General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Half Ironman Taper Rss Feed  
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2009-09-09 6:57 PM

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Spokane, WA
Subject: Half Ironman Taper

Okay, I've read soooo much about tapering and how to do it, but now that I'm getting close to my Black Diamond race (Sept 26th) I'm nervous and not sure when or how to taper.  There are three of us that have been doing mock triathlons for the last 9 weeks with a couple of actually races thrown in the mix.  Each one of our mocks have been slowly building until we've basically have done a full half (minus 3 miles on the run).  In fact two weekends ago I got carried away with my new full wet suit and did the full ironman swim of 2.4 miles! YES!  

So here we are 3 weekends away from the race and I'm just not sure what our next two weeks should look like.  I mean I'm going to follow my plan but gosh, should I actually start tapering now?  I read somewhere that you can't really add anything to your fitness level the last three weeks before a race because your body really won't have time to "absorb" it.  I don't know, I'm not sure if I buy it or not, but I do know that all these mock tri's have really wiped me out and I had to back off last week just to feel recovered enough to do the Titanium Man tri last weekend.

Anywho, any input would help.  Thanks in advance!

TriMoot
http://trimoot.wordpress.com



2009-09-10 12:57 AM
in reply to: #2397766

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Master
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Pacific Northwest
Subject: RE: Half Ironman Taper

If you are following a training plan, it will guide you through the last weeks leading up to your race.  If you aren't on a plan, it might do you good to pull up a HIM plan on BT and see what it calls for and try to do similar.  I am in the last, gulp, 10 days before my first HIM...tomorrow is my last long workout (it's supposed to be Friday but I moved it).....then just over a week to keep the legs moving but no more trying to add fitness.  I am nervous for my first HIM but pretty confident that I will survive the race.....however, you'll probably see more of my posts on BT as I try to fill the hours and keep my mind off my nerves!!    Good luck!

2009-09-10 8:07 AM
in reply to: #2397766

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Kirkland, WA
Subject: RE: Half Ironman Taper
my tapers were set up as two week tapers.  the third week out still had hard intevals, along with a long run/ride saturday and sunday.  Taper week 1 felt a lot like a normal week, as i was working out about the same number of times (frequency), but the workouts were just shorter (mid week run was 1 hr instead of 1.5 hrs, ride on the weekend was 1.5 hrs or so).  The final taper week was much shorter, with volume about 4 hrs + race.  during this week, my longest run was about 35 mins, with some fast, short running ( 4 x 1 min hard or somthing) mixed in.  same with the bike, longest ride of ~ 1 hr, but with some nice 5-8 min intervals mixed in to keep the legs poppin'. 

everyone talks about 'taper madness,' but i was so ready to take a bunch of days off. . . that wasn't the plan though, so i didn't!  whatever you do, make sure you listen to your body and if your body is super tired, take a day off and prepare for the race.
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General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Half Ironman Taper Rss Feed