I seem to have more success when I taper the volume a lot more than I think I should and taper the intensity a lot less than I think I should. I had a big PR last year in the 40k and my last 10 days looked like this:

Everything was aerobars at this point
1 - 2 x 30 as hard as possible within a 95 minute ride, 3 x 1 minute very hard to finish.
2 - 90 minutes unstructured but mostly tempo in the aerobars the whole time
3 - 23 mile TT, race effort and gear rehearsal, 47 minute race, 60 minutes total on the bike
4 - 20 minutes easy, less than 50% of threshold
5 - 2 x 20 at projected 40k tt power, 70 minute ride
6 - off
7 - 10 minutes at 105% of projected 40k tt power within a 40 minute ride
8 - 45 minutes with 3 minutes at VO2 max (115%) and 2 x 5 minutes at 105% of projected 40k tt power.
9- off
10 - 25 minutes with 8 minutes at projected 40k tt power, 3 x 1 minutes very hard.
11 - 40k Race, feel as if a I nailed my taper perfectly. Almost exceed my stretch goal for the race. I had periods of somewhat extreme volume for an amateur athlete earlier in the year.

I don't know about others, but this is how I taper for a TT:


1) Order steak from Spain.
2) Ensure leopard-print skinsuit fits properly
3) Put pictures of Cervelos (especially P2Cs), Specialized, and Trek TT bikes on my computer and leave it on overnight on continuous playback in front of my Felt B12, while playing death metal music at high volume. (It helps inspire the bike, instilling it with hatred).
4) Day of the race, fail to warm-up. Instead, walk around the staging area in full TT kit and Sidi shoes with a glass of red wine, cursing loudly in Italian.
5) Fail to perform in the TT, blame it on an injury and brush it off exclaiming that I'm only racing to prepare for the Spring Classics.

---

-------
http://www.y-rocket.blogspot.com/

What was your indicator that you nailed it? Higher power than expected? If so, how did it compare to the numbers you used/achieved for the 23mile tt (#3) and your last 2x20 (#5)?

What was you race day warmup like?

---

******************************************************
Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze

Dave laid out a really cool schedule. Although I taper for road races, I have gradually working in elements to my peak that have mine looking probably closer to what he does.

Otherwise, this is typically my plan:

14-8 days out: Race on the weekend (14 days to race), get in 1-2 hard rides mid-week, under 2 hours each, back to back hard days if feeling good. Take 1-2 days off, never in a row, ride easy <1 hour on the other days.

sunday race, 7-0 days out:
Sun: 2-2.5 hours, a few form sprints that mimic possible race finish scenarios, 3x2 min above 5 min power, 3x7 min @ 10 min power, follow with 20 mins @ FTP or preferably motorpacing.
Mon: off
Tue: <1 hour easy
Wed: 1 hour, a few sprints, 3x1-2 min @ 5 min power
Thur: 2.5 hours MAX, high cadence sprints, 10 minutes with high VI, 3x2-3 min @ 5 min power on race terrain, 2x 7 min @ 10 min power, 20 min @ high cad. FTP or motorpacing.
Fri: off or very easy
Sat: 1 hour, 5-10 min @ FTP, finish with 30 sec on/off @ 2 min power, end with all-out for 1 min.
Sun: RACE!

The above schedule or similar has given me many days where I felt it was the strongest I had been all year. If you have the training done, a taper like mine or Dave's will most likely not fail you!

For best results, try and tweak the next 5-10 years :)

-Physiojoe

---

-Physiojoe
Instagram: @thephysiojoe
Cycling coach, Elite racer on Wooster Bikewerks p/b Wootown Bagels

Holy Sh!T - that is some "taper". It just goes to show you that a taper is VERY individual. Obviously Dave. L is an elite level cyclist (pretty good assumption), so anyone else should follow with caution.

Great post though - good insight to what the uber cyclists are doing. thanks for sharing.

---

_______________________________________________

Generally, I nailed it because I am tuned in to what I am doing at any given time on the bike and what I should be capable of. I have always been able to accurately assess and predict my own performances based upon results of workouts.

Specifically, I was shooting for an X watt effort but I would have been satisifed with an X-Y effort but if I really nailed my taper I thought an X+Y effort was possible. I based the X number off of power tests and a steady diet of 2x20s, 2x30s, 1x40s, 1x45s that were detailed here:

https://sites.google.com/...om5531to5139in1-year


Five days out I did 380, 368 watts for the 20 minutes intervals, 60 degree room with a hurricane of fans blowing on me. I thought, based on extensive past correlation of 20 minute to FTP, that my FTP was roughly 93% of the 380 or a solid 350. I knew that race day was going to be 90+ degrees and humid and I do not perform well in the heat. I thought it would be a stretch to hold my FTP for 50-53 minutes but I figured 340 might be doable. Heat is tricky though and I would have been happy to see 330. I would have considered less than 325 bad execution, bad taper, or simply a heat related meltdown. Holding my actual FTP in those conditions would be a stretch indeed.

Well I did it. 351 AP, 354 NP for 51:30 My warm-up consisted of about 8 minutes of riding back and forth with 3 x1 minute at roughly TT efforts and one simulated start. I was ready for this effort when I got out of my car. More warm-up would have been redundant and counter productive. Ice down the skinsuit was my friend and I think played a big part in the success of the day. The other part of nailing it was gettting myself ready to push harder than I have in the past.

For the 23 mile TT, I was able to hold roughly the same power for 30 minutes and then gradually declined to limp across the line barely holding 310. I thought at the time it was more heat related, but looking back at the training I think I was just tired, as I intended to be.

What Dave describes points out a very important aspect of a 'taper'.

Here's how your body works: It only gets 'better' (endurance, strength...) when we demand more of it than we can. Then, we need to recover. The best training response comes from somewhat extreme demands and recovery can't always take place over a 24 hour period.
Once recovery is complete...detraining begins. The body 'deteriorates' back to it's untrained state.

If you don't taper enough, you will still be recovering and therefore not your best. If you taper too much, you will be detraining and therefore have lost some condition.

Most of us 'taper' too much. We may be a little overtrained, but unless you've just had a crazy block of training....you shouldn't be more than a couple of days away from recovered.
If you are in good enough shape...only 100 miles of cycling in a week could result in detraining.

So let me just throw this out there for your consideration. Your typical cycling volume should by dropped by a certain percentage the week before your race. What percentage? If you are a traithlete not really hitting the bike all that hard, I suggest dropping it by 20%. If you are doing tons of cycling (like Dave was), or like you would be if you were focusing on the bike...then perhaps 50%.
It also helps for some reason to increase the intensity with the decreased volume.

And definitely don't take the day before the race completely off. What Dave did his last day before competition was perfect. Don't be afraid that day to go crazy anaerobic for short periods of time. It's actually going to upregulate your cardiovascular performance somehow (I don't know how, just know it does).

Thanks for the detailed info. 55:31-51:39 in one year...damn! (I am optimistically looking for 2 minutes myself...but from 58-56...)

---

******************************************************
Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze

Well there were some other things involved there as well. Specifically I just jumped into the race in 2009 as my first time trial ever. Slightly hungover, shorts and a jersey, coming off a mostly disastrous tri season marred by injury and lack of time. I raced angry that day.

2010 I was focused on this race specifically for about 11 months with a skinsuit, shoe covers, faster tires and wheels, better position and slightly less wind all needing to be factored in. I had pre-rode the course probably 8 times during threshold workouts. I knew ever pebble and pothole, dip and rise.

Lets not make this thread about me, follow the link I posted above and read all about it. Between that blog and this thread, you pretty much have the whole story.

 
i've got a 40km tt on a saturday that i care about. i also have the chance to do a 15km club tt on the thursday.

on the one hand its a short effort, so if i manage the days around it right, it could be ok.

on the other, it gives only one day to recover.

would you guys skip it?

Cardiac stroke volume.

You're on the bike less than an hour so not much taper needed. I train/rest as normal until 2 days before and then the intervals get short. Sometimes the day before I'll do 2x1 or 2x2 hard to activate, and other times I'll just take it easy the whole ride. Can't say I've noticed much difference either way.

I'd do it but maybe hold 40k power for the 15k on thursday (ie don't go balls deep on thursday)
I tend to recover rather well and thursday would be a reality check on where you stand