February

Everyone knows that you should taper before your major competition, however not many people know what to do or when to do it.

 

Your tapering phase is arguably the most important aspect of your training build up. You can have had the best training build up ever, be fitter than you have ever been. However, if you do not get your taper sorted you can go into the race tired and not able to put any of your hard earned fitness to use. Alternatively you can rest too much during your taper and get on the start line feeling sluggish and stiff, again resulting in a poor performance.

 

The aim of a taper is to allow optimal recovery of muscle glycogen supplies, structural recovery of soft tissues, psychology preparation and a super-compensation of your performance from all of the hard work you have put in over your training build up. By the end of your taper you should be standing on the start line feeling as if you are ready to jump out of your skin. 

 

An effective taper is NOT stopping all of your training for a week, then just sleeping and eating until race day. It is important that your training duration and intensity is carefully managed during your taper to maintain the important training adaptations that de-train relatively quickly, such as blood volume, anaerobic enzyme activity and the kinaesthetic ‘feel’ of the discipline.

 

February Training Video