Correct way to rest up for a race?

You won't know the your answer until you've tapered for a few events.  People recover and react differently.  I love to go for a few easy swims and light, short spins on the trainer in the week (or two depending on the distance of the event) before race day.  I don't do any running at all because I'm pretty poor at it, and it takes a lot out of me.  It's really taken me going on three years to get comfortable with my taper routine.  The best advice I can give you right now is not to get to wrapped up in it that you lose focus on the race.  You say you felt sluggish taking two full days off last time, so this time get an easy, short bike ride in two days before.  See how it feels.  If you like it, stick with it.  If you don't... no biggie, try something different when the next race rolls around.  Unfortunately, there really isn't a gold standard for the proper taper.  Generally, it's find the mix of easing up on duration and intensity, coupled with some rest, that works for YOU.

Edited by sesh 2009-07-29 12:30 PM

Sprint? OLY? HIM? IM? What distance?

Sprint, I would take Sat off but work out as normal up until Friday.

I neglected to mention that the race I'm doing is a sprint.

Thanks very much for the replies so far.

I have been doing the 12 week BT sprint training plan for my first sprint this Sunday. It has me scheduled for only 15 minute swim, run and bike for this week and off Saturday. I have been doing a bit longer than the plan recommends so I'm doing 20-30 minute workouts this week and mixing it up with some light strength and aerobics.

Just take Saturday off. Don't go insanely hard in your workouts on the Thursday and Friday.

It's very much a personal thing, as some people can go right up to the Saturday before a race with their normal training, others require an additional day or two of rest, others find that ramping back intensity in the final week but working straight up to the Saturday of the race works best...it's all in how your body recovers and for me, I've found it to be very much a 'feel' thing. 

I haven't done many races/events--just one sprint, but a few cycling events, a few 5K's, etc--but I've found that sometimes the week leading up to a race I'll feel great, the knees and ankles (my two big 'issues') aren't hurting and I can work out pretty much uninhibited, taking the Saturday before the race off.  I've also had other weeks where I just felt run down, overworked, etc; so I took a mid-week day off, cut a few sessions short and just took it real easy that last week.

One last thing, and this is something I've read (in the Triathlete's Training Bible) but haven't yet put into practice with as little experience as I have: it's best to do short 'power' workouts the last week.  By this I mean do hill repeats for running and the bike, and swim in a t-shirt, something like that.  These are meant to be very short, moderate intensity workouts. I believe the reasoning Friel gave was that anything longer would just take more recovery time, and you wouldn't get any real benefits from it anyway; similarly, any speed workouts won't make you faster for the race, they'll just further tire your body leading up to it.  Do 1 power workout per event--and these should be short, moderate effort workouts--take the rest of the week real easy, and if you're going to do anything on Saturday make it very easy but also race-relevant: a slow, slow bike on the course, walk part of the run portion, or do an easy swim in the lake/ocean where the race is taking place.

Drink lots of alcohol the night before...it works.

When I started TRIs 4 years ago I used to rest the day before a sprint but since then I figured out that it works better for me to rest the 2nd day before the event and then do a very very easy and very short (like 30min bike and 10-15min run) brick the day before just to shake up the legs and see if I can still run and bike lol

You will find out what works best for you!

Edited by Joblin 2009-07-30 5:34 AM