So finishing my first TR training cycle having completed SSB1 twice > sustained power > century. I’m new to cycling started last September.
I see the taper week before my first 100mile in May is several days low intensity, finishing with 1:30 Fletcher and 2:00 Boarstone on consecutive days right before my event. I heard/read on TR that tapering should maintain the intensity but reduce volume, the century taper seems the opposite. Or have I interpreted incorrectly.
Cheers !
I noticed this too. I just substituted the taper week from Climbing Road Race specialty and it worked a treat. But maybe @chad has a reason for keeping the rides low intensity high volume for Century plans?
Check the Week tips on the plan page for the last two weeks. Here’s Week 7 of high volume:
Tapering when following a still fairly low-volume plan is often unnecessary. Tapering for an event where the effort level is often kept at a reasonably manageable effort level reduces a taper’s importance as well. But if you plan to chase a very fast time at a higher than usual power output or you feel like you’re carrying a lot of excess fatigue, perhaps due to factors off the bike, you can use this week as the first in a 2-week taper.
you are correct 100%. You don’t want to taper too much for a long, sustained effort; you want to keep riding, but not going hard (intensity).
The opposite is true if you were going into a short track event or criterium, where you need to be more rested, as you’ll have higher max watts at intense sessions.
You could do the last week like this:
Sat / Sun : normal weekend rides, max 3h each
Mon: REST
Tues: 2 x 10m at 93-100% FTP, recover 10m between. This is last intensity before race though
Wed: OFF
Thurs: Openers, 5 x 30s @ 120%FTP, recover 90s between, total ride time 60-90m
Fri: OFF
Sat: RACE!!
Some people like Openers the day before an event, but I’ve found with many athletes that having the day before Off allows them to have bike things packed and ready to go the night before they leave; it just simplifies everything, and they don’t feel dull or stale from just one day off before the event.
Lmk if you have other questions, good luck!!!