Timing your peak

Hey everybody. Quick question on timing peaking. Do you schedule your training such that you’re completing the final week of your training on the week of your event? For me I’m finishing my Century Specialty phase in July with the final training ride on a Saturday, then my A Race which is a double century is Sunday. I think I’m okay doing that since the final week always has some taper built in, but should I scoot this plan back a week to allow a full week of no scheduled training, so that I can self taper?

Thanks!

The specialty plans do the taper. Schedule them so that the last week of the specialty is the week of your event.

4 Likes

I completely agree it does have a built in taper but it isn’t a bad idea to give yourself a extra week just incase you need the extra rest, after all your not going to lose any of your endurance over that next week.

1 Like

Yep, start planning your training with the A race at the end of the last week of the speciality phase and work backwards. There’s a built in peak and taper with those by the looks of it. Don’t be tempted to do more on those last two weeks as they look targeted to reduce fatigue and increase form.

3 Likes

I’ve been training for a century ride all year using the mid volume plans. I planned it so that I have a 2 week taper. It may be against some schools of thought, however I wanted to try and go into the event fresh.

1 Like

I think it depends on the person. I’m new to the TR plans, but I’ve always added an extra week off on other plans I’ve used. Some people probably do better with more or less taper than prescribed, but it’s always helped me because invariably life gets in the way of training and I end up moving things back half a week over the course of the plan, which lands me at the end of the taper with a couple extra days before the event.

The specialty plans actually include a two week taper in them already - if you look at the TSS week by week the volume peaks in week 6 and goes down slightly 6->7 and again down 7->8.

Generally speaking this is enough for most people, but obviously your results will vary

2 Likes