{"componentChunkName":"component---plugins-precisionhydration-src-templates-blog-blog-post-jsx","path":"/performance-advice/performance/examples-of-race-tapers/","result":{"data":{"site":{"siteMetadata":{"title":"Precision Fuel & Hydration","siteUrl":"https://www.precisionhydration.com"}},"contentfulBlogPost":{"noIndex":false,"updatedAt":"2024-03-07T19:18:32.3232+00:00","publishDate":"2021-02-11T00:00:00.000+00:00","title":"The art of tapering (and a tale of two tapers)","customMetaTitle":"The art of tapering (a tale of two tapers)","customMetaDescription":{"customMetaDescription":"Andy Blow recalls two very different experiences of race tapering to illustrate there's more than one way to build up to your A race.","childMarkdownRemark":{"html":"

Andy Blow recalls two very different experiences of race tapering to illustrate there's more than one way to build up to your A race.

"}},"slug":"examples-of-race-tapers","blogTags":"Performance","featuredPost":false,"author":{"name":"Andy Blow","slug":"andy-blow","facebookHandle":"https://www.facebook.com/andy.blow.3","twitterHandle":"https://twitter.com/andybl0w?lang=en","instagramHandle":"https://www.instagram.com/andyblow","linkedInProfile":"https://uk.linkedin.com/in/andy-blow-47b90133","stravaProfile":"https://www.strava.com/athletes/6999012","bio":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"html":"

Andy Blow is a Sports Scientist with a BSc Honours degree in Sports and Exercise Science from the University of Bath. An expert in hydration, he has co-authored a number of scientific studies and books.

\n

He was once the Team Sports Scientist for the Benetton and Renault Formula 1 teams and remains an adviser to the Porsche Human Performance Centre at Silverstone.

\n

Andy has finished in the top 10 of IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 races, as well as winning an XTERRA Age Group World title. It was his own struggles with cramp that led to him specialising in hydration and founding Precision Fuel & Hydration.

"}},"title":"PF&H Founder and Sports Scientist","headshot":{"file":{"url":"//images.ctfassets.net/428xzyjdw7rf/2LTns8O1ZGOHSfDQGv2jZz/f6470d62f0c1f14e7239432f60a0b765/Andy.png"}}},"scientificallyReviewed":false,"image":{"resize":{"src":"//images.ctfassets.net/428xzyjdw7rf/4xHJZ1JcXWQqFaehGmQpdy/cdae5bdedea92e4ef5ffaa099f574869/ezgif.com-gif-maker__29_.jpg?w=1200&h=630&q=70&fit=fill","width":1200,"height":630}},"socialMediaImage":null,"body":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"excerpt":"Tapering to reach a peak for a specific event is often described as both an art and a science. Abby has covered the current scientific consensus on tapering…","html":"

Tapering to reach a peak for a specific event is often described as both an art and a science.

\n

Abby has covered the current scientific consensus on tapering and, while I certainly wouldn’t describe myself as an ‘artist’ of any sort, I’ve summarised a couple of very different tapering experiences I had when building up to my ‘A’ races in 2003 and 2005 in order to provide an anecdotal perspective on the subject.

\n

The two tapers preceding these races were fundamentally different in many ways but both resulted in good performances, so it hopefully goes some way to demonstrating that, when it comes to what you do in the immediate build-up to an event, there is more than one way to cook an egg.

\n

The key to any good taper (and indeed cooking an egg) is to make sure you’re not overcooked or raw…

\n

2003: The ‘textbook’ taper

\n

During the early months of ‘03, according to my meticulous (if somewhat scruffily) handwritten training diaries, I was regularly logging 15 to 20 hours of hard training per week and soaking it up nicely.

\n

I was on a mission to get a spot for the IRONMAN World Championships at Kona and was targeting a 70.3 (or half-IRONMAN as it was known then) qualifying race in Sherborne, Dorset, in the build-up. I was on a decent upward trajectory month-to-month, clocking PBs in running races, cycling time trials and winning a number of build-up triathlons throughout the early season.

\n

\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n

Image Credit: Andy Blow ©

\n

Reading it now it seems all but inevitable that I was going to have an excellent race and that’s exactly what happened. ‘Best race ever!’ reads the note against Sunday 31st August in my diary.

\n

I managed to come in 3rd overall and to beat most of the pros in the field, winning my age group by 17 minutes and punching my Kona ticket.

\n

When I now reflect on tapering for this race, it was basically done almost exactly in agreement with what the science tells us is optimal. This was ‘easy’ to achieve because I had a relatively uninterrupted build-up, my confidence was high and I was able to commit to the process of reducing overall load whilst maintaining the frequency and intensity of training at the expense of volume.

\n

I also managed to go into the race in a very relaxed state of mind - something that’s not always emphasised in the studies looking at how to taper - and I definitely feel like this was hugely positive in giving me the mental reserves to dig deep on race day and really go to ‘the well’ to draw out my best possible effort.

\n

2005: an enforced early taper

\n

In 2005, my A race for the year was IRONMAN UK. Held at the same venue where I’d had success in 2003 at the half-distance, I was determined to see what I could really do over the long course distance having underperformed in Kona in '04.

\n

Unlike 2003, my build-up through 2005 was more up and down with a couple of niggling injuries and repeated periods of fatigue and mild illness reducing the consistency of training.

\n

With the hindsight offered by going back over my diary for the first half of the year, it’s clear that I was constantly treading the line of overtraining and frequently getting on the wrong side of it.

\n

The race was on 21st August and about 3 weeks prior when I should have been putting in some of my biggest preparatory workouts, I wrote in my diary ‘Day off, slept in. Feel tired and unmotivated, lethargic and p*ssed off. Oh dear.’

\n

At this point I remember talking to Paul, my coach who advised me to simply back right off and rest up - only training very light and short sessions (i.e. reducing volume, frequency AND intensity - not what the tapering book says at all) in order to try to recover some motivation and energy before the race.

\n

\n \n

I think the key thing to remember with any taper into a race is not to get too caught up in it needing to be entirely perfect for it to allow you to deliver a good performance at the end. No matter what the science suggests is optimal.

\n

If things do go swimmingly, as they did for me in ‘03, then that’s brilliant. But this is quite rare.

\n

\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n

Image Credit: Andy Blow ©

\n

If in doubt, my general advice based on many other less than optimal tapering experiences is to be cautious and rest up a bit more than you might think necessary. Ultimately, physical and mental freshness can allow you to really step up on a given day.

\n

On the other hand, taking lingering fatigue into an event has never really helped anyone when it comes to digging deep and so avoiding this at all costs should take precedence in most situations.

\n

Further reading

\n","timeToRead":8,"headings":[{"depth":3,"value":"2003: The ‘textbook’ taper"},{"depth":3,"value":"2005: an enforced early taper"},{"depth":3,"value":"Does a 'perfect taper' exist?"},{"depth":3,"value":"Further reading"}]}},"reviewer":null}},"pageContext":{"slug":"examples-of-race-tapers","noIndex":false}},"staticQueryHashes":["1095528202","1204021508","142052947","1485196607","1527722960","2488678560","266977044","2746441856","2932112381","3035445994","3266792109","3683832922","3998591504","4055654595","4087350428","473255425","608825219","657160472"]}