The 2009 Bangor Coastal Challenge is getting close. We’re in the taper zone here people!
Having taken advantage of some rare Northern Ireland good weather and successfully completed two 50-plus mile rides in the past two weeks (read about them here and here), I’ve now begun the tapering process in preparation for the main event.
Tapering is defined as:
A reduction in training prior to important competitions that is intended to allow the athlete to recover from previous hard training, maintain physiological conditioning, and improve performance.
The intention is to “reverse training-induced fatigue without losing any of the training adaptations”. Put simply, you rest before an important event but not so much that you lose fitness. Studies have shown that a two week taper with training reduced to 60-70% in the first week and down even as far as 20% in the second week have resulted in no loss of of fitness and improved performance on race day.
Of course, those studies focused on actual athletes, but I choose to believe that the results also hold true for unfit computer nerds who mess about on bikes.
Tapering, thats it, thats what I’m doing. It may look like sitting on my ar5e eating chips, but we know better.
Glad I could help!