Sports Scientist Abby Coleman looks at whether athletes should taper before races, and provides practical advice on when, why and how athletes can optimise the taper period.
"}},"slug":"how-to-taper-before-a-race","blogTags":"Performance","featuredPost":false,"author":{"name":"Abby Coleman","slug":"abby-coleman","facebookHandle":null,"twitterHandle":"https://twitter.com/abbyc0leman","instagramHandle":"https://www.instagram.com/abby_coleman/","linkedInProfile":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/abby-coleman-265966122/","stravaProfile":"https://www.strava.com/athletes/45020509","bio":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"html":"Abby Coleman is a Sports Scientist who completed her BSc (Hons) degree in Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Bath and has worked at the Porsche Human Performance Centre as an exercise physiologist. She also has qualifications in nutritional training, sports massage and sports leadership.
"}},"title":"Sports Scientist","headshot":{"file":{"url":"//images.ctfassets.net/428xzyjdw7rf/2LSPbzorht2w3T617jgC9B/1beb845600daec37a489940c839b58bb/Abs.png"}}},"scientificallyReviewed":false,"image":{"resize":{"src":"//images.ctfassets.net/428xzyjdw7rf/5KigRl0O0xxl7Il4gdKeDk/7219a743cf9586e4b8058369d57a746f/ezgif.com-gif-maker.jpg?w=1200&h=630&q=70&fit=fill","width":1200,"height":630}},"socialMediaImage":null,"body":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"excerpt":"Taper (verb): to diminish towards the end In a sports setting, a taper refers to a phase of reduced training load that you might undertake in the lead up to an…","html":"\n\nTaper (verb): to diminish towards the end
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In a sports setting, a taper refers to a phase of reduced training load that you might undertake in the lead up to an important competition.
\nThe purpose of this taper is to optimise competition performance by reducing the negative impact of daily training (i.e. accumulated fatigue) without suffering a loss of the training adaptations (i.e. detraining) you’ve spent many weeks or months gaining.
\nWith well-planned training, by the time you start tapering you should have achieved all or most of the expected physiological adaptations so, as soon as the accumulated fatigue diminishes, your peak physiological and psychological performance can rise to the forefront...
\nTapering broadly means reducing an athlete’s ‘training load’ - described as a combination of the training volume, intensity and frequency.
\nTapering effectively comes down to striking the right balance between these three factors, as well as nailing the duration of the taper.
\nIt’s worth remembering that tapering might not be necessary ahead of each and every competition or race scenario. That said, it is a good idea to experiment with a reduction in training load, be that a formal tapering period or not, ahead of your key ‘A’ races.
\nCertainly, the more over-fatigued and overstretched an athlete is at the point of concluding their final mesocycle of training, the more effective, and necessary, the tapering period will be.
\nAn athlete’s training load should predominantly be reduced by decreasing total training volume - i.e. the amount of work done (e.g. number of reps and/or miles run).
\nResearch has shown that a 40-70% reduction in training volume compared to the pre-taper training cycle is the optimal decrease.
\nThat said, your sport might influence your taper. For example, some evidence suggests runners might benefit from a reduction as big as 80-90% in training volume. This is because of the greater demand running places on the body when compared to low-impact activities like swimming and cycling.
\nFor multi-sport athletes, like triathletes, reducing their running volume can easily be compensated for by maintaining some or all of the volume in their swim and cycle sessions.
\nIt’s easy to think the intensity, like training volume, should be reduced when tapering but this isn’t the case.
\nIt has been repeatedly demonstrated that upholding training intensity and maintaining some ‘quality’ sessions is an essential requirement for keeping hold of those training-induced adaptations during periods of overall reduced training load.
\nFor instance, a study compared a high-intensity low-volume taper with a low-intensity moderate-volume taper in middle distance runners. They found the retention of training-induced adaptations was optimised only in the high-intensity taper.
\nUnlike the intensity, you can afford to be a little more lenient with the frequency of your training during a tapering period. It has been found that within “moderately trained” individuals, training adaptations can be maintained with relatively low training frequencies (between 30–50% of pre-taper values).
\nThat said, higher training frequencies (>80%) are encouraged for “highly trained” athletes, especially in more “technique-dependent” sports, such as swimming. This helps to keep the ‘feel’ for the sport and maintain key movement patterns.
\nThe general consensus is that if you can (and want to) maintain a high training frequency in the lead-up to competition, this is unlikely to hinder your race-day performance, as long as the volume of these sessions is reduced accordingly.
\nThe fourth and final factor to consider when designing your taper is the duration. The literature has tested a wide range of taper lengths, from as little as 2-3 days up to several weeks, and the conclusion is that between 10 to 14 days is appropriate for most individuals.
\nThat said, some athletes might benefit from reducing their training load prior to competition earlier than this, as much as three to four weeks, depending on how overreached or fatigued they feel both physically and psychologically.
\nIn contrast, others (or even the same athlete in a different situation) might maintain their training load closer to race day, choosing to taper for a week or less. Both have been shown to be effective when applied correctly.
\nThose who adapt, and importantly lose, training-induced adaptations quickly might be better off with a shorter taper duration.
\nThose who are slower at adapting but seem to hang onto these adaptations for longer, might find a steadier, more gradual decrease in training load more appropriate.
\nScience may well earmark this as the key factor to determining taper length, but it’s often not this simple in practice. Andy highlights this issue in his blog where he dissects and outlines two successful but very different tapers he underwent during his triathlon career.
\nIn his review paper published in 2003, Iñigo Mujika, a sports physiologist and associate professor at the University of Basque Country, outlined four different taper profiles and used the graph below to illustrate the differences (something he also discusses on the ‘That Triathlon Show’ podcast).
\nBroadly, how a person tapers can be divided into two overarching themes:
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