How to taper for a triathlon
Most athletes taper wrong. They either do too much and arrive tired, or cut too much and arrive flat. How to get it right at every distance.
By PulseLab ·
Taper is the most mismanaged part of triathlon training. Athletes who have done everything right for 20 weeks regularly blow it in the final two by either training through fear of losing fitness, or cutting so aggressively they arrive flat and stale.
The research on this is pretty clear. A 2007 meta-analysis in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise reviewed 27 taper studies and found that the optimal taper reduces volume by 40-60% over 1-3 weeks, while maintaining or slightly reducing intensity. Athletes who maintained intensity but cut volume improved performance by an average of 3%. Those who reduced intensity as well saw smaller gains.
What to cut and what to keep
Volume goes down significantly. Intensity does not. If you were doing 4-hour long rides, drop to 2-2.5 hours in taper week one and 90 minutes in week two. But the hard efforts within those rides (the 20-minute tempo blocks, the short race-pace intervals) stay in.
Frequency drops slightly too. If you were swimming four times a week, go to three. Running five days, drop to four. You are not trying to squeeze in more fitness. You are clearing accumulated fatigue so the fitness you already built can express itself.
The taper blues are real
Most athletes feel worse in the first week of taper. Legs feel heavy, energy drops, motivation goes flat. This is not detraining. It is your body finally getting enough time to register the accumulated fatigue from the previous months. The feeling usually passes in days and you come out the other side feeling sharp.
Do not add sessions when this happens. The instinct to train more when you feel bad during taper is almost always wrong.
By distance
Sprint and Olympic: 1-week taper. Volume drops 30-40%. Keep at least one short sharp session in the final 5 days.
70.3: 2-week taper. Week one drops volume 30-40%, week two drops another 20-30%. One quality session per discipline in taper week two, nothing hard in the final 3 days.
Ironman: 3-week taper. The first taper week still has meaningful volume. The second week drops sharply. The final week is mostly easy movement, staying loose, not accumulating any new fatigue.
Step-by-step guide
- 1.
Set your taper start date based on race distance
Sprint and Olympic: begin taper 7 days out. 70.3: begin 14 days out. Ironman: begin 21 days out. Mark this in your calendar now. Do not move it based on how your last training week went.
- 2.
Cut volume, not intensity
Reduce total training hours by 40-60% compared to your peak week. Do not reduce the intensity of your remaining sessions. A 2007 meta-analysis found that athletes who maintained intensity during taper improved race performance by an average of 3%, compared to smaller gains for those who also reduced intensity.
- 3.
Reduce frequency slightly
Drop one swim session per week. Drop one run day. Keep bike frequency the same but shorten the rides. You want to keep the neuromuscular patterns fresh without adding new fatigue.
- 4.
Keep at least one sharp session per discipline per week
During taper, include at least one short session at race pace or above per discipline per week. For a 70.3 taper, that might be a 20-minute bike at race power and a 15-minute run at race pace. Brief, sharp, done.
- 5.
Go easy in the final 72 hours
Nothing hard in the last three days. Short easy swims or runs to stay loose are fine. Sleep well, eat well, hydrate. Your race performance is decided. Taper is just about showing up fresh.