One thing that’s guaranteed in the world of multi sport endurance racing is that there is no single taper that works for everyone. There are so many theories on tapering for an event and personally I have tried at least 10 different approaches to tapering over the last 30 years.

Tapering is personal choice but it’s not rocket science. With so many athletes coming into the endurance racing space and racing every single weekend they never have experience a taper. Just race, do minimal training, race and keep repeating. The philosophy works for some but for others they will never experience the key or “A” race with a singular focus by racing 100+ times a year.

Tapering effectively means you are well rested MENTALLY and PHYSICALLY with no injuries and fresh from the start of the race. There are differences toward tapering for a very long race of 5+ days vs. a single day or two race like an Ironman, 24 hour running race, Badwater or Double Iron. The most important difference is that with a 5+ day event, being well rested is critical knowing sleep deprivation will be coming while not having the body going fully into active recovery before the race. It’s a delicate balance.

The one thing, no matter if your philosphy is to keep grinding through mental and physical stress to end the long training cycle (I have tested it and no way for me and almost everyone I speak to – this is crazy) vs. a shorter workouts with a bit of fast pacing tapering, it’s absolutely crucial to be recovered going into your big multi-day race. Use common sense which means telling your coach or advisor (for those of you who use a coach), the simple word – NO! I am amazed how often athletes believe that their coach is 100% right all the time and they know what’s best all the time. This is crazy and yes I have coached athletes for a long time along with using an advisor for 20 years and it absolutely must be a coach/client relationship which means listening to the pro’s and con’s of each methodology related to tapering.

If you have trained for 16+ weeks consistently with whatever plan or no plan, I guarantee you will gain absolutely no fitness benefits by slogging more long training days with your taper. It will add more mental stress, physical fatigue and of course a potential of the worst case – an Injury. Taper means reducing not adding more stress especially when preparing for a very long event for example as the DECA Iron or a 10 Day running race.   Tapering effectively is all about just sharpening and not overdoing it.   It’s slightly different for an event that does not involve the pounding of running like RAAM but still less volume mentally will help during the taper.

A consistent training program will deliver significant training stimulus well enough out from your goal event to allow for both adaptation and complete recovery. A good rule of thumb for a long endurance event that I recommend to my clients (and use personally with success) is that normal training should stop 8-10 days from your event. Then you do the short 8-10 day taper. The taper will include shorter workouts with “pickups” or 1 minute bouts of slight intensity. It keeps the head and body fresh after all the months of long training.

Training to much no matter when in your cycle will add stress and it will cause fatigue which will hamper performance – it’s really that simple. It makes absolutely no sense to add stress during your taper. The only way to reap the benefits from a long consistent training program are to significantly reduce your workload by tapering and your fitness will rise to the surface.

DECA Iron tapering 101 – Top 6 Tips:

1. If you have been averaging 15-20+ hours per week training for several months (which is the average hourly training for the DECA based on my recent surveys), reduce your training hours to 6-7 hours the final week.

2. Add a few bouts of “pickups” such as during your 45 minute to 1 hour run, do 20 second pickups to 10K pace then 40 seconds recovery and repeat 6-10 times. You can also consider adding in 1 minute at a strong time trial pace on the bike followed by 1 minute recovery and do several sets.

3. Stay hydrated every day 10 days from the race.

4. If possible add in 1 hour extra sleep or with a couple naps per day.

5. Maintain healthy eating with an increase in fat and protein 10 days from the event.

6. More than anything just keep you mind off the race if possible by reading doing something with the kids (not too active with the risk of injury!) and REST above anything else.

A proper taper will allow you to control how rested and fresh you can be on the starting line.

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