How badly can you screw up a taper?

A lot of coaches will take the week before the big meet and go from running, say, 7-8 miles a day and start doing 3 miles a day and no workouts, thinking they are just getting more rest, when in fact they are putting their athletes out of routine.

My old coach used to have this belief that it took 3 weeks to get the benefit from a workout, so we would stop doing hard stuff 3 weeks out from championship season. Everyone pretty much bombed at districts every year.

The coach of the girls team at the HS I coach at is even more moronic. They are pretty terrible and they run about 20-25 mpw all summer/fall, then the week of regionals they start doing 2-3 miles a day, with the pre meet being half a mile warm up, 2 x 200, half a mile cool down. They also played volleyball on the thursday before. Like, not only are you NOT giving your runner good rest, you're actively taking away their ability to run well by putting them in the sand. It's sad. A girl who ran 18:50s as a freshman ran 20:30 this season as a junior.

Sorry, just venting now.

Most HS athletes aren't running enough to warrant a taper. They just get out of shape.

Pretty easy to do.

In some cases it comes down to coaches not planning well and running them too hard and then not enough recovery.

The simple answer is you lose muscle tension when you stop running as much. The long answer is in this link:

http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2014/07/why-tapering-can-be-dangerous-thing.html

More on muscle tension in particular, the last one also involves psychology.

http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2010/03/key-to-running-fast-on-race-day-muscle.html#more

doo doo wrote:

The simple answer is you lose muscle tension when you stop running as much. The long answer is in this link:

http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2014/07/why-tapering-can-be-dangerous-thing.html

This previous post is complete garbage. Do not believe a word of it. As others have said, you taper off of hard training not off low mileage moderate intensity.. Hard workouts are still important, but recovery is key.

I think a lot of the problem is that the idea of tapering, ie less overall running, has become synonymous with peaking. For some people, the two may not be the same, and too much of a taper will do them a disservice, especially if they are used to higher volumes.

I read the Magness article and it kind of makes sense in the context of Lydiard's 50m sprint 50m float sharpening workout or the easy fartlek 4-5 days before a big race. But maybe it is just coincidental.

Just muscle tension seems a bit hokey.

Iowakidscanrun wrote:

doo doo wrote:

The simple answer is you lose muscle tension when you stop running as much. The long answer is in this link:

http://www.scienceofrunning.com/2014/07/why-tapering-can-be-dangerous-thing.html

This previous post is complete garbage. Do not believe a word of it. As others have said, you taper off of hard training not off low mileage moderate intensity.. Hard workouts are still important, but recovery is key.

Because they are good for muscle tension.

I use the "muscle tensioning" idea before my bigger races. I am sold that it works. But I don't think that a lack of muscle tension is what makes athletes bomb, as the poster said a few before this.

That may be a small piece of the puzzle, but I would bet that bombing at a big race after a bad taper is more due to other systems. Mentally psyching yourself out, immune, nervous, and metabolic system changes from no training load.

The only way you can truly screw up a taper is by doing a hard workout a day or two before your big race. Anything else, and you'll run a tiny bit worse than your potential, but could still pr.

Ag

edward teach wrote:

The only way you can truly screw up a taper is by doing a hard workout a day or two before your big race. Anything else, and you'll run a tiny bit worse than your potential, but could still pr.

Agree, somewhat. But can you run much slower by doing nothing or almost nothing like 3 mile jogs everyday?

Just trying to understand what happens physiologically.

I have been running for a while and literally never heard of the concept of "muscle tension" in terms of training. Pretty sure it's not what tapering is about. You taper to get the most energy for your race from your whole cardio and muscular system. You don't run faster because your muscles are boingy.

For a marathon taper, for instance, you're way more relaxed in terms of workouts prior to a marathon. Your legs don't have a lot of pop in them in terms of speed work at all (I mean, you don't a lot of 100m strides prior to marathon , or put most of your energy into track sessions).

But I don't know, just opinion. Not scientist.

For the most part, I have been fairly successful in tapering for my bigger meets. This has usually been through a slight reduction in mileage, not so many long and intense repeats, and more 100 meter strides. It is more successful when my mileage has been at least decent - my best season so far, my mileage went from about 80 miles per week to 60 miles per week. In that season, I was consistently around 4:00-4:04 for my 1500 races, and dropped that down to 3:55 for the last one.

However, in a previous season, I screwed up my taper horribly. In the first half of the season, I had improved my 1500 time each race, getting down to 4:03. I was injured soon after that race, and had to do mainly pool running for a week, and my mileage was still reduced (maybe about 30 miles per week) after that. I still managed to run 4:05 on a windy day in my first race back, giving me hope I could run under 4:00 in the last two weeks of the season. There is one ill-advised workout I ran in those last couple weeks (not at the advice of my coach - I was largely on my own) that really did me in. Wanting to work on my speed, I did 8x100 pretty much all out. Probably averaging something around 13 seconds, with maybe 3 minutes rest. The last two were around 12.7, and I felt pretty confident I could run a solid PR. Even the sprinters took notice of my workout! However, when it came time to race, things did not go well at all … in the 1500, I came through 800 meters in 2:07, and then the wheels just fell off. My final 700 actually took longer than the first 800, as I finished in 4:17. I think I also ran an open 800 that day, in something like 2:05; my legs just had no pop.

So, long story short, it is very possible to really screw up a taper. It is possible to go too easy for too long, but I think the bigger risk is trying some sort of wacky workout with the idea of reaping massive benefits.

Rund al'Thor wrote:

I have been running for a while and literally never heard of the concept of "muscle tension" in terms of training. Pretty sure it's not what tapering is about. You taper to get the most energy for your race from your whole cardio and muscular system. You don't run faster because your muscles are boingy.

For a marathon taper, for instance, you're way more relaxed in terms of workouts prior to a marathon. Your legs don't have a lot of pop in them in terms of speed work at all (I mean, you don't a lot of 100m strides prior to marathon , or put most of your energy into track sessions).

But I don't know, just opinion. Not scientist.

Muscle tensioning is really something only proposed by Magness. People can correct me but it isn't a widely used term. Some coaches may do it without realizing they are doing it. But again, I really think that tensioning is only slightly contributes.

The reason people aren't throwing out easy answers here is because tapering is so personal to the athlete and kind of an art. Plenty of coaches will tell you about their summer training. But the last month before NCAAs is generally kept tight lipped.

venting HS coach wrote:

My old coach used to have this belief that it took 3 weeks to get the benefit from a workout, so we would stop doing hard stuff 3 weeks out from championship season. Everyone pretty much bombed at districts every year.

HS coaches shouldn't base their training program around a John Bingham marathon training plan.

Good point above on tapering vs peaking. Early season races should be incorporated in to, not the outcome, of a training plan.

runthecountry wrote:

So, long story short, it is very possible to really screw up a taper. It is possible to go too easy for too long, but I think the bigger risk is trying some sort of wacky workout with the idea of reaping massive benefits.

So true. Back in high school we did a fast fartlek the week leading to district championships and I ran great.

The next week leading to regionals we did 1x400 at 2 mile race pace, followed by 2X800 at 5k pace, then 1x400 all out.

I blistered the last 400, felt great but then bombed at regionals. We had never done a 400 all but no one thought it would do any harm.

Quite badly, depending on the caliber you use.

I see. You're definitely right that tapering is highly individual and I'd suggest that it's very different based on your distance. (Not surprising.)