Your A race is approaching, you are riding well and training has been consistent with 6-10hrs per week. Now tapering will be the key to reaping the rewards from training. How many days should your taper for? What about training intensity during the taper, should it be all low intensity? How will nutrition change during the taper? Should training volume and the type of event you are tapering for be considered.

Experience is valuable in tapering, there is no single one size fits all strategy and uncontrollable factors such as a stressful lifestyle and restless sleep may require a more aggressive taper. Even for the same individual, the taper strategy that worked perfectly before may not be as effective next time around. However, this guide will highlight factors to be aware of so that your taper can be adjusted to help you effectively peak for your race.

Taper duration
The general rule is eight to fourteen days with the length of the taper depending on the following considerations:
- How fast do you recover generally? The faster an individual recovers, the shorter duration required for taper.
- How many hours per week do you train? Twenty hours per week will need a larger taper than someone training 6 hours per week.
- What level of accumulated fatigue do you have? Has lethargy set in along with persistently sore and tired legs? If so, a longer duration will be needed.

It is important to point out the prioritising races is important. If your calendar has a dozen 'A' races, then the season will be spent tapering rather than preparing. Treat less important races as train trough's that contribute to your preparation for the races that really matter.

Volume and intensity
Intensity must not reduce during a taper, and ideally neither should training frequency. If you normally ride 5 days a week, then continue with this frequency. The exception would be with high levels of fatigue needing an aggressive taper, only then reduce frequency.

The only component that should reduce during the taper is volume, both in terms of weekly total training hours as well as the volume of intensity:
- Reduce session volume by doing shorter rides, i.e. training time and distance.
- Reduce volume of intensity during the taper, both the duration of intervals as well as total number. If high intensity intervals totaled 30minutes per week during preparation, then aim to half this volume in the taper.

Note that individual differences in fitness and recovery, as well as lifestyle must be considered here too.

Event specific tapering
Interestingly, whether the taper is for a three day stage race, one day classic, one hour criterium or track race, the general rules for tapering do not vary because the goal remains the same, i.e., to offload fatigue, increase freshness and find those extra few percent gains in performance.

What to eat during the taper
Calories in, calories out. If you keep portion size unchanged while cutting back on training for ten days, then expect to gain weight and fat. Note the key here is portion size, not composition of meals, so keep eating the same type of foods while cutting back on how much is served up.

Final note
With experience, mastering the taper will become easier. It is arguably better to be at the start of the A race a little over than under recovered, so don't be afraid to schedule an extra rest day if needed and to cut the time on training days.

The Coach - 
By Mark Carroll