Hey everyone! Going into my main race for the year and having some second thoughts about what my taper looks like. Would love either some reassurance that it looks good or some suggestions on how to modify it.
I’m mostly wondering about the length of the taper and the fact that there is no intensity in the week before the event. I know I’m not really gaining any fitness in the last couple weeks, but don’t want to lose any either. I don’t feel like I have a ton of built-up fatigue because I took nearly a whole week off the bike 3 weeks ago.
Here are what the final two weeks leading into the race look like:
Should I be mixing any intensity into the final week? Is it bad think if I add a little volume into this week? My 6 week average TSS right now is 430.
Additional info if it’s helpful… My TR profile and the course profile. Last year was the first year of the event, and the main group (about 1/4 of the field) finished in just over 2.5hr. I’m just trying to hold onto the group as long as I can.
I think you should ad some intensity, It looks like plan builder (i now question TR PB’s taper protocal all the time…its does not know well enough the specifics of the event) is looking at it like a long tempo gravel ride when, looking at the distance and course, in fact its gonna get spicy really quick. If you don’t have some intensity in your legs your start effort to stay on good wheels is gonna go wrong. I would race it more like an XCO and get a good start to get into that DH early to avoid any bad riding by anyone (espicially that first sharp right). I would not necessarily do any volume but a short threshold on that tues or wed and then thurs or friday try and do real-deal outdoor Z2 on your gravel setup and test tires, cornering etc. I just did a gravel event this past weekend and it was real apparent that people were not comfy in cornering at racepace on gravel, and they were either used to ripping on their MTB’s and thought they could do the same on the gravel set up or roadies were just riding like roadies.
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Tapering is such an individual thing…but for the most part, TR’s tapers have not worked well for me, either.
As for the OP, I would agree that a little taste of intensity in the week before would be good…nothing crazy, but a few efforts in the middle of Lazy Mountain -2 on Wednesday would be a good thing, IMO. Possibly a few openers on Friday as well.
No need to change the volume on those days, just toss a few intervals into them. Doesn’t even really need to be structured. Just open the legs up a bit and “blow the carbon out”.
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Hey there!
I just took a look into your TR Calendar. I think your first week of tapering down (this week) is looking as it should – we’d expect to see Achievable workouts of 1 hour or less with some intensity to keep your legs sharp while shedding some fatigue with less volume than you might normally see.
The week leading into the race (next week) looks off – the volume looks as expected, but we shouldn’t be seeing a lack of intensity. We’re going to look into what might be happening in that week to get things refreshed for you leading into your race.
Keep up the good work this week with your current training and we’ll be in touch soon to update next week’s sessions!
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agree 100%. you could do just one set of San Joaquin on Tuesday Aug 8 to keep the legs primed. I would not go that easy all week
Thanks so much! Let me know if you need any additional info from me. IIRC it did originally have some intensity during that final week, but was updated by adaptive training at some point.
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Even after they adjust your week prior, I would suggest doing a 30 minute opener workout the day before. It’s not going to add any fatigue but it might help a fair bit with intensity early in the race.
Good info to have, thanks!
We should have this one sorted for you by the weekend. 
