just don't go doing 100 milers three days before your race. This depletes your glycogen stores and tires your muscles. You need rested muscles and plenty of glycogen on race day. Swimming is the easiest to recover from and helps recover from biking and running with cold water and different motion with less gravity effects. You can swim the day before a race with few issues, just take it easy that day. Try to do the practice swim for your race that often is offered the day before the race. This helps you calm your nerves, gets you acquainted with the swim course and exercises your muscles and reduces the adrenalin and fearful feelings.
Rest in taper week is very important. Try to get to bed early and arise early. Race day usually begins very early so you'll want to be able to get up at 4:30 AM to get to transition time to set up and be race ready. To get a full 8 hours of sleep with a 4:30AM wake time means you go to bed at 8:30PM! Many triathletes have a terrible time sleeping on the day before a race. If you can nap the day before, it might help. But normallizing going to bed early will help you fall asleep more readily for this early to bed time. Otherwise, make sure you are getting lots of rest, relaxing and enjoying your week in preparation for a very successful race.
Planning Race Strategy is an activity you should be doing a little bit of throughout your training. You should by now know what nutrition works for you, your hydration plans, and your transition set up as well as the courses you will follow in this race. However, this week is a good time to review all that, make sure you have everything you need, pack your transition pack, and review the race course and the rules for the race. This can have a very calming effect on the mind because you are doing this EARLY in the week instead of at the last minute. You might also clean your bike and chain, fix any issues with the bike, check the tires for tiny glass shards that can flatten your tires and make sure you know how to work your garmin for multisport setting. You can even do a short practice tri on your own to see if any issues pop up. Bike tune ups cost around $80 so you might even request that so your bike is in peak condition as well. Make sure you know how to change a flat and have the tools you'll need to do that. (click the link to see a video on this).
Be grateful you can do this. That you have the money, the time and the physical ability to do this. Not everyone can, and you are lucky to be here. Try gratitude instead of fear, it can bring a great deal more joy to your racing and training than the idea that this is drudgery. Type A individuals tend to turn everything into a very important goal...making fun into a job. Most triathletes tend to be Type A. Thus you'll find those athletes who are not terribly competitive, but behave as though they are destined for the Olympics. Try to understand they have lost perspective. Let them pass, give them room for their grouchiness and intensity and know you don't have to be them, or be affected by them. Everyone, deserves to be on the race course, no matter your level of fitness, appearance or value of your equipment. This sport is something anyone can do with a bit of training. You belong here as much as anyone else.
"Someday I will no longer be able to do this, Today is NOT THAT DAY."
Recommended Taper times by distance
Sprint 1 day
Olympic 1-2 days
Half Ironman 1 week
Full Ironman 2 weeks
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