A ‘taper’ refers to the period before a sporting event where you reduce your training in order to feel and perform as well as possible on the big day. Unfortunately, getting the taper period wrong is one of the common HYROX mistakes and it can affect an athlete’s finishing time.
In this article we’ll look at why you should taper prior to a HYROX, and what you should be doing in the week(s) before your next race.
Why Taper?
When training for an event like HYROX, your body accumulates fatigue. Even though you may feel ready to train the day after a tough session, day after day, week after week, there is a level of fatigue building up in your body. We need this in many ways; we need to push our bodies so that it adapts and makes us fitter and stronger over time. But we don’t want to take it too far. Training too intensely, too much, for too long, can result in injury, reduced performance, mental and physical tiredness, etc.
What’s more, we obviously don’t want to go into an event – on a day when we want to be at our very best – with a high level of accumulated fatigue as it will impact our performance. Tapering will allow you to execute the event, mentally and physically, as fresh as possible.
How Long Should the Taper be?
A taper period would typically last 7-14 days. There is a huge degree of personal preference in this though. Where you fall in the 7-14 days range can come down to your typical training volume, experience of previous tapers, stress levels (away from training), and how you’ve prioritised this particular event (more on that below).
At HYROX, the category you’re competing in can also play a part. For example, competing in the Individual category in HYROX possibly warrants a longer taper period than the Doubles or Relay.
Won’t I Lose my Fitness?
Assuming you taper as discussed in this article, don’t be concerned that you are going to lose the fitness and strength that you’ve built up in the weeks / months / years leading up to this event. It is much easier to maintain your fitness levels than it is to gain them, requiring less volume than you may be used to. Of course, we must get the balance right – we can’t just do nothing for 14 days, because then we would lose fitness, and potentially feel sluggish on race day.
How to Taper
Typically, training will look broadly similar to normal for much of the taper period. However, the volume of work will be reduced. As an example, you may halve the amount of running you do, or the number of sets you do on any strength / muscular endurance work. This can be gradual through the taper. For example, if you are going to taper over 14 days, the volume doesn’t need to reduce by 50% immediately. It can instead start at perhaps a 20% reduction, building to 50% as you get closer to race day.
This approach is much more catered to the individual than me specifying how much running or strength work you should in terms of an absolute number. Someone with a typically high amount of training volume can do more work through the taper than someone who has less volume and go into an event just as fresh.
In general, it is the volume of work that you do that will be reduced, whilst intensity (speeds at which you run, weights you lift, etc) will largely remain as normal. Again, that may differ from person to person, and if you’re working with a coach discuss this with them, but to me reducing volume and maintaining intensity is a better approach than the opposite.
The Day Before
Personally, I normally rest the day before an event, and we encourage many of our coaching clients to do the same. So, for a Saturday HYROX, my last training session will be on Thursday. I won’t be completely sedentary on the Friday though – remaining moderately active (taking the dog for a walk, for example) is important. Again, there is some personal preference here – I know plenty of people like to do a little exercise on the Friday (an easy 20 mins jog, or bike ride, for example).
Filling the Void
Most people who compete in HYROX events love working out. They are driven, enjoy the process of getting better each day, and like to push themselves. Because of this many athletes find they don’t particularly enjoy the taper period. It feels like they aren’t doing enough, and / or aren’t sure what else to do with the time that is made available. This can lead to a level of mental stress for some athletes (and reducing mental stress before competition, especially an endurance event, is incredibly important).
However, it’s worth appreciating that there is plenty that can be done with your free time. For example, you can plan your travel to the event, pack your bag, plan your nutrition for race day, etc. Specific to a HYROX race, you should make sure you have learnt, by heart, the order of the stations, and planned your race strategy. You could take time to consider how quickly you aim to complete each station, and each run, so that when the race comes you are appropriately pacing yourself throughout. I discuss some of these factors, and others, in this video on 10 Tips for a HYROX Beginner.
These are all much more important to be doing than trying to get “fitter” by adding in training in the days before a race (which would be counterproductive).
It’s also worth appreciating that mental fatigue can affect your race day performance too. So the taper period should be used to relax not just physically but also mentally.
Pick your ‘A’ Races
There are now a large number of HYROX races each season. It’s tempting to try and enter several events. But, to use someone in the UK as an example (where there are atleast 5 races), I don’t necessarily think that you can aim to peak for 5 races in a season. If you try to taper for 2 weeks before each of them, plus have a week’s recovery after each, that’s 15 weeks of reduced training volume. That’s a lot of time taken up where you aren’t necessarily using your training to push you – rather its time being used for recovery. For some people that may be fine, and a trade-off they are willing to accept to compete more often. But for long-term performance improvement, it’s not optimal.
Therefore, in an ideal world, you’d probably look to pick 1 or 2 races in the season that you really want to peak for. Any other races you want to enter you do so in the in the acceptance that you won’t taper so much, and so may not be in peak condition for them. You might find that in those races you end up performing better because you’ve had a slightly different taper period, and that could be knowledge you carry into your next race.
Summary
Tapering is a very important factor in your race preparation. Don’t let all your hard work in the months leading up to a race be ruined by not tapering appropriately. Done right, it will leave you ready to perform at your best on race day, and that’s ultimately what you’ve been training for. There is a huge element of personal preference in what a taper period looks like but hopefully this article has got you thinking about how you can approach it and begin to discover what works best for you.
If you need help with your preparation for race day, check out our private coaching plans, our 12 week training plans (for individuals or doubles), and / or our performance nutrition calls to help you fulfill your HYROX potential.
