Taper Day 1

via A Costa Rican

5 days until the Duathlon National Championships in Oro Valley. As much as I'm tempted to continue my usual training schedule, I'm going to start directing this blog to this week's taper as a reminder to take it easy.

I always ensure my training regimen includes a week recovery every three weeks (focusing mostly on endurance and speed) to avoid overtraining and guarantee a rejuvenated body and mind for another 3-week cycle of hard training. Tapering, on the other hand, is slightly different from recovery weeks. The length of taper depends on how fast you recover and the duration of your actual race. If it's a full marathon, most training programs strongly recommended two weeks average worth of taper or possibly more especially for older athletes who find that 2+ week taper is ideal for optimal performance due to age-related decline in speed of recovery.

This Saturday's race is only a sprint so I'm expecting about an hour finish or maybe less. Since the course is shorter than standard distance, I've decided to taper just for this week.

I personally hate tapering. My body's acclimated to waking up early in the mornings and I'm already out of the door without thinking. Tapering gets me terribly restless with all the pent-up energy I normally expend in training. I don't like to rest but I often have to remind myself to cut back gradually, by volume and intensity, especially during this week.

For my restlessness' sake, blogging will help with the reminder and keep me motivated (well, just a little) to rest. I won't be putting anything crazy that could backfire the recovery process and I know there are others reading this. You might find whatever I write this week boring or not as useful, I apologize for that but just for this week, I'm going to write down my progress as a personal note for myself so I can look back and gauge how recovered I feel by week's end and for the race.

Just because it works for me doesn't mean it should work for you. Experiment and create a taper schedule that works for your current fitness level and individual needs. Use training programs as a guide but you know your body better so don't be afraid to make slight adjustments if you need to!

Ok so, it's Monday. Taper day one. Here goes.

5:30 am swim (aerobic)
WU: 200 swim, 200 kick, 200 pull

Main set:
3x400m, #1-2 moderate, #3 hard
3x200m, same pacing as above

Pull:
2x(400 lungbuster, 200 hard)

CD: 100-200m

11:00 am interval run
WU: 10:00 at easy pace
Main: 8x1:00 at slightly below race pace, 2:00 recovery jog
CD: 10:00 at easy pace

Basically, this workout is just to maintain the speed built during previous training. Short bursts with high cadence and strong form within those minutes with longer recoveries. You don't want to feel pooped by the end of the workout--the goal is to finish still feeling strong like you can run another mile more!

Also, note the 11am session. I'm choosing to run at the hottest time of the day to get myself comfortable, once again, in the heat because the sprint race is at noon. Shoot me.