Which is Worse -- Build or Taper Mode

Triathlon Forum
1

Excuse all my lame armchair tri terms but I’m in taper mode of my Base 1 training. Basically, I slowly build intensity over a three week period and then back off for a week to prepare for my Base 2 which starts in January. These tapers are just light training, not sitting around doing nothing. You get the idea.

Anyway, this taper mode totally sucks. I feel fat and lazy. I feel like I should be out doing something. I went through the same withdrawls when I finished college and had no homework to occupy my time from 6:00 am to 3:00 am. I was beside myself after college and even bought some puzzles to pass the time (bad idea).

On the other hand, we all know what it’s like to stay motivated while training hard. It is sooo easy to hit the snooze button instead of waking up to swim at 4:30 in the morning.

So my question is, which is worse and why? Staying motivated to train hard or trying to train lightly and avoiding going too hard?

2

How easy was your “baes 1”? You likely don’t need a recovery period. If you do, just expect to come back a little flat after the easy week. I let my body tell me when it’s time to take a few easy days rather than design them in. Sometimes I may need a 3-5 day break every 2 weeks if intensity and volume are both high, other times it can be 6-10 weeks.

3

Jeez, for me, build was harder. I would dread the upcoming 6-7 hour Saturday bike/run bricks leading up to IMFL. Riding a bike for 6 hours straight alone (I always trained alone) just wasn’t something I enjoyed, but I wanted to do it to achieve that goal.
I looked forward to taper time and yes, did question if I was losing my fitness, even though I knew in my head that I wasn’t. But it was nice to get up on a Saturday morning and know I only had to ride for, say, 4 hours instead of 6.