You
may be able to get away with procrastinating for high school exams, college
finals or that big project you have to present to the company. But when it comes to training for a mud run or obstacle course, it’s important to
not put off your training! You simply
can’t wait until the week before the competition or race to kick your training
into high gear; in fact, you should be doing just the opposite.
What is taper?
Following
weeks of proper preparation, we suggest taking the seven days before your
Ruckus run to practice what is known as tapering. This means that instead of pushing your body
to the limit right before race day, you should reduce the distance and volume
you run to allow for optimum performance come race day.
What are the
benefits of tapering?
Tapering
has not only physical, but mental advantages as well. The final week spent tapering leads to
improved muscle glycogen stores, expanded blood plasma and repaired connective
tissue. All of these things need “taper
time” to build back up after intense training.
In addition, the week of relaxed training builds mental confidence for
the impending race.
Big,
fancy scientific terms aside, tapering is so effective because training usually
involves working your body and mind to exhaustion daily, and not allowing time
for full recovery. We want to make sure
that before taking on our challenging obstacles
(especially all you with eyes set on the competitive Champions Heat), you are
at the peak of your abilities. You’ll
need all the strength you can get!
How should I taper
for the Ruckus?
We
suggest the following tapering plan for all of our serious Ruckus runners out
there:
- Six and five days before
competition, reduce your training distance and volume to 75%.
- Four and three days prior, work
at 50% of your training level.
- On your last day of training,
two days before Ruckus, take it easy at 25%.
You
will then want to completely take off the day prior to competition in order to
give your body ample recovery time.
Then, come the next morning, you will be ready to have all of that
training pay off.
For
our future Boston Ruckus runners,
your week of tapering will begin June 9, so make sure to continue your
training, and the results will speak for themselves!
