An article from The Fat Cyclist(Eldon Nelson)
One of my favorite bloggers - there is a link in the left column of our blog.
I didn't get permission to publish it here - hoping it is old enough to be in the public domain???
How Not to Taper
Endurance athletes do something called "tapering"
before a big race / event. The idea is to decrease your activity for a
week or so before the ride, so you’ll be fresh and rarin’ to go.
There’s a proper way to taper, and I’m horrified with myself to announce that I don’t know what it is. I blame my trainer for
never properly explaining it to me. It’s almost as if he’s never done
more to learn about tapering than scan a couple of magazine articles.
Moron.
Still, though, I have slacked off on the riding,
starting last Friday, and it seems to have had some effect: this morning
as I was riding to work I felt really good — much stronger than usual.
Climbs were easier, I was faster on the flats without really trying.
Never one to waste an opportunity, I shifted up a couple gears and
started seeing exactly what I had in me.
It turns out I had a whole bunch in me. I rode the
flats at 25-27 mph — I usually go around 22-24. I looked at the trees
and grass to see if I had a tailwind, but no: it was me.
Then I came to the climb that parallels Highway 520.
It’s about a mile long and can be pretty steep in some parts. It starts
right after a street crossing, where you have to wait for a light. By
the time the light turned, there were four other cyclists gathered with
me.
So I decided to show them who’s boss.
I gapped the first couple before we even got across
the street. The third dropped off without a fight during the first steep
pitch, but the last guy stuck with me. The race was on!
In the first part of the climb, the pitch goes from
moderately steep to very steep. It doesn’t last long, but most people
downshift for it anyway. Today, though, I listened for his shift as we
reached the steep part, then I upshifted two gears, stood up, and
attacked off the front.
I gapped him by 20 feet almost instantly.
"This is a good time for me to see whether I’m still
any good at riding just below the red zone," I thought, and kept
exactly the amount of pressure on myself I could sustain without blowing
up. Before long, my nameless archrival was vanquished.
I was the victor. I was the hero.
Also, I’m a complete idiot. The whole point of the
taper is to get me rested. And since it was working, I decided to do a
personal time trial and VO2-max hill interval.
But this brings up a question: am I the only one who
consistently fails to rest on rest day rides? I mean, when you’re just
tooling along and some guy passes you at a speed you know you can
counter, are you really able to just let him go?
I’m telling you, it’s a lot harder to rein yourself in than to go all out.
Today’s weight: 164.8
Bonus Delicious Cookie Alert: An important part of tapering is to eat more, right? This isn’t the week for me to lose weight. And that’s why Keebler Fudge Shop: White Fudge Stripes Cookies-and-Creme cookies were an important part of my diet yesterday. I mean, these things give White-Fudge-Covered Oreos
a run for their money, and that’s saying something. I mean, it says
something besides that I know way too much about really-bad-for-you
cookies.
I bet my weight goes up to 280 pounds by tomorrow.
08.10.2005 | 12:07 am
Endurance athletes do something
called "tapering" before a big race / event. The idea is to decrease
your activity for a week or so before the ride, so you’ll be fresh and rarin’
to go.
There’s a proper way to taper, and
I’m horrified with myself to announce that I don’t know what it is. I blame my trainer for never properly explaining it to me. It’s almost as if
he’s never done more to learn about tapering than scan a couple of magazine
articles. Moron.
Still, though, I have slacked off on
the riding, starting last Friday, and it seems to have had some effect:
this morning as I was riding to work I felt really good — much stronger than
usual. Climbs were easier, I was faster on the flats without really trying.
Never one to waste an opportunity, I shifted up a couple gears and started
seeing exactly what I had in me.
It turns out I had a whole bunch in
me. I rode the flats at 25-27 mph — I usually go around 22-24. I looked at the
trees and grass to see if I had a tailwind, but no: it was me.
Then I came to the climb that
parallels Highway 520. It’s about a mile long and can be pretty steep in some
parts. It starts right after a street crossing, where you have to wait for a
light. By the time the light turned, there were four other cyclists gathered
with me.
So I decided to show them who’s
boss.
I gapped the first couple before we
even got across the street. The third dropped off without a fight during the
first steep pitch, but the last guy stuck with me. The race was on!
In the first part of the climb, the
pitch goes from moderately steep to very steep. It doesn’t last long, but most
people downshift for it anyway. Today, though, I listened for his shift as we
reached the steep part, then I upshifted two gears, stood up, and attacked off
the front.
I gapped him by 20 feet almost
instantly.
"This is a good time for me to
see whether I’m still any good at riding just below the red zone," I
thought, and kept exactly the amount of pressure on myself I could sustain
without blowing up. Before long, my nameless archrival was vanquished.
I was the victor. I was the hero.
Also, I’m a complete idiot. The
whole point of the taper is to get me rested. And since it was working, I
decided to do a personal time trial and VO2-max hill interval.
But this brings up a question: am I
the only one who consistently fails to rest on rest day rides? I mean, when
you’re just tooling along and some guy passes you at a speed you know you can
counter, are you really able to just let him go?
I’m telling you, it’s a lot harder
to rein yourself in than to go all out.
Today’s weight: 164.8
Bonus Delicious Cookie Alert: An important part of tapering is to eat more, right? This
isn’t the week for me to lose weight. And that’s why Keebler Fudge
Shop: White Fudge Stripes Cookies-and-Creme cookies were an important part
of my diet yesterday. I mean, these things give White-Fudge-Covered Oreos
a run for their money, and that’s saying something. I mean, it says something
besides that I know way too much about really-bad-for-you cookies.
I bet my weight goes up to 280
pounds by tomorrow.
How Not to Taper
Endurance athletes do something called "tapering"
before a big race / event. The idea is to decrease your activity for a
week or so before the ride, so you’ll be fresh and rarin’ to go.
There’s a proper way to taper, and I’m horrified with myself to announce that I don’t know what it is. I blame my trainer for
never properly explaining it to me. It’s almost as if he’s never done
more to learn about tapering than scan a couple of magazine articles.
Moron.
Still, though, I have slacked off on the riding,
starting last Friday, and it seems to have had some effect: this morning
as I was riding to work I felt really good — much stronger than usual.
Climbs were easier, I was faster on the flats without really trying.
Never one to waste an opportunity, I shifted up a couple gears and
started seeing exactly what I had in me.
It turns out I had a whole bunch in me. I rode the
flats at 25-27 mph — I usually go around 22-24. I looked at the trees
and grass to see if I had a tailwind, but no: it was me.
Then I came to the climb that parallels Highway 520.
It’s about a mile long and can be pretty steep in some parts. It starts
right after a street crossing, where you have to wait for a light. By
the time the light turned, there were four other cyclists gathered with
me.
So I decided to show them who’s boss.
I gapped the first couple before we even got across
the street. The third dropped off without a fight during the first steep
pitch, but the last guy stuck with me. The race was on!
In the first part of the climb, the pitch goes from
moderately steep to very steep. It doesn’t last long, but most people
downshift for it anyway. Today, though, I listened for his shift as we
reached the steep part, then I upshifted two gears, stood up, and
attacked off the front.
I gapped him by 20 feet almost instantly.
"This is a good time for me to see whether I’m still
any good at riding just below the red zone," I thought, and kept
exactly the amount of pressure on myself I could sustain without blowing
up. Before long, my nameless archrival was vanquished.
I was the victor. I was the hero.
Also, I’m a complete idiot. The whole point of the
taper is to get me rested. And since it was working, I decided to do a
personal time trial and VO2-max hill interval.
But this brings up a question: am I the only one who
consistently fails to rest on rest day rides? I mean, when you’re just
tooling along and some guy passes you at a speed you know you can
counter, are you really able to just let him go?
I’m telling you, it’s a lot harder to rein yourself in than to go all out.
Today’s weight: 164.8
Bonus Delicious Cookie Alert: An important part of tapering is to eat more, right? This isn’t the week for me to lose weight. And that’s why Keebler Fudge Shop: White Fudge Stripes Cookies-and-Creme cookies were an important part of my diet yesterday. I mean, these things give White-Fudge-Covered Oreos
a run for their money, and that’s saying something. I mean, it says
something besides that I know way too much about really-bad-for-you
cookies.
I bet my weight goes up to 280 pounds by tomorrow.
How Not to Taper
Endurance athletes do something called "tapering"
before a big race / event. The idea is to decrease your activity for a
week or so before the ride, so you’ll be fresh and rarin’ to go.
There’s a proper way to taper, and I’m horrified with myself to announce that I don’t know what it is. I blame my trainer for
never properly explaining it to me. It’s almost as if he’s never done
more to learn about tapering than scan a couple of magazine articles.
Moron.
Still, though, I have slacked off on the riding,
starting last Friday, and it seems to have had some effect: this morning
as I was riding to work I felt really good — much stronger than usual.
Climbs were easier, I was faster on the flats without really trying.
Never one to waste an opportunity, I shifted up a couple gears and
started seeing exactly what I had in me.
It turns out I had a whole bunch in me. I rode the
flats at 25-27 mph — I usually go around 22-24. I looked at the trees
and grass to see if I had a tailwind, but no: it was me.
Then I came to the climb that parallels Highway 520.
It’s about a mile long and can be pretty steep in some parts. It starts
right after a street crossing, where you have to wait for a light. By
the time the light turned, there were four other cyclists gathered with
me.
So I decided to show them who’s boss.
I gapped the first couple before we even got across
the street. The third dropped off without a fight during the first steep
pitch, but the last guy stuck with me. The race was on!
In the first part of the climb, the pitch goes from
moderately steep to very steep. It doesn’t last long, but most people
downshift for it anyway. Today, though, I listened for his shift as we
reached the steep part, then I upshifted two gears, stood up, and
attacked off the front.
I gapped him by 20 feet almost instantly.
"This is a good time for me to see whether I’m still
any good at riding just below the red zone," I thought, and kept
exactly the amount of pressure on myself I could sustain without blowing
up. Before long, my nameless archrival was vanquished.
I was the victor. I was the hero.
Also, I’m a complete idiot. The whole point of the
taper is to get me rested. And since it was working, I decided to do a
personal time trial and VO2-max hill interval.
But this brings up a question: am I the only one who
consistently fails to rest on rest day rides? I mean, when you’re just
tooling along and some guy passes you at a speed you know you can
counter, are you really able to just let him go?
I’m telling you, it’s a lot harder to rein yourself in than to go all out.
Today’s weight: 164.8
Bonus Delicious Cookie Alert: An important part of tapering is to eat more, right? This isn’t the week for me to lose weight. And that’s why Keebler Fudge Shop: White Fudge Stripes Cookies-and-Creme cookies were an important part of my diet yesterday. I mean, these things give White-Fudge-Covered Oreos
a run for their money, and that’s saying something. I mean, it says
something besides that I know way too much about really-bad-for-you
cookies.
I bet my weight goes up to 280 pounds by tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment