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Taper drives me nuts?

ejwme
ejwme Posts: 318
in Social Groups
Every time I train for a distance race, I do great until the week before the race... When I start climbing the walls, feeling like I'm hardly running at all, and I get super cranky. It seriously drives me nuts. I end up running as fast as I can for the shorter distances, and man do I fly (comparatively, of course), but I end up being pretty tired. It doesn't seem to affect my races, but I am not really pushing for times. My body seems to prefer to simply go farther than the training schedule allows for in the final week, no matter how far it is.

How bad is it to taper... less? Does tapering drive anybody else nuts?

Replies

  • runrockclimb
    runrockclimb Posts: 124
    You bet it drives me nuts, just ask my boyfriend. I get really restless, to say the least. I'm not sure if tapering less would be harmful, I kinda doubt it But you could also try picking up something not running related for the last week, something with less impact maybe. I dunno, if you figure it out, let me know.
  • FoxyMcDeadlift
    FoxyMcDeadlift Posts: 771 Member
    Close to race, i just want to jump up on my desk at work and shout things! Only fulls though, i can hone it in for the smaller races, i just deal with it. Its only for a week or so then you get to race!
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    My wife tells me I'm crankier when I'm tapering than when I quit smoking.........your body has gotten accustomed to a high training volume and every runner I know tends to climb the walls when tapering. Go for an easy run or swim or bike - anything to get rid of some of that energy but low impact and a gentle pace. The idea is to recover from the accumulated fatigue from training and make sure you're healthy on race day......
  • reggie2run
    reggie2run Posts: 477 Member
    I get downright ansty during taper week. Feel like I should run and run and run some more to prepare for the Half or Full.

    But in retrospect, I am so glad that I followed my training plan, especially in the last (taper) week....it let me run a great Half.

    So do your taper, follow your training....there's a good reason behind the taper....better preformance on race day!
  • SlimsLiftingMoreThanLipstick
    SlimsLiftingMoreThanLipstick Posts: 122 Member
    The Taper DRIVES ME NUTS, however, I tried not tapering and I did not do as well as I do when I follow a taper. So I am a grumpy nut case for a bit but it's for a good cause!
  • ejwme
    ejwme Posts: 318
    thank you guys so much! I was afraid I was just weird - I've ended up pulling my bike out and going for rides that are too long (haven't ridden in a while - I'm picking up bike shorts today, thank god running doesn't impact the same places). If I don't ride far enough, it just makes me want to go for a run - at least that's my hope, that at some point I'll ride far enough that I'll want to run less. Race is tomorrow, so I just have to be good for 23 more hours...

    really good to know I'm not alone, thank you guys!!

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