Workouts 1-2 weeks before a race will not benefit you.
I have read this several times in an array of different phrasings and have just accepted it and moved along but I would like to know more behind this theory. Why doesn’t a run/swim/bike I do today carry over to my fitness for a race I have in 1 or 2 weeks?
I have a HIM on Aug 25th and feel I am very prepared except a little on the run. I have been doing about 25MPW but with runs only up to 5-6 miles each. I was going to do a 10-11 miler this week but am now thinking other wise if it will not make a difference. FWIW, I have done runs up to 19 miles in Jan-Feb then dropped it back after I got pussyitis in my left knee.
Congratulations on critically thinking about this myth of training. ALL workouts build fitness. However, they also induce fatigue. So workouts done in the final week will benefit you in the race if the fitness-building effects outweigh the fatiguing effects at that time.
Thierry Busso and colleagues have shown the benefits of increased workloads at the end of tapers using a modified version of the Banister impulse-response model of training and performance. Links to the abstracts of these studies and the ones upon which they were based are here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19675490
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18344135
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16177616
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12840641
So, there’s a good chance you could benefit from increasing your running training load in these next couple of weeks if your fitness is less than what you would like.
Thanks for the articles. The raw data in the studies went straight over my head but the last part of the articles is what I read over a few times. So help me understand this a little better. According to one of the articles I should do a 20 to 30% increase in training at the end of the taper. So if my peak week was last week at 13 hours of SBR, this week will be around 10 hours then what should next week look like according to this 20-30% increase? Am I supposed to go back up to 12-13 hours before my race? I was planning on dropping down to about 5 hours for the week. As stated in two of the articles an optimal training would be to have a better and higher build before the taper then do a longer taper. I listed the conclusions to the articles below for reference.
“simulations showed that a 20 to 30% increase in training at the end of the taper, as compared to a prolonged reduction in training, allowed additional adaptations without compromising the removal of fatigue.”
“Our computer simulations show that the characteristics of an optimal training reduction in elite athletes depend on the training performed in the weeks prior to a taper.”
“Greater training volume and/or intensity before the taper would allow higher performance gains, but would demand a greater reduction of the training load over a longer period. The results also pointed out the importance of training adaptations during the taper, in addition to fatigue dissipation.”
I think a lot of taper based stuff is geared towards IM, and based somewhat on what marathoners do as an example. For a half, I think the fatigue comes from too many miles on the bike a week or two out. Dropping the miles on the bike, and keeping some race intensity intervals seems logical. If it’s run durability your lacking, doing some EZ 10 mile runs shouldn’t fatigue you too much, especially for a grin and bear it 13 mile HIM run. You won’t make huge gains, but the mental gains are probably worth the most. Phys Farm has a good graph that shoes how different sports have different taper periods, which again, is logical. http://physfarm.com/apollo/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/effect_curve2.jpg
According to the graph then, it shows that the biggest gains for the run would be a few days prior to the race. It peaks at .8 two to three days before the race. Is there some more backup to that graph to explain it? Thanks.
Philbert has a lot of good stuff on ST. I’m not going to try to explain in detail, since I’m not sure. The point I get out of it is a taper is not a one size fits all, or even the same for all sports. If I do a hard SHORT run a week out, I won’t be tired from it on race day. If I do a LONG EZ ride a week out, I may be tired still. For all three, depending on race distance, the duration is dropped, but the intensity usually remains. If I do a race pace long run a week out, I’ll probably be tired on race day.
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Yeah, the test is definitely hard to do. For me, it really helped to have a bunch of people around yelling / cheering / swearing at me. We usually make people do a familiarization trial or two before they go for it for real.
Regarding the time constants (and the impulse / gain terms), you got it. You use them to plot the build and taper. Basically, you calculate the influence or effect curve using all 4 constants. In a nutshell, it tells you how much positive or negative effect training today has on how you will perform in the future. I’ll copy a graphic in below here
For those still reading along who aren’t familiar with this kind of thing, the peak in each curve is the day of maximal effect. In other words, since Day Zero on the horizontal axis indicates race day, the peak of the curve tells us where our most important training days are before that race. The day the curve falls below the zero line on the vertical axis is the day of negative effect. After this point, you had better be sure you are in your taper, because hard training after that day will have a negative effect on your race.
Note how different the curves look for each sport. By customizing the build and taper in each sport, you can get a peak in all 3 on the day of the race. That is the real power of this approach.
Phil
Dr. Philip Skiba
PhysFarm Training Systems
Coaching, Consulting and Technology for World Champions, and You.
Dr. Phil’s Books available here
Race is on August 25th, ten days away. So, I would continue to do my normal running this week at about 27MPW (6,6,5,10). Then next week be looking at doing a peak race effort run 3-4 days prior? What distance should that run be? I got the bike peak in since i did a century two Saturday’s ago and continue with 50-60 min sessions 4x a week. My peak swim should then be this week which is no problem. Help me nail down my run for training these next 10 days. Thanks for the help.
This is what I would suggest, and again, there is no perfect progression. The graph is just an example. If you feel shitty, cut it short or back off on the intensity. I’ve used this before and have felt good race day. The main point is that you’re not doing long race pace duration. Just mixing some in. Swimming is pretty much whenever. In all, there is about 2-3 hours of race pace stuff mixed in.
8/18 2hr EZ bike with 6x(5min race pace, 1-2min EZ) mixed in at end //////////1hr brick with 6x(5min race pace, 5min EZ) Use this to check bike nutrition last 30min or so, so you don’t feel bloated or whatever the first 10-20min running
19 EZ 45min recov run Swim
20 1-2hr bike with some race pace intervals thrown in 15min brick (2min race pace, 3min EZ)
21 45min run with 6x(2min race pace, 2min EZ) Swim
22 Same as above or EZ recov run Swim
23 1hr EZ bike with 5/4/3/2/1 min race pace/recov(5rp,5recov,4rp,4recov…etc.) intervals mixed in 15-30min EZ brick Swim
24 off
25 15min EZ swim, 15min EZ run, 30min EZ bike
26 Race
For clarity, is this chart suggesting that any cycling done less than 20 days before race day is rather pointless?
However, swim and run workouts done less than 10 days before the race is benefital?
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/....cgi?post=3453556%3B
Starts at post 16. It is not an “absolute” graph or number.
The day the curve falls below the zero line on the vertical axis is the day of negative effect. After this point, you had better be sure you are in your taper, because hard training after that day will have a negative effect on your race.
So help me understand this a little better. According to one of the articles I should do a 20 to 30% increase in training at the end of the taper. So if my peak week was last week at 13 hours of SBR, this week will be around 10 hours then what should next week look like according to this 20-30% increase? Am I supposed to go back up to 12-13 hours before my race? I was planning on dropping down to about 5 hours for the week. As stated in two of the articles an optimal training would be to have a better and higher build before the taper then do a longer taper. I listed the conclusions to the articles below for reference.
In interpreting the results of these studies, it is important to focus on the principles rather than take things literally. The principle is that you should rest earlier than what would be conventional and then do a few hard workouts leading into the goal race to sharpen up. So for example, if your race is on Sunday, a conventional week-long taper would have you progressively reduce volume for 7 days starting on the prior Saturday. Instead, a practical interpretation of these studies would be to cut your training significantly from Wednesday to Wednesday and then do some harder workouts Thursday-Saturday.
If I understand your case correctly, you state that you haven’t been running as much as you would like (25 mpw but 5-6 mi longest runs) and therefore feel a “little” undertrained. With 10 days left to go, you are wondering if you can build fitness. The answer is likely yes although you probably won’t be able to gain much without inducing significant fatigue as well. Here’s what I would try: I would run 6-8 miles per day for the next three days, with one of those workouts incorporating some threshold-level running (perhaps 20-30 min worth) and one of the other workouts incorporating some strides. I would then take the following 3 days short & easy (with at least one of those days completely off) to shed some fatigue, then 2 days 6-8 miles per day, with one of those workouts with threshold work and then run easy or take the following day off before the race (equals 9 days total, right?).
My rationale is as follows: The general pattern follows the idea of the taper studies (i.e., shed fatigue early and then sharpen up) while increasing your run training load compared to what you have been accustomed to. The strides and threshold work will target your faster motor units (type II fibers) while the remainder of the runs should be done at an easy pace. It’s a balanced approach focusing on consistency without any single workout being overly taxing (such as would happen with a 10-11 miler, which I don’t recommend you do). I have found through experience that either not running or running very very easy & short the day before the race helps me to avoid any feelings of fatigue or soreness on raceday, hence the prescription above.
The influence curves (or “effect curves” as Dr. Skiba calls them) are based entirely on the parameters estimated from fitting the Banister model to your training and performance data. I discovered using this approach that I need only a week-long taper for running vs. the classic two-week taper I was accustomed to from my competitive swimming days.
The basis for the influence curve is described in the exquisite paper by Fitz-Clarke et al.:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1757312
Again, the caveat is that the Banister model is a simplified abstraction of the dynamics by which humans respond to exercise training. So you should be careful in how you interpret the results. If you literally interpret the influence curve, then you would stop training altogether where the curve crosses zero (day = “tn”). Doing so, however, would defy experience. Instead, the practical interpretation is to ensure “your taper is well underway by this point.” Similarly, sometimes the fitted parameters lead to influence curves that suggest you do your hardest training 2-3 days out from your goal race. Again, common sense dictates that maybe this isn’t the best idea. (In some cases, however, especially novices that aren’t training very much, it might make sense to continue normal training to the day leading up to the goal event because the athletes are simply not accumulating much fatigue from their training.)
Surely there’s other factors like keeping your metabolism going. Simple linear response models tend to yield extreme conclusions – like maximal training or complete rest but nothing in between.
the caveat is that the Banister model is a simplified abstraction of the dynamics by which humans respond to exercise training. So you should be careful in how you interpret the results.
Especially since the model is usually so overparameterized that the uncertainties of the parameter estimates are quite wide…and since “tn” is calculated from them, when “the point of no return” is reached is really just a WAG, at least on an individual basis:
For an Ironman taper, I always refer to the wisdom of the incomparable Chuckie V:
If you’ve been training a consistent 30 hours a week or more, you might consider a Mark Allen-esque taper. Oh, and get a life.
If you’ve been training a consistent 25 hours a week, you might consider a three-week taper.
If you’ve been training a consistent 20 hours a week, you might consider a two-week taper.
If you’ve been training a consistent 15 hours a week, you might consider a one-week taper.
If you’ve been training less than 15 hours a week, you might consider skipping a taper until a few days out.
If you haven’t been training at all, you should consider getting off your lazy, shaven ass before it’s too late, fatty.