Taper - hurting MORE?

I don't know that I've ever trained for a backpacking trip so I can't offer advice there but a 43# pack!?!  Might wanna look at losing some weight in that department.  Care to post your pack list and?  Maybe I can help you eliminate/substitute some things.  Of course $$$ can always buy lighter weight stuff but that isn't always in the budget.

I just completed my first HIM this May and during the taper some days I thought I was going to die!! (From what I am not sure, but I just felt like crap.) All of the little aches and pains that had built up from peak training either came back or hurt to the point that I didn't think that I was going to be able to 'run through it'.  Not to mention I started to get depressed, partly because I felt so bad that I didn't know if I should bother even going and partly because intense exercise makes me feel better and I wasn't supposed to be exercising intensely.

I got on to BT and found some threads about the same thing I was experiencing.  I think it has something to do with the fact that our bodies get used to a high level of endorphins during our training and we experience something close to withdrawal during the taper.  

To make a long story short, I felt better knowing I wasn't going to fall apart on the course, and my HIM went well (for me that means I finished!!)

Good luck! 

Oddly, I always get new aches and pains when I start to taper. I think of it like a house settling. Odd descprition. It's like, you finally stop moving and your body just starts to settle in and that produces aches and pains.

Eh, I guess all I can say that will make sense is... yes that happens to me too!!!!

me too !  My knees were aching during my taper but felt fine on race day.

Taper madness has struck!!

the only part of taper that hurts for me is seeing my bike get lonely

Oh thank GOD! Honestly, I don't read many of the taper threads because I'm not good enough or doing big enough races to taper (lighter workouts the two days before, rest, eat well, good 'nuff). I decided to taper for this for a bunch of reasons, and I was really starting to question the decision. Good to know I'll be fine.

Yeah, 43 pounds ain't no lightweight pack, even for five days. I was hoping to hit 35. It has to do with a lot of things: one, though I'm sharing the group gear with a friend, all of our backpack stuff is sized to fit four because she has two little ones. So the tent is about 7 pounds because not only did we get the "three-person", but we had to get one rugged enough to withstand rugrats. Same with cooking stuff, group sized Jet-Boil. Two, we are taking along some extra food to do a little trail magic. I think we're going to be all magicked out by the end of the first day! Three, as you said, the ultra-light stuff is way out of my price range. I also choose to carry more weight for certain conveniences, though I cut a bunch of those out already. Finally, I'm on a SAR team, so I carry more emergency gear than your average joe simply because if heaven forbid something happened and I didn't have the "right" gear, my team would KILL me! Plus, even in the Whites we are going to be a LONG way from civilization (bushwhacking), so I've got more than I'd ever carry for a regular overnight just off I-93. Factor in the need for winter-conditions gear that you always need in the Whites, and you get on up there right quick!

one thing that helps me (at least for running) is doing yoga during the tapering.  A few days of good relaxing and stretching, and you'll feel much better (of course, it's always better if you can do it while you're training too, but I don't always have time...)

You're doing a 5 day, 56 mile bushwhack backpack with kids??? Good luck with that!! (I know mine are whining merciliessly after about 2 miles on the trail.....)