Taper Rage

Bayside Triathlon Club (that Elaine and I belong to) has 61 athletes signed up for Ironman Melbourne - more than any other club. Whilst some of these 61 are experienced triathletes with numerous Ironman finishes under their belts, a lot of them are relatively new to triathlon.

The Ironman specific build started around Christmas. However for the newbies, the increase in (or in some cases, the start of) training began twelve months ago - the day after they signed up for the race. This is a very long period of heavy training. For the last couple of weeks, a lot of the Ironman athletes have been longing for the taper to begin (usually two weeks out from the race).

Whilst the idea of easing off the training load whilst feeling at the peak of fitness sounds very appealing, the reality is often quite different.

• Their bodies have become used to the frequent and generous doses of endorphins and adrenalin associated with the long training sessions. Even though they are still training it is like a heavy smoker dropping from 2 to 1 packet of smokes a day. Maybe someone should invent endorphin patches.
• Unlike the previous two months when they were over fatigued and generally felt heavy and sluggish, their bodies are starting to freshen up. Now they feel like training more, just when the training load is dropping off. This results in them being very toey, often resulting in frustration and irritability.
• Often the body takes a little time to adjust to the reduced training load and rather than feeling fresher, an athlete can instead start to feel very ordinary. If you get the length of taper right, you'll feel good again by the time race day arrives.
• Even though such a long race is going to be very painful, like a pregnant woman two weeks away from giving birth, they have become very impatient and just want the day to finally arrive (more irritableness).

From a personal standpoint, I'm actually more excited about the race this year, even though I'm not competing. It is the best pro field outside of the World Championships in Kona and with so many from our club competing, Elaine and I will have tons of people to support on the day. And the race goes past our front door - which is more convenient as a spectator than it was as a competitor.

Good luck to everyone doing Ironman Melbourne.