Week 9: Tapering

Welcome to Week 9

In Week 9, we’ll train hard at the beginning before shutting it down in the later half of the week. It’s important to stay sharp and not lose your fitness gains, but your body will need a rest to perform at your best come race day. That’s where tapering comes in. You’ll still need to work hard in the workouts this week, but you’ll also need to shut it down as prescribed in order to adequately recover in time.

If you’re just joining us: Be sure to start at the beginning! Go back to the course intro so you’re prepared and have the foundation for the 10-week training program.

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Week 9 Key Sessions

Here are your key sessions for the week. Remember, they’re the most important and shouldn’t be skipped. Check out (or set up) the detailed calendar in Today’s Plan (directly access the plan here) or the downloadable training calendar PDF.

• Taper workouts
• Rest and recovery

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Lesson of the Week: Tapering

What is Tapering?

Tapering is when you reduce the overall load and volume of your workouts. It’s essentially pulling away all the stress and fatigue, so your body can express all the fitness you’ve gained through the previous weeks. If you come into the race fatigued, then you can’t perform at your best on race day.

Typically you’ll lose some fitness during a taper because you’re not taxing your systems and building fitness, but it’s not enough to make a significant detrimental difference if the taper is timed right and done correctly. It’s more detrimental to keep pushing hard.

Stress + Rest = Performance

It’s still important to complete the race-specific workouts with the intensity that’s laid out in order to minimize fitness loss while still reducing fatigue—that’s what’s known as “staying sharp.”

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