Tapering For A Destination Race

Listen (5min): Tapering For A Destination Race

(Photo credit: Steven Visneau)

If travelling far to a race, you can minimize the effects on your race performance by adjusting your taper and planning ahead for race day.

Travel destination races present extra challenges when it comes to tapering, race prep and race execution.

Travelling itself can be exhausting, and often means crossing time zones, which adds to the fatigue. Even short haul flights involve cramped spaces, poor air circulation, and long waits at the airport, with less-than-ideal nutritional options.

Failing to consider the impact of these circumstances can torpedo the gains we make during the taper. Landing at your destination exhausted, dehydrated and undernourished can compromise your race day performance.

The most important thing is to be recovered going into the taper. Yes, you heard that right. Taper for the taper. A destination race interrupts the natural taper cycle, undoing some of the rest, recovery and adaptation that has accumulated in the days before you board a flight, or set out on a long drive.

Account for a setback getting to your race if it involves substantial travel and time zone changes. Consider the logistics of foraging for food from the hotel zone, getting to race package pick-up, visiting the expo, and any sightseeing you plan on squeezing in ahead of your race. These tasks usually add up to a lot of steps!!!

When your watch buzzes, congratulating you on reaching your step goal by 10am three days out from your race, you’ve made a misstep. That new fatigue you acquired through simple survival actions of the destination race can drive your taper backwards.

And though we may be race fit, are we walk fit? I may have trained for a competitive marathon result, but that training didn’t include much walking. So, in the past I’ve ended up with throbbing shins and twitching, tired calves because I failed to train my walking legs!

The last thing you want after spending months investing the time in training, maybe paid a coach, spent heaps on airline tickets and inflated hotel rates – is to show up on race morning exhausted and sore from the travel and logistics!

The pain runs deep.

Show up race week already tapered, and these setbacks will have less impact on your performance. It may seem counterintuitive. Afterall, aren’t we resting when we are just sitting on a plane or in a car? Isn’t casually wondering around a city considered “easy miles?”

Trust me… no.

It’s important to remember during a taper we are not gaining fitness, we are shedding fatigue. A wise coach once said, “It’s better to show up undertrained, than overtrained or injured.” The risk of being “extra rested” is far less detrimental to performance than toeing the line exhausted or sporting a new case of shin splints.

So what do we do? Treat the week before you travel, as you would a final taper week. Once you’ve arrived at your destination, focus on recovering from travel. If you are leaving on a Wednesday for a Sunday race, you could get in a taper speed session the day before. Something short that focuses on high turnover – whether its running, biking or swimming.

Once you get to your destination, do a short shake out session the day after you land. If you have a few more days, you could do another light session or course recon. The rest of the time, put your feet up and rest as much as possible.

A few tips to reduce the amount of walking after you land. Do a google search of restaurants and other necessity shops in the local vicinity of your accommodations, so that you are not walking too much in search of food, tourist sights or trinket shops.

Tack on days at the end of your trip – after the race – instead of before the event, if you are able, and use that time, post-race, to sightsee and taste the local fare.

Allow enough days at the destination to adjust to time zone changes, and make up for any lost sleep on planes. If you are travelling on a red eye flight it’s possible you will be losing an entire nights’ sleep. Factor this in. What’s it going to take to recover from the loss of sleep and feel fresh by race day?

All these challenges are enough to confront without the added likeliness of landing fatigued, when you are still mid-way through your taper. These survival tasks will rob you of a lot of energy, so show up with some to spare. Feel recovered going INTO the final taper week, and do not rely on it to get more rest! It will likely create more fatigue and set you back.

Finally, when you are packing, consider the items that will set you up for success in these last few days. It may be melatonin if you have trouble sleeping in unfamiliar environments, or your favourite snacks from home. Make sure to budget for taxis in case public transit will require you to do a lot of walking, especially to the expo where you may also encounter long lineups.

These small adjustments to your training plan, packing list and trip agenda can ensure you have an amazing experience!