Pre Race Taper

Now this is just one perspective and one way to look at and monitor a pre-race taper.

A taper to an event is very individual and should be personalised to the athlete and not a stock standard approach. The length and rate of tapering is also dependent upon the event that the athlete is training for, the longer and more strenuous the event, the longer the taper for the event needs to be. However, in saying this, during a taper this does not mean that all intensity and volume go out the door. Too much of a taper can lead to an athlete feeling sluggish and unprepared when they come to the start line, too little of a taper and the athlete is not refreshed enough to perform at their capacity.

When tapering for an event there are 2 factors to think about, training intensity and training duration. It is important to reduce both of these during the course of a taper, however, some intensity still needs to be maintained during the taper in order to keep the athlete sharp ahead of race day.

For example, if training for a sprint distance triathlon, then your last hard quality session may be on the Wednesday of race week to keep that intensity up during the week but also enough time to allow the body to recover. Alternatively, training for a marathon, the tapering process can start 2-4 weeks out from an event, your last long run may be 3 weeks out from an event and then after this, the long run is gradually reduced whilst still maintaining a bit of midweek quality running.

Monitoring an athletes taper

This can be done in many ways, but below is one example of an athlete tapering for a half marathon and how their HRV (heart rate variability) responded during this time.

Above it can be seen that this athlete had a steady HRV during their last normal training week prior to race week. During taper/race week there was a reduction in the athlete’s general training volume (duration and intensity) and it can be seen that there was a dramatic increase in their HRV. This positive increase in HRV indicates a positive adaptation for the athlete and that the athlete is recovering well and their body is getting ready for race day. This is not the only way to monitor training adaptation and recovery, HRV is very individual and works for some people but not others. An athlete’s internal feeling of how they are feeling is often always the best measurement and then data can be used to help inform this.

This athlete achieved a 3min PB in their half marathon race.

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