taper

Tapering is good.  You should do it.

First for the run, then the bike, then the swim.  (They beat you up most to least, in that order).

Is there something specific you want to know?

Got it.  A certain amount of tapering is based on experience of what works for you.  But here are some general guidelines. 

• For a HIM, 1-2 weeks out is about right for most people.  It depends on how fatigued you are. 
• In general, it is better to be slightly 'over-tapered' than slightly under-tapered (i.e., still fatigued).
• In general, it is best to maintain workout frequency, but make the workouts shorter.
• Don't completely give up on intensity.  Include shorter bouts of intensity, but don't overdo it.
• How much to reduce?  Get total volume down to 50% or below what you've been doing.
• Taper the run first, then bike, then swim.  (For a HIM, you don't necessarily need to taper the swim at all, depending on how much you've been swimming.)
• Prepare to feel bad during taper, especially if your training volume has been high.  Prepare for phantom pains, imagined injuries and illnesses.

Good luck!

A taper is about regaining freshness and allowing your body to heal.  It's about allowing your body to shed residual fatigue and regain form.

To achieve that you want to reduce volume, maintain frequency, and retain intensity.  Too often, age-group triathletes believe that tapering/peaking is about resting.  That isn't necessarily true.  Certainly you are allowing your body to recover because of the reduced volume.  However, a taper isn't about resting per se. Simply skipping workouts during a taper "to rest," is the wrong approach.

One of the unique aspects of a taper is it is HIGHLY individual.  What works for one, may or may not work for another and it's only through empirical evidence gained after multiple tapers that you will find what works best for you.  That said, there are some general guidelines that may be helpful.  Typically the HIM taper/peak period is 2-3 weeks.  Since you're only two-weeks out, we'll look at it from that viewpoint.

• First week reduce overall volume 40-50% from previous week
• Second week reduce overall volume by another 40-50% from previous week
• Retain frequency - meaning don't reduce the NUMBER of workouts.  Maintain your workout routine.
• Maintain intensity while you reduce volume - this is important - it allows you to maintain fitness as you peak
• The structure of your workouts that have intensity should change - i.e. if during your build you typically would do a 2-hour ride that included 5 x 10' threshold intervals w/2' recovery, change that to 4 x 5' threshold intervals w/5' recovery during a 1-hour ride.
• Reduce run volume first, cycling volume second, and swim volume last
• During a taper your body is replenishing glycogen stores so during the final week, consume at least 5g carbohydrate/kg of body weight per day
• Since you are traveling for your race it is important to find a way to get workouts done while you are away from home

Hope that helps.

Your brick  should be short, but not necessarily easy......do your race pace.  The idea is to sharpen yourself for the race.  The rest of the advice is good IMO.  The only caveat I would throw in is that a taper can be a very personal thing, it's not a "one size fits all" to get it right for you (there are certainly generalizations, and you've been given them).....you may not get it exactly right the first time, so log what you do so you can make adjustments in the future.

I've been training with friends doing Augusta this year.  We're planning on a 35 mile ride this Saturday.  They'll probably do a couple of trainer sessions of 45 min-1 hour this week in addition to the Saturday ride and probably 2 30-45 min sessions on the trainer next week. 

I think I did a 8 mile run the last Sunday before my 2 HIMs with 2-3 shorter sessions of 3-5 miles earlier in the week.  I only ran once during race week for 5 miles...probably should have run at least a couple of times.

I would suggest keeping the swim frequency/volume up this week and drop the volume but not the frequency next week.  Matt Fitzgerald's super simple 70.3 plan has swims of 2000, 1600, and 2400 yards the week before race week and swims of 1300, 800 yards during race week (he also suggests a 10 minute swim the day before the race but I've had a hard time fitting that one in due to travel logistics).