Coliseum Rock N' Rollman Race Week Thoughts

It’s Colesium Rock N’ Rollman race week, and I am taking all of the necessary steps to be rested and ready for the physical trials Saturday morning will bring.  Rock N’ Rollman is a ½ Iron distance triathlon in it’s 8^th year in Macon, Georgia.  RN’R features an elite field and a pro prize purse, and roughly 800 athletes are expected to race on Saturday. http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_detail&eventID=1746 

This week I am tapering, and so naturally, all the facets of the taper have been my mind quite a bit.  Fitness can be undermined and great blocks of training can be sabotaged by too much, or to the same extent- too little training activity in the days leading up to an event.  Being a wannabe triathlete/weekend warrior for a few years now, I have heard LOTS of opinions on the best approach to race week preparation- some of them make physiological sense, while others sound more like unfounded superstition than proven methodology.  Tapering implies a reduction in training leading up to an event, but one thing is for sure- applying a taper does not mean sitting on your rear for several days to ‘rest up’ for your event! 

The degree to which an athlete integrates a taper can be dependent on several factors, below are a few:

·         The current fitness of the athlete- an athlete with high loads of recent training volume is likely to employ a lesser taper than an athlete training to finish his first race at a certain distance.

·         The importance/weight placed on the upcoming race- is this an ‘A’ race the athlete is hoping to peak for, or is the race going to be used as a training stimulus or gauge of current fitness?

For my present goals this includes a gradual reduction in training volume over the preceding 6-7 days, achieved through shortening the scope/duration of some staple workouts, while integrating a couple of rare days totally off from training.  This week I’ve careful to try and preserve what little speed I have with a couple of short, hard efforts in the pool, on the bike, and on foot.  I feel like I have put together a great block of training since May 14^th, and now I am focusing on taking care of the ancillary details of race week- finding the perfect balance of training effort, rest, nutrition, and hydration.  All signs are pointing towards having the fitness to put together a balanced race, so lets see what happens on race day.   

Although we enjoyed some mild, late-spring temperatures well into May here in North Carolina, summer is definitely now here in the southeast, and mother nature is making her presence known with record or near record high temps from Austin to Orlando.   This weekend’s race is in Macon, Georgia- and the forecast high of 100⁰ will surely play a role in the outcome for most of the participating athletes.  The Exercise Physiology gurus at Durata Training recently put posted several excellent strategies for training and racing in the heat, which you can find at the link below. 

 http://www.duratatraining.com/community/?p=1093rel=