Taper week. It’s the real itchy moment where you KNOW that toning things down a little and reining in the beast is the right thing to do, BUT it feels horrible. The energy and the frustration and the anxiety builds and all those last minute silly, irrational worries creep in. The urge to do one last hard session or to keep going because you’re feeling good. Or sometimes it’s the horrible sluggish feeling you get from toning down training and still trying to keep your nutrition up.
Taper week can be a challenge for athletes AND the people around them who have to deal with it too…and one of the biggest worries athletes have, is how to tackle the eating in taper week. For many, the reduction in training volume can lead to confusion about how to adjust nutrition without compromising race day readiness. So let’s look at how to do it calmly and rationally so you can arrive at race day completely in the smug zone for having not been a twat the whole week…
Understanding the Taper Phase
Y’all hopefully know WHY you’re even engaging in a seemingly LUDICROUS practice of reducing your training load before a race. It’s all about preparedness and recovery. We know that the body doesn’t get fitter stronger DURING the workout, but rather in the time afterward when we recover and allow it to respond and grow back stronger. This takes time and the correct building blocks to execute well. Before a race, you want to give your body the optimal chance to respond and become stronger so it is in the peak condition for the work ahead and can handle it as best as it can, while equally not forgetting what all the work feels like and how to do it.
Thus taper week becomes a delicate balancing act between doing enough to remain “switched on” and not so much you feel tired and are still recovering going into the race.
The Balance Between Fueling and Recovery
Now that’s the balance you need to maintain when it comes to the body and training. But how do you fuel that? Does the fuelling look different to a normal recovery or training week? Well the focus on this week should be all about maintaining energy levels and nutrition.
- Maintain Nutrient Intake: Even with reduced training, your body still requires a steady supply of nutrients to repair and strengthen muscles. Instead of cutting calories, focus on maintaining a balanced intake of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. These macronutrients play vital roles in muscle recovery and energy storage. If you’re following the principles of intentional eating, you’ll be good at having a grip on your own hunger and fullness and listening to cravings etc. So use those skills and engage them the same as you would at any other time.
- Intentional Eating: Be mindful of your eating habits. Follow your principles of filling up on wholesome foods, while using more instant carbohydrates and easily digestible snacks around your training to make sure you’re executing your goals to the best of your ability.
- Hydration is Key: Proper hydration supports muscle function, recovery, and overall health. Keep an eye on your hydration by making sure water is always close at hand and consider electrolyte supplements if you KNOW you struggle on water alone, if it’s hot, if you’re sweaty or if it’s part of your pre-race strategy the day before.
Strategies for Taper Nutrition
Of course, your race distance, duration and intensity is going to mean that the last few days into your race might look a little different from one race and one athlete to another. Whatever it looks like, here are some simple strategies to think about when it comes to some of the common pitfalls with taper nutrition.
- Carbohydrate Loading: If it’s a longer distance race, you might want to consider SLIGHTLY upping your intake of carbohydrate. This doesn’t mean the classic pasta party the night before! It’s about making sure your glycogen stores are really topped up. Having additional carbs can make some feel a little sluggish and bloated due to the added water weight that comes with it, but that usually feels better on race day if you make it a slight adjustment rather than one big day before carb blow out!
- Think About Your Gut: If you’re doing a longer race and have a more sensitive gut, you may want to think about the day or two leading up to the race and avoiding too many fatty or fibrous foods and opting for a slightly more refined diet. This always seems to go against the grain with people since I advocate a whole food diet where possible, but there is NO benefit in getting to race day and shitting yourself off the start line because you prioritised broccoli for the last 24hours when you should have just been thinking of the short term plan for once.
- Time it Right: You may feel a little anxious about eating or you may have a reduced or altered hunger pattern in taper week due to your reduction in training load. If this is the case, try eating more frequent, smaller meals rather than the classic three big meals a day, just to make sure you’re not sacrificing calories and macros you need to get the benefit from this week, simply because your appetite is a bit dysregulated.
Relax!
It’s really hard not to let your inner chimp take the controls during taper week when your mind is totally fixated on your race but when everyone else around you doesn’t really care…so just remember, this is for fun!! Your life doesn’t depend on it. This is the week to kick back and enjoy 7 days (or more or less…) just being a relatively normal human being and experiencing normal every day life. Embrace that. Watch disney films eating popcorn with your kids, have family breakfasts with the nice croissants and enjoy picnics on a rug in the park with your friends. You spend so much of your life focused on performance, that when the opportunity to NOT do that comes around, we need to grab hold of it with both hands and embrace the joy of something more human for once…