It's Taper Time!

It’s race week this week, so the tapering has begun.

AKA: Taper Tantrums!!!

The tapering period can be a stressful time for runners for many reasons: 
• You are nervous about the upcoming race – Yup! 
• You feel like you could be losing some of your fitness – Bingo! 
• You just want the race to go and get here already – Agreed! 

Runners often develop a physical and psychological dependence on running. So when we start tapering, it feels like we are going thru withdrawal of sorts. This is also the time where we can fall into various traps that ultimately can do damage to our race day goals. 


Below are my Top 5 Tapering Traps to avoid: 

Taper Trap #1: Carb Loading - The urge to stuff yourself with carbohydrates to store energy for the big day. However, know that shoveling down lots of carbs at the expense of other important nutrients, will make you feel bloated and potentially may increase the typical water weight gain expected during a taper 

Taper Trap #2: Stress to Execute - The overwhelming fear that the race time you've set and trained for all this time is now somehow too ambitious. Many of us get caught up obsessing about the potential that we may not hit the exact time goal we set, and thereby making the race a failure. In those moments, pick up a personal development book and get those negative thoughts out of your head. Stay focused, stick to your game plan, and trust in your training. 

Taper Trap #3: Phantom Pains - A brand new ache or pain in any body part. When we slow down our training, we have more time to worry about everyday aches and pains that we normally would ignore. Think of these phantom pains as signals that your body is healing itself and using this time to restore the muscle fibers all in preparation for your big day.  

Taper Trap #4: Anxiety Attacks – The tendency to begin an all-out freak out every time think about some aspect of the course that seems daunting. Instead, research all you can about the course, talk to other people who have run the course in previous years, and when possible train on that part of the course that has you concerned. Knowing everything you can about that hill or mile will help you conquer it. 

Taper Trap #5: Weight Gain – You may experience a couple of additional pounds on the scale at the end of a taper. This is a result of the increase in carbohydrate foods we consume to stock our glycogen (energy) reserves. Water is stored along with the glycogen. The extra “water weight” will be beneficial during the race. It will actually help you stay hydrated on race day, when it will be released as the glycogen is burned. 

Here is my motto this week.  

Trying to avoid this look of panic...