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Testing it in an actual race
The Canadian study was reinforced by research completed at East Carolina University in the United States in 1993. There, eight experienced runners (six males and two females) who had been running about 43 miles per week cut their training to just 6.5 miles of interval training and about seven miles of warm- up and cool-down jogging for a one-week period. The interval work consisted almost exclusively of 400-metre intervals conducted at current 5-K race pace and represented just 15 per cent of usual weekly mileage. As in the Canadian study, the intervals were arranged in a 'descending-escalator' fashion: there were eight intervals on the first day of the taper, five on the second day, four on the third day, etc. Recovery between intervals consisted of walking or resting, and a new interval was started when heart rate dropped to 100-11O beats-per-minute

Although the East Carolina protocol was similar to the Canadian work, there was one key difference: the East Carolina scientists actually tested their athletes in a 5-K race. The results were spectacular. All eight athletes improved their personal-best 5-K performances, and the average improvement was a not-too-paltry 29 seconds, or over nine seconds per mile. As predicted by the arguments presented above, running economy also improved (by 6 per cent). Meanwhile, runners who had not followed the 'down- escalator' tapering scheme failed to enhance their performances at all

The conclusion to draw from the East Carolina work is that the best tapering plan for a 5-K race is to simply complete about 10-15 per cent of one's usual volume by carrying out relatively short, race- pace intervals, with a small amount of additional warm-up and cool-down exercise, over a one-week period. Could the same taper work for longer races? Although the East Carolina research looked only at 5- K performances, it is likely that the same taper would work equally well for the 10-K, and by extension (for cyclists and swimmers) in events lasting about one hour or less


Counteracting muscle soreness
One problem with the Carolina work, however, was that many runners experienced muscle soreness as the week went along. They simply weren't used to doing so much interval work! It's remarkable that they did so well despite being sore, and it's possible that they could have done even better without the muscle distress. Therefore, it' s reasonable to suggest - if an athlete is vulnerable to muscle soreness - that these same intervals be conducted about once a week during the weeks leading up to competition, so that the muscles have time to adapt to the interval training. If that' s not possible, the intervals could be completed every other day, rather than every day, during a tapering week, with a very short bout of light exercise replacing the missing interval days. With the soreness eliminated, this plan might produce even greater gains in performance


Endurance events
What about longer competitive events like the marathon for runners or multi-hour races for cyclists? Should they also be preceded by a low-volume, high- intensity, one-week taper? For the marathon, the answer in most cases is no. Scientific studies now confirm that most marathon trainees actually damage their leg muscles during their race preparations, more so than on race day, by doing too much mileage and not giving their leg muscles adequate time to recover from the micro-trauma that is an inevitable consequence of high-volume training

Since muscle trauma associated with high-mileage running takes about a month to repair, it's only logical that the tapering period for a marathon should last at least a month. After all, who wants to run a challenging race like the marathon with damaged sinews? Of course, most marathoners either howl with derision or throw their hands up in despair when they hear about one-month tapers, fearing a loss of fitness or a departure from conventionality, but neither is a big concern. Regarding the potential loss of fitness, remember that the University of Illinois-Chicago work showed that fitness could be perfectly maintained for up to 15 weeks as long as high-quality workouts were included in the abbreviated programme. As for the loss of conventionality, just do it!
The exact formula for a pre-marathon taper hasn't been investigated scientifically, but it's likely that about a '75-50-30-15' plan (75 per cent of usual miles in the first week, 50 per cent in the second week, etc.) would work well. During the final week, the idea would be to focus on interval training equally divided between 5-K-paced and marathon-tempo intervals, with a gradual reduction in the number of intervals conducted per day. During the initial three weeks, it would be important to sustain the normal frequency of high-quality training (intervals, reps, tempo runs, etc.), while cutting away the long miles at slow velocities. Again, any fears about detraining can be dispelled by the Illinois research, which observed no losses in fitness over 15 weeks of reduced training

Long-distance cyclists and swimmers have less muscle damage, so they may not need such an extended taper; perhaps two to two and a half weeks will be all that is necessary to restore muscle glycogen and synthesise abundant quantities of muscle enzymes. Likewise, participants in 'skill' sports such as tennis and squash can probably get by with just a seven- to 10-day taper before a major competition


The amazing benefits of tapering
To conclude, tapering works by producing an incredible array of positive changes for athletes, including augmented glycogen stores, increased aerobic enzymes, expanded blood plasma, upgraded economy, better repair of muscle and connective-tissue trauma, improved neuromuscular coordination, and heightened mental confidence. One reason that optimal tapering works so exceedingly well - in the athletes who really carry it out - is that most athletes probably compete while they're still tired from their previous training. These athletes haven't given themselves an adequate chance to recover from their strenuous training, and therefore their muscles can't function at the highest-possible level on race day. When these athletes try a real taper, many of them reach their true potential for the first time in their lives

Should you taper as part of your regular training?

Non-tapered athletes are the victims of an all-too- popular belief in sports, which is that good training consists of little more than very, very hard work. This approach fails to take into account the reality that great training is always a combination of work AND rest. Without appropriate rest, the human body simply can not fully adapt to training. While putting together an optimal training schedule, an athlete must consider the rest days and periods just as carefully as the hard- training times. Otherwise, he/she will always compete in a sub-optimal state

That consideration brings up an important follow- up point. Since appropriately constructed tapering can produce such incredibly positive results, and since many athletes train far too much, with too little recovery, why not include tapering periods not just before races but as a regular part of the overall training programme? This would lead to big upswings in fitness, not just before competitions, but at regular intervals during training. The timing of such tapering would depend on the intensity and volume of an athlete's schedule, but - at the very least - the final five to seven days of each month should be made light enough to 'consolidate' all the potential gains which can accrue from the first 21-25 days of regular training

After reading about all the good tapering research, are you still a tapering sceptic? Are you the kind of person who says, 'The Kenyans don't taper, so why should I?' If so, please bear in mind several things. First, the Kenyans, having trained from the age of six onwards, are probably more adapted to training than most other runners and can probably get by with less tapering. Second, most of the Kenyans DO drastically cut back on their training when they are feeling tired, and most also take a full month off from training every year. Finally, the Kenyans might actually be even better if they tapered a bit more before their competitions !
The bottom line is that tapering is very, very good for you. If you're aggressive with your tapering - carving away big chunks of your usual training volume while maintaining reasonable amounts of high-intensity exercise - you will usually be able to carve away large chunks from your race times as well.
Owen Anderson

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