Road to Powerman 2009: A Tapering Period

The race day on 8 Nov is nearly come closer. That is meaning everybody who are planning their training program properly, will start their tapering during this period or maybe next week (5-6 days) to the race day.

The final touches to any training program come during the taper. This is the period of the season leading up to a race day when an athlete allow their body to absorb all of the hard work did during the base building and speed phases. Doing the right kind of taper is an art unto itself.

A taper is tricky because of what is happening internally when our bodies try to recover. When athletes start to give themselves rest, the system in the body that responds to stress (which is the system that allows you to get up for big workouts) starts to shut down. It is like working on the engine of the car. Athlete cannot have the engine running at the same time that you are giving it an overhaul. You have to shut the engine off.

the training

The same is true for our bodies. Athletes have to shut the "engine" off for it to recover and charge up in the way that it needs to be ready for the big race. And when athletes do this, will probably feel like out of energy, sluggish, and getting out of shape. THIS IS NORMAL.

After having a grueling and brutal training program, this period is very important for us to reduce the intensity and duration of training. No more LSD, no more intervals, no more fartlek. Just stay active and sweaty but not too much pumping your heart and muscles.

A journey to race site is a main focus for our body. We need to drive 250 km (from KL), or 600km (from JB) and a far as Kota Bharu (700km) to reach Seri Manjung, in Perak. Our body needs to be fit to stay and sit properly in the vehicle. It is good if we can reach Seri Manjung early (maybe Friday) to have a recovery from travelling fatigue. On Saturday we can spin together to Kompleks Sukan Seri Manjung, to collect our race kit, timing chip and to hear a race briefing from the organizer.

the journey

Finally, may this eleven days, we are free from injuries, free from any incidents, free from heavy training load, as we together step by step, day by day follow a road to Powerman 2009. See you soon!