Granted I haven’t hit the huge volume weeks that iron man training entails yet, but I find that taking more than 2 days off of running seems to instantly reduce how fast I can run. This when im running 20 to 30 miles per week.
Is this normal at my mileage?
Some of my best results have come off big volume/frequency weeks with 1 day of full rest 2 days before the event.
Granted MY best results wouldn’t be considered terribly fast…but it’s getting there. 
Tapering is weird. Last year for IMCDA I had a three week taper and it was awesome. This year for a 70.3 I basically didn’t taper at all (it wasn’t an “A” race so I was planning on using it as a training day) and set a 25 mintue pr. I wonder how much faster I could have done if I had tapered ‘properly’ for the 70.3.
I have often thought about that as well, although I have never had the cojones to experiment with it. My one experience which makes me think about it is PRing on a half marathon by three minutes in the middle of a build and a 40 mile ride the day before…that being said, I was also more trained and in better shape potentially.
Or maybe tapering isn’t necessary for you? A lot of us amateurs just don’t stress our bodies nearly as hard as FOP age groupers and pros, maybe we don’t need as much tapering?
Tapering is more than just taking a day or two off before a race. The appropriate method of tapering depends on a lot of things, including the type of event that one is tapering for, the level of training from which one is tapering, and other factors. After an extended period of high volume/high intensity training, it may take 2-3 weeks to be properly rested.
You might find this to be an interesting read by Mitch Gold - Taper Interrupted
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thank you…I was looking for that for him.
Tapering is a matter of timing. Lots more rest when combined with higher intensity certainly works for me. I took a couple of days off this week (too much work going on and feeling sick) and then went out for a bit of a ride after work yesterday and felt great. I decided to time trial a mile at cruising pace and ran the easiest sub-5 minute mile I remember. After nearly six months of near record volume for me, I seem to be reaping the benefits of tapering toward duathlon nationals.
Chad
My background has been as a swimmer. Yes it is true that some people can acheive great things mid-season at peak volume; however, if a taper is correctly done, then faster times are possible. The trick is to let the body heal from all of the training stress, then workouts of much shorter duration but very race specific pacing/intensity must be added and will make a very high percentage of the overall volume.
In HS I was able to get away with only a one-week taper. By the time I graduated college, I found myself swimming best times 4-6 weeks into a taper. If your taper is leaving you feeling flat, then you should have tapered longer, not shorter!
I’ve always been afraid to taper for too long. It’s probably mental, but for IM, my taper is 2 weeks, and for 70.3, it’s a week. For Oly and shorter, it’s basically 1-2 days.
I took all of June off, basically b/c of the weather. While the long term fitness is lacking(or maybe its just the heat) I have found that I still got speed. Doing a 2.5mile TT with hills(one way) back when I was racing and riding a lot, took 5:35. Did the other day while the first time on the bike(real training ride, not just a ride of 30 minutes or so) and the time was 5:25. Although it felt like more pain the 2nd time, as the first time hurt, but the legs were used to it.
Using performance modeling methods you can get some guidance on your own appropriate taper length.
You need to know a bit of math, but basically you input your training load (as TSS, RTSS, yardage, time whatever you have) and then match it to regular performance tests that you do. A bit of non-linear equation solving and you get the impulse response of your own training. You use a computer program to adjust the constants in the hairy equation to make it all match up.
I do this for folks I coach and for myself. I know Phil Skiba does this as well for his clients, he actually has a fancy name for his system, I forget what it is.
It is also the basis of the performance manager included in cycling peaks. However for the performance manager, you don’t change the constants, Dr. Coggan took a swing at what the constants are and they are set. So in that case the implied impulse response is always the same.
And yes, you can find that you don’t need much taper depending on your own training load, fitness etc. For example last year before chesapeakeman my data indicated something like a 21 day taper for running, 11 day taper for biking and 3 day taper for swimming. According to the previously published data the run is pretty typical, the bike a bit short, and swim drastically short. However previous data had never really tested fat guys training 6 - 12 hours per week.
The moral of my story is that tapers can be highly individual, based on my experience I would not be at all surprised to find that in this stage of your training before the big miles hit you need a short taper. But be aware that that may change between now and the big race.