I am tapering for Galveston 70.3 and hate it. I feel like I am falling behind. I know I am trained for it and ready, but something about sleeping-in and not doing my normal routine makes me feel like I am letting myself slip behind the competition. I know for a fact my body needs the taper, so how do I get my mind to accept it?
Feel free to go ahead and forward this to the 1st World Problems website. I’ll shut up now. 
ya, it sucks but you have to do it i guess. you can still get up and do a light workout with some stretching and some brief intense stuff like some short sprints or something.
unless of course, its not your ‘A’ race…then just train right through it and enjoy the suffering!!
best of luck!
What age group are you in?
Tapering gets to me, but in a different way. Once I back off training a bit, workouts seem to get tougher. Suddenly an easy 3 mile run feels hard and my legs feel like lead. Strangely though, every race my fitness seems to come back just in time. It’s just those few weeks before are kinda harrowing.
I completely understand what you are saying about the feeling of falling behind. Tapering is the reason I am choosing to race less this year. Racing gets in the way of my training.
Yeah, then taper… you are harmless to me. (25-29)
Yeah, then taper… you are harmless to me. (25-29)
I am tapering for Galveston 70.3 and hate it. I feel like I am falling behind. I know I am trained for it and ready, but something about sleeping-in and not doing my normal routine makes me feel like I am letting myself slip behind the competition. I know for a fact my body needs the taper, so how do I get my mind to accept it?
Feel free to go ahead and forward this to the 1st World Problems website. I’ll shut up now.
Good thing you got an extra workout this w/e cheering for the Hawks, oh, wait… as I sit here in my WSU shirt as a KSU grad…
Tapering too for Galveston and my biggest issue is my appetite grows substantially this week while not working out as much.
I claim first use of the term “taper tantrum.” Sounds like you’re on the verge of one and they’re quite common.
If you’ve done the work and you have a good taper program, then trust it. I don’t do triathlons 'cuz I can’t run, but I’ve done the bike leg for a number if iron-distance relays – 112 mile TT for me. I’ve trained very seriously for them and every single time I’ve had exactly the feelings you describe during the taper. And the rides I did as part of the taper program felt awful. Even the short, 15 mile check ride the day before the race made me think I’d totally screwed up each time. But on race morning, when I hit the gas out of T1, the tank was full and the engine felt precisely tuned.
Trust your taper!
Agreed - I felt more tired and sluggish through the taper than at peak periods of training. I had it explained to me once that the body is constantly releasing endorphines and feelgoodimites throughout the weeks and weeks of training, and when you taper, these tail off and stop - its the lack of the endorphines being released that make you feel low.
The main thing to remember is principle behind ‘form’ - a less fit but fresh competitor will be better then a tired, highly fit one.
I really don’t like the process of training, once I’m into it I embrace it, but I am usually stumbling toward my taper.