I have an Olympic distance race that I would like to try and win or at least podium but it is in the middle of my IM build season- well 3 months before IMAZ so I have some time. I’d like to feel good and fresh going into the Olympic race but don’t know what sort of taper I should do so that I can still be doing some quality IM training volume. Any thoughts on how to approach the situation? Thanks
You can taper with the IM being three months out. If it is a Sunday Race do a long ride the Sunday before, a medium long run Tuesday and cut back from Wednesday on. You wlll not lose any fitness and the rest will help you when you go back to IM training after the race. If you can do a long ride the day after the race your back on track.
If you are as fit as it sounds, I doubt you need to taper for the event. I would try to see where you arein your cycle of rest and incorportae it at the end of the cycle so you can rest afterwrd or at the end of a rest week?
I suggest doing a runoff of the race at a very easy pace, maybe 4-5 miles with food and water. I doubt the real issue is racing , usually its the week after! ugh. Good luck! g
drop taper. Its what we used to do in swimming for a big mid season meet. you basically just ease down on your volume for three days so say you are doing 2hrs a day on wednesday then on thursday drop that to 1hr then on friday drop that to 30min then on saturday race. you can extend it out a few more days if you want basically you just do big drops a few days before race day.
I usually try to coordinate my monthly periodization to the occasional OLY race. So, three weeks on, one week off (1/2 to 2/3rds volume), with the race at the end of the off week. I usually feel pretty fresh for the race, and the only downside is a few days of soreness that goes away with some longer, recovery style rides during those first few days after at the beginning of the next build.
After you win the race, do the whole course again?