By now, Two Oceans runners will have reached, and passed their highest weekly training distance before the race. If not, now is definitely the time to start a drastic reduction in weekly training distance, writes Dr Andrew Bosch of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa.
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At some time before any race it is necessary to decrease the training load so that none of the fatigue associated with hard training remains on race day, a process known as tapering.
Time for tapering But many runners who have not started tapering, will not run their best Two Oceans. They will arrive at the starting line with fatigued muscles, or in an overtrained state. It is in fact preferable to start the race in a slightly undertrained condition, rather than be overtrained.
The tapering process is an extremely important one for the runner and should be approached in the correct way. As the date for the Two Oceans approaches, runners become concerned that if training is reduced, fitness will be lost.
However, the fear is unfounded: a reduction in training volume for more than a few days will not lead to a dramatic fall in fitness and impaired racing performance. A loss of fitness will not occur if a scientifically designed tapering protocol is followed, allowing recovery from training and maintaining or even improving fitness.
Many runners suddenly realise that they haves not done sufficient long or fast runs or enough hill running to get over Ou Kaapse Weg comfortably. So our intrepid runner attempts to make up for these deficiencies in the last few days remaining before the race. The result? One very fatigued runner, who would have run a far better Two Oceans had they followed a proper tapering regimen, rather than intensive last minute training.
A suitable taper As so often is the case, there is no one tapering protocol that is best for everyone. However, there are some sound principles on which to design a suitable taper.
An optimal taper involves a reduction in training volume. This includes the distance of single runs as well as the total weekly training kilometerage, but with the intensity as high as during hard training.
Frequency of training sessions - the number of days per week or the number of runs per day - can also be reduced, which in turn will reduce the total weekly distance.
A tapering programme that has been shown to work well, starts with a reduction in weekly training distance. Ideally, three weeks before the race you should have trained around 80% of the distance of the highest training week that was done. Thus, a runner who had a peak weekly distance of 100 km should have trained 80 km in the 3rd week prior to the race.
This week (2 weeks before the Two Oceans) should be approximately 70% of the peak week, and should include a medium length run of approximately 75 minutes on Wednesday and a run of at least 90 minutes on the weekend.
In the final week, some days of no running may assist with recovery, but too many rest days will result in a “sluggish” feeling in the legs. Therefore it is recommended that you run for approximately 60 minutes on Tuesday and 30 – 45 minutes on Wednesday. Do no more than a 30 minute easy run on Thursday (or rest).
While most runners tend not to run the day before a race, I suggest a short run of 15 to 20 minutes the day before “Oceans”. In this run, include some “pickups” to the speed at which you intend to run the race. The session would therefore consist of starting out on an easy run and then after 10 minutes increasing speed over a period of about 30 seconds until race speed is reached, and then slowing down again. This can be repeated 3 or 4 times. Many runners have found that this works very well for them.
Final speed training
Having addressed the weekly training distances during the final weeks, the important aspect of speed needs to be discussed.
Most runs in these last 10 days should be at “normal” training speed. If speedwork is included in the standard training week, then these sessions can be reduced in volume, but the speed maintained. Thus a runner who does a speed session of 10 X 400m in 85 seconds, will reduce the session to 8 X 400m in 85 seconds.
Next week this could be reduced again to a “light” speed session on Tuesday before the race. This will maintain speed and overall fitness. In addition, I strongly recommend some faster paced runs over a distance of about 5 km. This could be in the form of a time trial at one of the local running clubs, or done by yourself as part of a normal training run. These runs help with the faster pace at which you will run the Two Oceans.
Tapering, therefore, is a carefully controlled part of the “Oceans” training regimen that will result in your optimal performance in the race for your current level of fitness. Rather than resulting in a decline in fitness, it will actually result in a superior race performance.
Exercise Physiologist Dr Andrew Bosch heads the Running Division of the Discovery Health High Performance Centre of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa. He is four times silver medallist in Two Oceans.
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