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Tapering for the fling 110k
I have never quite got the taper right for the 110km fling. To little and my legs felt slow and heavy, too much ..oh the hurt from the start. Any suggestions on what to do weekend before and the week leading up??
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For me regardless of the taper my legs and body are always screaming at me in the beginning of any race. Work, weather and life in general normally interfere and dictate the week leading up. My plan this time is to just do some nice and easy rides in the week before. I was planning the same for the Wollombi but work sent me to Melbourne for the week.
I plan to do my last big training effort 1 week before the race, then a couple of easy rides during the week, then 3 days off the bike leading up to the race to make sure I'm 100% recovered.
I'm doing a XC race the week before. Then my usual Monday off the bike. A 90 min steady ride on Tuesday then spinning my legs out on the wind trainer for the rest of the week including a 45 min wind session on the day before at an easy pace with a few sprints at high cadence to get the HR up a bit.
Tapering is a very personal thing. The most important thing is to ensure you dont start doing things that you arent used to.
A classic example would be to introduce some 'sprints' when you dont normally do any sprints, or efforts of that intensity.
Ideally, you should try and do some effort the week of the race. Effort levels stay the same as you are used to, but duration comes down - 50% is a good guide.
For the record, I'll be off on Monday, 90min wind trainer Tuesday, 120 min mtb spin weds, 60 min wind trainer thurs, off friday, 60min spin on Sat.
Depends how much training you've been doing.
Me, I'm still building up from a base of very little since the Wollombi Wild Ride, so tapering will be pretty late in the process. I'm "only" doing the half fling, but if I can keep my clients at bay and preserve some training time, it will probably involve at least one 50 km off road ride in the week prior, with a couple of short 1 hr road spins with hills in the middle of the week and nothing more strenuous than packing the car in the last couple of days. I'll be trying to put my weight to advantage in the Rolloff world champs on Saturday, but apart from riding back up the hill, won't be doing much else on the weekend bike-wise before the kickoff.
Tapering is only really for people that train properly.....
No point in riding 4 days the week before if you only train 3 days a week normally.
I've even heard people mention tapering two weeks out when they only ride three days a week.
In my opinion it's best to keep the legs moving ( albeit at high cadence and low power ) than back off and let them go dead.
And when I say sprints on the windtrainer the day before, I mean nothing more than a couple of high cadence bursts at easy resistance to get the HR up without stressing the muscles to much.
Mind you! Saying this. With me, it can all count on what kind of week I've had at work. A hard week can really stuff me up for a Marathon.
If i've been training consistently it will be a hard race length and intensity ride the Sunday prior, Monday off and no weights work, Tuesday night double spin class at the gym, lots of early nights, light half hour spin on the KK road machine Thursday, and on the Saturday an easy roll around the course for no more than an hour with a few high intensity "spin ups" on either one of the climbs or flat sections thrown in.
Work pressures can stuff that of course.
Beetroot juice, and lots of it