Taper for 5k/10k/XC races

Racing Flat

Tapering for the marathon is fairly well established, but what do people do for shorter races? Thinking of your typical 6 day a week runner who does 2 sessions and a long run per week in training for the race. With a big race on the weekend, what should s/he do to taper?

Stupid_Private

Racing Flat wrote: »

Tapering for the marathon is fairly well established, but what do people do for shorter races? Thinking of your typical 6 day a week runner who does 2 sessions and a long run per week in training for the race. With a big race on the weekend, what should s/he do to taper?

It depends slightly on the day of the race, but my routine stays fairly similar up to a few days beforehand. The long run the week before doesn't change and the first workout of the week is the same as normal. If the race is on a Saturday I'll do normal training up until Wednesday, drop the mileage on Thursday's run to about 4/5 miles, Friday 4 miles with a few strides in the middle. Race Saturday. Sunday race, I'll do normal training up until Thursday (maybe knock a mile or 2 off Thursday's easy run to make me feel better in the head!), Friday 4/5 miles with a few strides, Saturday off, Sunday race. My usual training is just under 60 miles a week.

It can change from race to race depending on how many miles I've been putting in the few weeks before. If I'm running 10 miles a day Monday - Friday, then on the race week I may knock them back to 8 miles, with the Thursday being 6 miles and Friday still 4. Again this is really for peace of mind more than anything else

Racing Flat

I tend to do:

Mon - same (easy hour)
Tues - e.g. 4 x 800 instead of 8 x 800
Wed - 6m instead of 8
Thurs - 6-7m instaed of 10
Fri - Rest
Sat- Race

but not sure what's best...

tergat

It is very easy to be confused because the magazine articles for many years have talked about the magic of taper. Sure, if you are an elite runner covering huge mileage; cutting mileage by 20-40% is a good thing. But, if you are running minimal mileage in the first place it is very bad idea.

I'll tell you the many, many times runners have told me they have run personal bests at the end of a higher mileage week. The key is not having too many hard / draining weeks in a row and then try to run a solid race time. And, the weird thing is people don't seem to recognise that high mileage doesn't necessarily have to be that hard.

If you taper more than 10-14 days out from a key race you will lose aerobic power and endurance and will rig in the race.

The standard taper in the final week should be about 20% or so of total volume with a medium intensity workout.

Oh and Racing Flat always run the day before a race with some light strides. If you want a day off take the day 2-3 days before race off. Also a light 10-20 mins in the morning of a race 800m-10000m long can work wonders.

Tergat

getfit

Tergat - I've heard about the 10-20 min jog the morning of a race -what's the logic???

Racing Flat

tergat wrote: »

Oh and Racing Flat always run the day before a race with some light strides. If you want a day off take the day 2-3 days before race off. Also a light 10-20 mins in the morning of a race 800m-10000m long can work wonders.

Tergat

Thanks - how long would you recommend to run the day before?

cfitz

Racing Flat wrote: »

Thanks - how long would you recommend to run the day before?

I normally do:

10-15 min warm up jog
Strides (maybe 1 x 200m then 3 x 60m, whatever feels right)
10-15 min warm up jog


It probably doesn't make too much difference as long as you don't over-do it. I think the strides should help to loosen out the legs and get into racing mode.

tergat

getfit wrote: »

Tergat - I've heard about the 10-20 min jog the morning of a race -what's the logic???

Running the morning of a race opens up capilliary beds and acts as an overall awakening of the aerobic sytem. Try it you will feel better in the race. Start with 10 mins if you havent done this approach before.

The only way to know if shake-out runs work for you is try it a few times. You are an experiment of one!

Tergat

tergat

Racing Flat wrote: »

Thanks - how long would you recommend to run the day before?

Racing Flat,

Depends on ability and experience usually anywhere from 20-40 mins with some light strides.

On the topic of taking days off before races and during general training have a think about this. One of my favorite sporting events is the Tour de France. Every year I watch it in full. During three weeks of cycling they only have a couple of days off. And, you'll hear the annoucers, who know very well what's going on, say, "Today's an off day, so the riders will go for a 1.5-2 hour ride with a few sprints." Also, you'll hear Paul Sherwin say, "The body does strange things when it takes off a day."

It's true the elite cyclists understand that taking days completely off messes up their physiology. Some riders lose endurance. Other lose power. But more important is the overall concept that performance depends of frequency of stimulation.

Research on the motor learning world has for many years revealed the skill patterns are developed with frequency more than duration. The more often you do something, before fatigue settles in, the more efficient you are technically at that skill.

Tergat

Koroibos

tergat wrote: »

Racing Flat,

events is the Tour de France.
the riders will go for a 1.5-2 hour ride with a few sprints."

It's true the elite cyclists understand that taking days completely off messes up their physiology. Some riders lose endurance. Other lose power. But more important is the overall concept that performance depends of frequency of stimulation.

Tergat

They have been racing for 10 days in a row. Cyclists going for a short ride on the rest days is more comparable to doing an easy run the day after a race to recover. Those easy rides are not for training but recovery, they feel they would just get too stiff if they didn't ride.

Regarding a taper for a race it comes down to one of two things. Is this race your primary goal for the season or just a stepping stone to your primary goal race. If it is the latter the 20% sounds good. If it is the former your only aim should be to get to that race in the best shape possible and don't even think about the next week. If that means cut back to 50%, a figure I have seen for 5k, that what you have to do. More people go into races tired than fresh.