From The Coaches: Tapering - When Doing Less is More

Getting ready to perform your best requires proper training and preparation. Once you’ve built up your fitness and abilities, though, it takes more than just the training you’ve done and a desire to perform well. Achieving your best during your event requires you to pay proper attention to many factors such as pacing, fueling, tactics, and strategy among many others to achieve your goals. That being said, what happens in the final 2-weeks of your preparation can have significant impacts on your ability to perform at your best in your event. I’m going to discuss a few ideas regarding tapering that can help you be ready for your next event - whether it’s a race, a test, or just a big ride where you want to hit some PRs!

Tapering is basically a reduction in training load that allows your body and mind to be prepared to perform at their best. Most studies show increases in performance between 2 and 8% when a 2-week taper is performed compared to continuing to train at a similar level leading into a competition. There are many different durations of tapers that have been tested, but in general a 2-week taper tends to consistently show the best results. While there are many individual variables to consider with a proper taper, the key ideas that tend to be required for a successful taper include a maintenance or only slight reduction in training frequency, a significant decrease in training volume, and a maintenance or even slight increase in training intensity during the taper. Let’s look a little deeper at each of these 3 aspects.

You can think about frequency simply as the number of training sessions per week, and in some cases how many sessions per day. Generally speaking, training frequency should only be reduced appropriately 20% during a taper. If we use an example of someone who is performing 5 sessions per week, a 20% reduction in frequency would simply be to perform one less session per week during the taper. If you already train at a low frequency (say 3 times per week), then 2-weeks from your event you might keep the same frequency, but during the week of your event you could drop one session and just have 2 sessions rather than 3.

One of the most aspects of a proper taper is a reduction in training volume. Overall, training volume should be reduced by 30-50% from normal during a taper. Some of the most effective 2-week tapers include a 20-30% reduction in volume 2-weeks prior to the event, and then the final week a further reduction of 40-60% less volume. For someone who averages 6 hours of training per week, this would look like 4.5 hours total hours 2-weeks out, and then maybe just 2.5 to 3 hours during the final week. Many folks get worried about reducing their volume this much during a taper, but one thing that I’ve found to be helpful is to have 50% reduction in training volume during typical recovery weeks (every 3rd or 4th week) to show how reducing volume by that amount is consistently beneficial. As I often say, rest is not a four letter word. Well - actually it is, but it’s not a bad word.

Intensity is one aspect of the taper where we generally recommend either maintaining or even slightly increasing in one session per week during a taper. One way to do this would be to choose your highest intensity session of the week during your taper, and increase the target power by 2-4% compared to your pre-taper high intensity interval targets. If you’re doing a Sufferfest session such as the NoVid Tapers session, you could simply increase the MAP target intensity by 3% to achieve the increased intensity. The goal is not to make the entire session harder, but just to increase the stress of the intervals just a little higher. We’ll often increase the duration of the recovery between efforts or between sets during a taper compared to what you might do during a normal training session to compensate for the increased intensity.

There are some other aspects of tapering that you need to consider adjusting during a taper, including altering your daily nutrition to match the changes in your training load, ensuring that you’re getting proper sleep and rest, and reducing your strength training to more of a maintenance level 2 weeks out and considering just including core stability exercises the week of your event so you’re not overtaxing your muscles. Remember, it generally takes about 7-10 days for your body to truly improve from a given training session, so while you won’t be building fitness in a taper you are just trying to do enough to allow your body to perform at its peak on race day.

If you find yourself wondering what to do with the extra time that you’ve got during a taper consider spending that extra time on mental training exercises, like those found in the MTP, as well as practicing relaxation. You don’t need to meditate or visualize for hours on end, but spending a few minutes each day on your mental training will help you get the most out of your body. Remember, it’s your mind that will allow you to access, use and express your physical capacity! Finally, the winter preparation months are a great time to practice different tapering strategies to see how your body responds to variations in your tapering strategies. Practicing a final week tapering sequence every 8 to 12 weeks will give you several opportunities to experiment and find what kinds of tweaks you can make to your tapering routine that consistently lead you to feeling your best on your race day! In The Sufferfest app you can find the Full Frontal Prep Plan and Full Frontal/Half Monty Double 1-week taper and test plans under “Special Focus” as suggested options to use as the final week of a taper.

Reference: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17762369/

“Effects of tapering on performance: a meta-analysis”
Laurent Bosquet, Jonathan Montpetit, Denis Arvisais, Iñigo Mujika

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Wow, some excellently thorough advise there :+1:

Go SUF science.

My interpretation - Fluffy, Hamsta, Fighting Cows, Lactic Acid Yaks and Laser Goats have nothing on a well paced Sufferlandrian Tapir when it comes to preparing for a big day. Go SUF Tapir!

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This article came on perfect timing.
I am just doing these 2-weeks before a FF at the end of a 12-weeks plan.
Then, as also advised elsewhere, one week free and the start of a new 12-weeks plan.

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:boom::boom: Love this !! :boom::boom:

The maintaining intensity part was one of the best things I ever learned. So great when you get it right and you feel fresh AND sharp!

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This might seem off topic but this kind of thoughtful science based discussion was basically absent when I was performing my butt off many moons ago. Tapering - ah Phooey! Run it again!! If anything we would increase volume rather than taper in the days or week before a performance. And one result was dancers getting injured and mental exhaustion.

I’ve always felt a little more cross disciplinary collaboration between sports science and the performing arts would be worthwhile for both sides. Yes, there is work going on in this area - but there could be more! Anyway, thanks for this - definitely gives me some food for thought for performing and cycling!

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I remember once where I did it perfectly and wow I felt invincible for about 3 days, I could ride as hard as I was able, and just keep going.

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I’ve definitely listened and learned from different sports and activities, and find that the pollination of ideas from seemingly disparate activities can be really helpful. I’m just finishing up “Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World” by David Epstein (author of The Sports Gene and great writer) and it’s a great read!

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Thanks Neal for suggesting Range. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect to get stuck into a book like this as I went to the county for the weekend with my family (first time since July that we’ve been allowed to leave the city limits of Melbourne). It’s a good spot to slow down and let the time pass reading…and cycling.

I too have found that dropping into other disciplines whatever they might be allows me to see my world of expertise with fresh eyes. That ability to see what is unfamiliar in something that I am intimately familiar with … if that makes any sense. I find it often leads to interesting questions and insights.

Anyway, as I read Range, I thought I’d reciprocate with a book that you might enjoy as well. Lynne Kelly delves into - non-literate indigenous knowledge systems. Her writing is no where near as dry as I just made it sound! On one level it’s the way one can recall every twist and turn of a familiar climb the second the road turns upward, or in my case how I could perform a work from hearing the first note of music regardless of its length. Anyway, I also think Kelly like David Epstein is a good story teller. Cheers, Jason

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Fantastic Jason - thank you for the recommendation!

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Thanks! I am going to add this to my reading list!

Based on your recommendation @Coach.Neal.H just ordered this book and really looking forward to what it has to say.

I am absolutely amazed at what impact sports science and psychology has on performance. Taking the Sufferfest MTP lessons and applying that to my working day and other sporting activities has made a very significant difference.

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Hi coach Neal.

I am coming up to a State championship race next weekend. While I am not a contender for the podium, I still want to give it my best. For this reason I set my plan (XC in season) to finish on the day of the race. This has led to a nice drop in volume and slight drop in frequencty, but I am unsure about “intensity”.
I would have thought that the “Taper Efforts” session which I am hitting tomorrow would be setup and ready to go, but you mention above that I should increase MAP by 3%. Should I do the same for the Primers session the day before the event?
The race itself is Saturday afternoon with a Saturday morning practice session. My plan is to do a gentle lap in practice, with a few sprints. Then have a good easily digested lunch and do some MTP stuff before the race.

Chris

Hi @ChrisMTB - good luck with the race. Yes, you could bump up the MAP target during your Taper Efforts by 3% as a small added intensity stimulus if your taper is going well! The rest of your plan and pre-race ride & MTP addition all sound good!

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This is what I’ve always struggled with.

I almost never feel great either on a race day or a testing day and I honestly dont know why…

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that plans are working. I reintroduced cycling trainings to my rutine last september and seen some great gains. I keep a diary and make references of how I felt during training and most of the build weeks I have positive feedback (like “feeling strong, HR reactive and able” etc.) Over last few months my FTP went from 150 to 221, MAP from 230 to 286, AC from 360 to 415 and NM from 720 to 999. My weight also went up a bit, I now am 35 and weight 62 kg.

So it all seems great. However on rest weeks my feel goes down, legs feel stiff and heavy, HRV drops, HR rises and I can’t seem to find a balance between rest and training. I was considering many reasons and basically rulled out workload and stress (my wellbeing is okay now). I do have performance anxiety I’m working on and a need to constantly test myself : (.

The only other thing that comes to my mind is that my immune system is taking a massive hit because of my sick sinuses? Sometimes I wake up with a sore throat that usually goes away after I wake up…

Is that how I’m supposed to feel during rest weeks or is it not? What is your experience with it? I must admit that after returning to higher intensity the good feeling usually comes back in no time. I wd be gratefull for any recomendations, if someone where in my pants, what would you do to make your tapper/rest weeks better?

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@przemonides hey there …

Definitely a question worth asking.
I’d say that all sounds broadly fine to me.

The heaviest my legs feel every four weeks is half way through a ‘full taper’ week. By that I mean proper drop in volume - I use the FF pre-week plan for that - and as long as I stick to that then I start to feel pretty ‘heavy/yucky’ as that week progresses.

And then I do Primers the day before the next ‘thing’ which often feels horrible. But it is super important. That’s the day the body and legs get re-awakened and the next day, your first workout if the new block, or a ln event or whatever … just works.

Follow the 4DP prep week as it’s written. It’s worth it.
Even do a FF at the end of it if I’ll there’s no event on that day. See what happens …

Hi and thanks for sharing :slight_smile:

It is true that sometimes I change things in my taper (not doing exactly as the FF prepr week says). I’m going to stick to it to the letter next time.

I would imagine that rest week is a steady and gradual rise in form, but my experience and yours as you described it is that there is a breaktrough and instead of a steady rise there is a huge jump in form - is it how it works?

On a side note, if you have a plan that doesnt end in FF, would you do FF by the end of that plan, or schedule FF plan, so that your next FF comes 7 days after original plan ends?

At 89 kg, I’d get new pants :joy: :joy:

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