My first 1/2 IM is in one and a half weeks, next Saturday, up til now, when I’ve started my taper after a sprint on Sunday and a 1/2 marathon the week before, I’m not sure what to do in the next few weeks. I had been planning on finding a 5K and doing it on Saturday and riding for a little while afterwards- or riding there if it is appropriate and then on Wednesday there is a 20 mile TT that I’ve considered doing, not all out but just enough to get my legs going for 20 mins that afternoon. Between these “races” I was just going to be doing some easy rides and runs and then swimming most days. Is this too much for this week? I’ve been putting in 10-15 hours a week since February. I already feel like I have waaay too much energy and I’m ready to go.
I think your taper plan sounds good, assuming you’ve got some other short stuff planned during the week in addition to the weekend sprint and the Wednesday TT. Good luck!!
there was tons of research coming out of East carolina univ in the mid 90’s about this. If you want to do a lit search look under houmard, scott and johns.
Bottom line is you should greatly reduce volume and maintain intensity. Some of the studies had first week reductions about 30% and fast runnig/swimming everyday.
Don’t remember all the technical stuff but friel, gordo etc have extensively used the studies in their writing.
Try this…this weekend, do 1/2 the ride and run distances that you would normally be doing on your long days but keep intensity high. Then all next week,(race week) simply keep the number of workouts the same that you normally would do, but reduce the duration of these workouts by 50%. So if you are used to doing 10 workouts/week, do the 10 workouts, but just cut the duration by 50% and be sure to keep intensity high for intervals at a time.
If race in Sunday, Take Friday OFF, then insert a short brick on Saturday. Better to be 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained.
1 - Maintain frequency - Continue your normal schedule. Don’t skip workouts for “Taper”
2 - maintain intensity - Don’t take every workout really easy for taper. Keep the same speed that you would for your regular workouts. Maybe even throw in a few minutes of increased intensity to retain muscle memory.
3 - Reduce duration - Depending on the length of the taper, up to 50-75% reduction. Do half, a third, or a quarter of the distance you would normally do. Reduce the duration more as you get closer to your event.
These three principles will allow you to build the taper that fits your race, schedule and goals.